After over a decade-long career in Missouri politics, U.S. Senator Roy Blunt will not seek re-election in 2022. And the field to replace him in Washington, D.C., is already a crowded one. Blunt, 71, has represented the Show-Me State in the U.S. Senate since 2010. He is the former Missouri secretary of state and represented the 7th congressional district for 14 years.
Scott Sifton is a leading Democrat contender for the US Senate. Sifton visited Henry County in Clinton on Jan.3 as a part of his campaign outreach. Sifton wants to reach Democrats in every one of Missouri's 114 counties and deliver his message. "We are engaged, as Missourians, in a bipartisan exercise to keep Eric Greitans out of the United States Senate. "We are engaged, as Missourians, in a bipartisan exercise to keep Eric Greitens out of the United States Senate. As the only attorney in the Missouri Senate when Eric Greitens was Governor, "I have a very unique perspective on Greitens... I know him. He does not represent the majority of Republicans in this state and he certainly doesn't represent the majority of Missourians; I am determined to accomplish what the Republicans will not, and that is to stop Eric Greitens for once and for all."
"In politics, it's not enough to say who we're against, we need to express who we are and what we're for as well, said Sifton.
Scott Sifton felt called to politics for simple reasons, he was the child of Missouri family who struggled to survive economic downturn despite working hard. From Sifton's website, "his father lost his job, his family lost the home he grew up in, and his parents went bankrupt. Scott decided then to spend his life working to help protect families from hardship".
Scott’s career in public service has made an important difference across Missouri. He fought for improved teacher pay and district facilities as a member of the Affton School Board from 2001 - 2010, serving two terms as Board President. Student test performance improved markedly over his tenure. Sifton's mother was a teacher, so public education is near to heart.
In 2010, Scott won election to the Missouri House. He then won election to the State Senate in 2012 by defeating a Republican incumbent
In the Senate, he led a record 40-hour filibuster of an amendment attacking marriage equality. He also fought to ban lobbyist gifts to legislators, expand Medicaid and protect victims of rape, domestic violence and sexual abuse. Scott filed legislation to rein in the municipal court system, fought Republican efforts to water down Missouri's employment discrimination laws and helped secure passage of the Ferguson Commission’s recommendation on the use of force standard into law. Scott relentlessly filibustered Republican efforts to take the right to choose away from rape and incest victims.
He won a second Senate term in 2016, overperforming amidst that year’s Trump wave.
He graduated cum laude from Truman State University in 1996 and received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Michigan Law School in 1999. He practices at OnderLaw, where he focuses on environmental cleanup litigation and fights to help recover taxpayer funds spent combating the opiate crisis.
Sifton answered questions from his constituents for the remainder of the evening. He was clear and concise in his answers to questions regarding his stance on immigration, the economy, Medicaid expansion, Biden's Build Back Better plan, and many other concerns that are looming large in Missouri's Senate race.
This will be a race that the nation is watching and listening to.
In an article from CNN's Simone Pathe titled "The 10 Senate Seats Most Likely to Flip" Pathe ssid "Trump has also suggested he'll be endorsing in Missouri's Senate race, where GOP Sen. Roy Blunt is retiring. The biggest concern has been that he'd pick disgraced former Gov. Eric Greitens, who resigned from office following a probe into allegations of sexual and campaign misconduct. Trump was noncommittal in an interview with Hugh Hewitt earlier this month, who implored him not to endorse the former governor. "Well, that's an interesting opinion, that's true. He's right now leading by quite a bit," Trump said. "I know, but he will lose the seat. We will lose the seat," Hewitt said. "I understand that. Okay, some people feel that," Trump responded. Kimberly Guilfoyle, a top official on Trump's 2020 campaign and the girlfriend of Trump's son, is the national chair of Greitens' campaign. GOP Rep. Billy Long met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago last month, so he could be another potential endorsee. But the field keeps growing, with state Senate President Dave Schatz announcing his campaign last month. The fear is that an increasingly splintered field will only mean more votes for Greitens, who could jeopardize what should be a safe Republican seat much the same way Todd Akin did in 2012."
USA Today article titled "These 10 Races Could Determine Control of The Senate in 2022" by Henry J Gomez and Sahil Kapur said of the Missouri Senate race...
"These 10 races could determine control of the Senate in 2022
"A seat in deep-red Missouri probably shouldn’t be competitive. But Democrats would like their chances a whole lot more if GOP voters nominate Eric Greitens — a former governor who left office mired in scandal — to succeed Sen. Roy Blunt, a Republican not seeking re-election. The Republican field also includes state Attorney General Eric Schmitt, Reps. Vicky Hartzler and Billy Long and attorney Mark McCloskey, best known for waving a gun at Black Lives Matter protesters outside his St. Louis home in 2020. A poll of likely GOP primary voters this month by the political news service Missouri Scout found Greitens and Schmitt locked in a close race, with Hartzler a distant third.
Democrats have at least a half-dozen candidates in the mix, including Scott Sifton, a former state legislator. Marine veteran Lucas Kunce has earned some buzz in national progressive circles. But two of the state’s most familiar and formidable Democrats — former Gov. Jay Nixon and former Secretary of State Jason Kander — are staying on the sidelines."
With the race heating up over the next ten months, Missouri politics will be thrust onto a national stage yet again.
