Missouri is “red” due to redistricting, but that should not discourage Democrats from investing in its electoral races. If anything, the Democratic Party should be incentivized—particularly as the Trump Administration continues to harm rural farmers, workers, and hospital systems.
This is exactly what Jess Piper, Executive Director for Blue Missouri, explains in her chat with Jen. “People always say, you know, ‘Missouri’s so red.’ Piper says, “And I always say it’s absolutely not. It’s uncontested. And you can tell by what we vote for in these initiative petitions.” Piper and Jen also discuss why Democrats need to be in rural areas and what happens when they meet voters and actually talk to them, person to person.
Jess Piper is the Executive Director for Blue Missouri, a grassroots fundraising organization that supports Democratic nominees for Missouri state legislature. In 2022, Jess ran for State Representative in HD1 in Northwest Missouri. She speaks at events regularly and also hosts a weekly podcast called “Dirt Road Democrat”. Make sure to follow Jess on her own Substack The View from Rural Missouri.
Jen Rubin
Hi, this is Jen Rubin, editor-in-Chief at The Contrarian. We’re delighted to have back Jess Piper, Democratic activist from the heartland of America. Jess, welcome.
Jess Piper
Hey, it’s so good to be with you again.
Jen Rubin
Oh, it is great to hear from you, backed by popular demand. Since the election, in, early November, there’s been a lot more excitement, in Democratic quarters. What’s it been like, in your area? Are Democrats more engaged, more optimistic?
Jess Piper
They are. They’re engaged, they’re optimistic, they’re looking at polls, seeing that Trump is, you know, underwater. And this is something that we all knew, because we talked to people, we talked to our neighbors who might vote Republican, but are feeling, you know, not very Republican these days, especially with, you know, some of the stuff that’s come out as of late.
Jen Rubin
What is the main motivators, for not only Democrats, but independents and even Republicans who are feeling a little iffy about Trump these days?
Jess Piper
So, a lot of people are avoiding talking about Epstein, or acting like they don’t know what’s going on, or it’s a democratic hoax, or whatever, but things that they can’t deny are their grocery bill, and the fact that, I’m surrounded by soybean farmers, and they just had harvests, and there’s a few of them that are still harvesting, and so I’m seeing huge gravity wagons driving by all day long, full of millions of pounds of soybeans that are gonna go to a bin. And sit there. And so everyone is well aware of what’s happening, and then, of course, with the, with the beef situation, with Trump saying he’s gonna bring in, you know, Argentina, beef, that’s… that’s upsetting cattle ranchers in my neck of the woods, too.
Jen Rubin
So… Closer to home, in Missouri, they, have come up with a proposition, that they want to kind of take away the right to have propositions, or make it more difficult, a referendum, and there is one, concerning redistricting, so tell us about those. What’s going on there?
Jess Piper
There are several proposals, ballot initiatives going on right now. I think I’ve signed 5. There’s several for, education. And people, always say, you know, Missouri’s so red, and I always say, it’s absolutely not. It’s uncontested. And you can tell by what we vote for in these initiative, petitions. So, we voted to overturn abortion. You still can’t access reproductive care. In fact, they’re going after banning another abortion pill right now. We just overturned it. We told them, you know, several years ago, you can’t gerrymander. We passed something called, Clean Missouri. They undid that with the vote, and now they’re coming after it again, and we know Trump. leaned on Governor Mike Hehoe and said, find me another district. So they are taking Kansas City, and they’re planning to take this little district that encompasses just Kansas City and take it and spread it out through, rural Missouri to try to pick up, you know, what they think are going to be white conservative voters. And the problem is. We know that gerrymandering doesn’t always work, and we can look over to Kansas, to Cherise Davids, and find out that it doesn’t. And two, they think that we can’t knock on rural doors. They’re wrong. I’m a rural Democrat. I know how to do these things. And so, what they’re ultimately trying to do, what you were alluding to, is now they’re saying, because we have an initiative petition, that says you have to respect the will of Missouri voters. And they are so upset about it that everyone in the state received a text from the RNC telling us, hey, did you sign this? Did you mean to? You might be in trouble for signing this, take your name off before it’s too late. We all got that text, and I’m… I’m so enraged, because why does the RNC have my phone number, right? And who… why did they pay for this in Missouri? And I think you probably know. They are so concerned about one Missouri district that they will throw everything at it, millions of dollars, whatever they need to.
