Haven’t voted yet? Here’s a guide to help you make informed choices.
BY: JACOB POLITTE
Managing Editor
BY: RYAN WINZEN
News Editor
BY: JACK JURSNICH
Opinions Editor
The 2024 elections are fast approaching, and there are many different seats, both locally and nationally that are up for grabs this year. Perhaps most importantly, this is a Presidential election season, but many other seats are up for grabs that could shake the foundations of the country and the local community.
For the sake of clarity, only Republican and Democratic candidates will be extensively profiled. In addition, some ballot measures on the ballot are listed below.
For those who did not participate in early voting, we hope that it helps potential voters to make informed decisions.
As a reminder, due to the ongoing “STLCC Transformed” projects and the resulting lack of space from them, the Meramec campus is not a polling place in this election. There are two polling places within the immediate Meramec vicinity, though. Robinson Elementary, directly across the street from the Continuing Education building, is one. In addition, the Geyer Road Baptist Church slightly up the road from campus (located at the corner of Geyer and Woodbine) will also serve as a polling location.
Race For President Of The United States
Background: It wasn’t supposed to be like this. In a rare political rematch, the 2020 Presidential Race was originally scheduled to get a sort of redo, this time with the roles of challenger and incumbent flipped. Former President and now Convicted Felon Donald Trump, seeking a return to the Oval Office, was looking to win the election and oust the man who beat him at the ballot four years ago, Joe Biden.
All of that began to change, rather dramatically, one fateful Thursday night in June.
Both candidates had agreed to bypass the traditional Presidential Debates, and begin the process earlier, participating in debates hosted by various television networks.
At the June 27th CNN Debate held in Atlanta, Joe Biden performed extremely poorly. He looked lost and disheveled at many points, to the point that many declared Trump the winner despite having lied over 20 times. The poor debate performance sent the Democratic Party, and the race itself, into a tailspin, with many Democrats calling publicly for Biden to drop out. For weeks, Biden refused, even as more and more of his public appearances began to further concern the electorate and he himself contracted COVID-19 for a third time in mid-July.
Three days after Trump accepted the nomination at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee after having survived an attempt on his life the week before, Biden announced in a letter to the American people that he was dropping out of the race, endorsing his Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place on the ticket and leaving her to select Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. The move instantly energized Democrats, and some potential young voters, while completely changing the dynamics of the race.
As the months have worn on, Harris appears to mostly have retained that momentum in spite of some challenges, including continuing calls for her to help call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict that has decimated Gaza. Trump, however, remains in the rather tight race, despite some massive public stumbles of his own, including a highly confrontational forum at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago in July and what many consider to be a largely disastrous debate performance against Harris in September.
Donald Trump and Ohio Senator JD Vance (Republican)
Donald Trump won the Presidency in 2016, and proved to be one of the most consequential Presidents of the last century over the course of his four-year term. It can be argued that many factors led to his failed reelection bid in 2020, including his poor responses to Civil Rights matters and the COVID-19 pandemic, but he still had quite the impact on the governmental system and society at large.
He named three new Supreme Court Justices, two of which faced intense backlash but helped flip the court to a decidedly conservative majority; this led to controversial and landmark decisions that overturned national access to abortion in Dobbs vs Jackson County Women’s Health, and the federal government’s ability to regulate almost anything by overruling the Chevron doctrine in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, among other decisions. If he wins, Trump will likely get to name even more conservative judges to the court, further sending it into conservative territory for generations to come.
In this election cycle, Trump has hinted and outright announced several bold goals and intentions. He does not support increased restrictions on gun control, does not support mandatory buyback of assault weapons, does not support gender transition treatments under age of 18, does not support raising minimum wage and does not support federal action to prevent climate change. He also does not support funding sanctuary cities, does not support any affirmative action policies, does not support Critical Race Theory in K-12, nor racial and LGBT sensitivity training for federal employees and does not support government insider stock trading. In spite of the latter, he does support same-sex marriage. He does support term limits for members of Congress and a mental competency test for those 75 years and older who continue to serve.