Jen Rubin
Wow. What do you think the fate of that district is going to be? What’s your sense of, Missouri’s, attitude towards redistricting and defending the right to have these kinds of ballot initiatives?
Jess Piper
Republicans, Independents, and Democrats all love initiative petitions. We love to be able to put our voice on the ballot, and so I have heard from Republicans myself that are enraged, who have said, I’m not voting for my state rep again because he overturned my will. On stuff like, you know, where we try to, you know, get earned sick time for people in the state. We passed it by almost 60%. They overturned it. And Republicans, I know, are furious about that. And so, I think they’re over their skis. I think they’re in a whole lot of trouble in 26.
Jen Rubin
Wow. Now, you also have a governor, who has decided to take away, really, most of the revenue from the state. Tell us about that.
Jess Piper
So, he just passed an initiative to… with the Missouri GOP supermajority, to get rid of capital gains taxes, which is about $625 million a year. It is done, and it is over. And now, he plans to phase out, the income tax. That people in our state pay, which is $9 billion a year that is collected, and it is two-thirds of Missouri state revenue, and he’s just gonna delete it. And you know what? We’ve seen this before. I can look to my neighbor to the west, to Kansas. and Sam Brown back, and we all know what happened. It was called the Kansas Experiment, and it was terrible, and it absolutely decimated all of their services. Jen, when I moved, I was from Arkansas, and I moved to Missouri, you know, a couple decades ago, not quite. And I wanted to move to Kansas, because I found a town and a school, and this place I… this house I wanted. But I found out they didn’t have busing services for the school.
Jen Rubin
And so I couldn’t get my kids to school, so I ended up in Missouri. But do you know why they didn’t have busing services?
Jess Piper
Sam Brownback in the Kansas Experiment.
Jen Rubin
Exactly. Now, you said, the Democrats are perfectly capable of knocking on doors in rural America, in the midterms. Do you have your eye on any of the particular races that you think, are really vulnerable, either state level or the federal level?
Jess Piper
I think our congressional, you know, Republicans are in trouble. I’m seeing them lash out and say things that they don’t normally say. I’m seeing them raise money, and they haven’t had to raise money in a long time because it’s always, you know, a very safe district. So, I think those people are in trouble, and I’m planning to knock doors. I know everyone I know is planning to knock doors, and this is what we have to do, is come back into spaces, even rural spaces and knock doors and talk to people, because we have to tell them, it’s the economics, right? I don’t like to quote James Carville, but he says, it’s the economy, stupid, right?
Jen Rubin
And it…
Jess Piper
It is. Everything is about the economics. I talked to my neighbors. I just called my neighbor the other day, because she wanted to talk about my Christmas lights, and we ended up talking about Trump, and also what the Republicans are doing to states like Missouri. And she’s a moderate, you know? She’s not necessarily someone who’d call herself a Democrat.
Jen Rubin
Absolutely. Now, one of the things I think Democrats have had a hard time learning, and maybe you’re retraining them, is that even if you don’t win a particular area. In some cases, you can lower the margin of defeat, or if you go out this year, maybe not this election, but the next election, they’ll come back. Talk to us a little bit about that kind of longer-term vision of making connections, making sure that people know that Democrats are out there, that they’re viable, that they’re a party, that they have their interests at heart.
Jess Piper
So we have to have someone on every single ballot, every single district, every single race, and making sure that even though, like, I ran in 22, I knew I wasn’t gonna win. We haven’t elected a Democrat in 32 years, we have never elected a woman, but the fact that I got out and knocked doors, and I was beaten badly, taken to the woodshed, I got 25% of the vote, but Jen, that’s the problem. Democrats decided those 25% of the people don’t matter. We can leave them on the table. And that’s outrageous to know that there are that many voters who could come and not flip a district, but might flip a statewide seat. Or they will, you know, vote for a referendum on the Republicans, you know, and so the fact that we’ve decided it’s not worth it is really telling. And a lot of people will say, you know, that Democrats left my area, and they did, but you know who else did, and that’s the Republicans. But the Republicans have something in every single town. They’ve got a church or two that is willing to preach politics from the pulpit. And so, my neighbors go three times a week and hear that you can’t vote for a Democrat, right? They hear that. And when I knocked on doors, people would say, I can’t vote for you because I’m Christian. That is intertwined in everything in these spaces, and the more we get out and talk to people, the more they realize, oh my gosh, I was born and raised a Southern Baptist, you know? Like, I don’t even know what you’re talking about. So, this is really problematic, and the fact that we’ve decided it’s not worth it, and we don’t need them anyway, has blown up in our face. And, you know, I’ve said this a thousand times, but the Republicans found out, they tried a coup on January 6th, but they didn’t need to do that. All they needed to do was come into states and take over state legislatures and attorneys general, and now you have this entire system that is working towards Republicans, no coup required.
Jen Rubin
Wow. Now, you have a senator, Senator Hawley, you have two senators, but let’s talk about Hawley, first of all, who talks a really good game. Suddenly, he’s a fan of Medicaid, although he voted for Medicaid cuts. He’s talked about food stamps, that is SNAP, but he hasn’t really done anything. Do people see through this? He talks such a nice game, but he inevitably lines up right behind Donald Trump and does whatever Donald Trump wants.
Jess Piper
They’re really starting to pay attention now. I know, because I’ve watched Josh Hawley rise through… he had this famous commercial in 2016 where he said, I’m not a ladder climber, when he was running for AG. And so, I was like, of course you’re a ladder climber. Every single one of our last senators in the last couple elections has come from the AG’s office. Eric Schmidt, too. Eric Schmidt is a white Christian nationalist, by the way, and he absolutely you know, wants a white Christian nation, and he will tell you that. But Josh Hawley has this thing where he is able to pretend that he’s, like, this populist that cares about the people. Every single time, he votes against Medicaid, he votes against SNAP, and then he comes out with a different bill saying, I want to fund Medicaid. Dude, you just voted in line with Trump. He is lying, he is two-faced, he doesn’t care about anyone in this state, and anyone who thinks he does hasn’t paid attention. You know, a couple times a year, he comes back to Missouri, puts on his plaid shirt and his boots, and shows up at a county fair somewhere, and like, oh, Josh Hawley. I know what he is, I know what he is, and so do most, I think.
Jen Rubin
So, what’s the key for a candidate, a Democratic candidate, in Missouri? Is it the positions? Is it just talking like a normal person? What do you think, you know, if you had to kind of come up with your dream candidate or candidates, what kind of qualities would you look for?
Jess Piper
It’s someone that knows their neighbor, someone who knows their community. Those are the people that can win. It doesn’t have to be anyone with any specific qualifications, but someone who’s from the area and understands. And it causes… when I would knock doors, and people would come to door, and they would listen to me, and they’d agree with everything I said, and then they’d find out I was a Democrat, and it caused that cognitive dissonance, because they’re like.
Jen Rubin
You don’t look or sound like the people that I’ve seen on Fox News, or OAN or Newsmax, like, you don’t even have blue hair, right?
Jess Piper
And the fact that I could say, well, I’m from this community, right? I live down the road from you, I taught your kid, or I taught your grandkid. These things are important. So that’s why it’s so important to have those people on every part of the ballot, because you’re, in people’s brains, there’s a fixed idea about what a Democrat is, and you cause confusion when you’re just one of them, and you’re a Democrat.
Jen Rubin
Wow. So, over the Thanksgiving weekend, there’s a call for some consumer boycotts of Amazon and Home Depot and, I’m forgetting that the Target is the third. you know… Some of these are small actions, you’re not going to bring those companies down, you know, economically down to their knees, but they do give people a sense that they have agency. How important is it for people to do something, whether it’s a boycott, whether it’s to turn out? Isn’t part of the idea to try to get people not to feel like they’re powerless?
Jess Piper
Yeah, I was an American lit teacher for 16 years, and I taught the words and the actions of the people who participated in the Montgomery bus boycotts. And I have to remind people, it didn’t happen in 6 months, right? It was over a year that folks were walking to work a mile, 2 miles, three miles every day because they said, I’m not gonna do it, and they finally brought them down to their knees, and this is what we have to remind people. You’re right, it’s not going to happen overnight, but what’s happening to Target stock right now? What has consistently happened with Target? They can’t get people back in their stores because of what they did with DEI, and people remember, I’m not shopping at Target. I haven’t eaten a Chick-fil-A sandwich in 10 years. Now, did I bring them to their knees? No, but there are enough of us that recognize that we’re not doing this. I don’t shop at Hobby Lobby. I haven’t, you know, since that Hobby Lobby decision. So we have to remind people, it takes time, you know, put the pressure on where you can. We saw Disney, you know, come back around.
Jen Rubin
Yes.
Jess Piper
say, we’re not, you know, bring back Kimmel, because we can’t withstand this boycott. So just remember that you do have power, and we’ve known this for a long time, especially with women. The power of the purse, not shopping in specific areas is so powerful. You’re not going to see something happen overnight, but it will happen.
Jen Rubin
Absolutely, and folks, that’s, Friday, Black Friday through Monday. We ain’t buying for those three stores. You can forgo your, purchases. Last question for you, healthcare. Obviously, the shutdown did not bring about, capitulation, but Republicans are still holding, the problem. They’re holding the exploding time bomb, which is healthcare costs. What are the kinds of prices people are seeing, and has that kind of reached the average person that, holy smokes, we’re gonna get clobbered next year?
Jess Piper
I’m the average person. I pay $498 right now for my ACA coverage. It’s $1,069 next year. I went online, they sent me the plan. for the same silver plan, so I’m right in the middle, right? I don’t know what I’m gonna do, Jen. I don’t know what my neighbors are gonna do. Even if they’re on Medicare, they’re saying they’re gonna see a 10% rise. Our utility bills, so my neighbor that I was talking about, they’re in their 80s. Our water bills have gone up 100%, 100% since last year. Our energy bills are going up because of this stupid centers, right? And now it’s healthcare. And that’s what I keep saying when people are knocking doors. You don’t have to talk about the bathrooms kids use. You have to tell them about their Hy-Vee grocery receipt, and say, you see how much that is? You know how much that is? You saw how much the water is? We can’t do this anymore. And by the way, if anybody says, well, the Democrats. We haven’t had a statewide elected Democrat in Missouri since 2018. Who are you talking about? There is no one to blame except for the Republicans in 25 states, because they have Republican GOP supermajorities, and they have had them. And now we have Republicans, trifecta at the federal level. So this is… this creates great movement and energy for people talking to others. Friends, there is no one else to blame but those Republicans.
Jen Rubin
Absolutely. So when people say, oh my gosh, what should I do, what should I do? What do you tell them?
Jess Piper
Well, obviously, vote. Now, they’re trying to take away our vote because they’re gerrymandering, right? When people say vote better, and I’m like, well, they gerrymandered us. But it’s actually just showing up for your community, showing up even at those, you know, local levels for school boards, city council, county commissioner, you know how much, you know, power a county commissioner has? All of these things, and reminding people, like me, I can’t vote for any county office, because I don’t have one Democrat running. So reminding them, hey, you know, stick your neck out, and if you stick your neck out, make sure you’re helping that person. You know, you asked them to run, Democrats. give them some money to help them reach the people. We have to remember that as well, you know, show up for these people. And obviously, vote, vote, vote.
Jen Rubin
Absolutely. Well, Jess, we wish we could clone you. Sent you to LA State, an army of Jess Pipers, but thanks so much for everything you’re doing, and for your energy enthusiasm, and sharing it with us, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Jess Piper
You too. Good to see you, friend. Talk soon.
Jen Rubin
Talk to you soon. Bye-bye.