One big misstep that some say Trump made was his selection of Ohio Senator JD Vance as his new running mate. Vance, at the age of 40, is the youngest candidate on either ticket, but has largely failed to inspire enthusiasm on the campaign trail and has had combative interactions with members of the mainstream media at times. The subject of the autobiography and Netflix film “Hillbilly Elegy,” Vance already had a somewhat significant public profile before he won election to the United States Senate in 2022.
The duo recently made headlines in September for publicly circulating claims that Haitian immigrants were eating people’s pets in the town of Springfield, Ohio; the topic even came up during Trump’s televised ABC News debate against Harris. Despite numerous fact checkers claiming this to be false, the two have continued to stand by those claims to the chagrin of many.
Trump has made numerous false claims during his time in politics, and that hasn’t changed during his most recent tenure on the campaign trail. In recent weeks, he’s reiterated his claimed belief that schools are performing transgender operations on students, that Kamala Harris “turned black” and that he didn’t lose the 2020 election, despite previously admitting that he did. During the ABC News Presidential Debate, he also reiterated his support for insurrectionists that participated in the January 6, 2021 United States Capitol Riot.
Trump is running on several different policies, which include policies previously enacted during his 2017-2021 tenure and some newer ideas. For example: he once again seeks to give tax cuts to corporations, but strongly opposes taxing on tips and overtime pay for those in the workforce. Economically, he claims to support an increase in sales tax to lower property taxes, while he also supports the use of nuclear energy without government subsidies
Trump also is largely pro-life, with exceptions of in cases of rape, incest, and life of the mother; his running mate Vance, however, supports a nationwide abortion ban as recently as 2022. Vance now claims that Trump wants the issue to be decided as it now is after the overturning of Roe v. Wade: by each individual state.
Trump continues to run on the concept of curbing illegal immigration and deporting all illegal immigrants (unless they’re working and not granted amnesty), and also strengthening border security. He’s still repeating claims that immigrants are coming into the country to take jobs away from “hard-working Americans.” Notably, he is claimed to be responsible by members of Congress on both sides of the aisle for helping to kill the most bipartisan immigration bill in some time earlier this year; Democrats claim that he did this so that he can run on the issue during the election.
It’s also worth noting that Trump has been the target of two different assassination attempts on his life in the last few months. In July, he was injured when a bullet pierced his right ear during a rally; two others, including the shooter, were killed. During the debate, Trump claimed that “they” [Biden, Harris and Democrats] were at fault for him being shot; there is no credible evidence to support that claim.
In mid-September, an incident during Trump’s unplanned visit to a golf course resulted in an arrest; Trump was not harmed but the assailant was in his immediate vicinity.
Trump also denies ties to Project 2025, a controversial conservative agenda proposed and released by the Heritage Foundation. Despite Trump’s denials, some of those involved with the agenda have claimed that Trump will institute the agenda if elected.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (Democrat)
In the immediate aftermath of Biden’s decision to step down, Kamala Harris has benefited from a massive amount of renewed energy amongst the Democratic Party. The party, by all visible glances, appears to be more in lockstep than ever before, and the Vice President has proven herself to be quite different from the last woman to get the nomination, Hillary Clinton, despite coming from the same institution: the world of the law.
A graduate of Howard University, Harris formally began her career in politics with her election to the post of the San Francisco District Attorney in 2002, and served in that role until her election to Attorney General of California, a role she served in from 2011 until her election to the United States Senate in 2016. During her time as a District Attorney, Harris helped to form a Hate Crimes Unit that had a focus on helping young LGBTQ+ victims, and also helped to create an Environmental Crimes Unit. In 2004, she created the San Francisco Reentry Division, and notably, through the end of her tenure as San Francisco DA, the 200 people that graduated from the program had a recidivism rate of less than 10%. During her time as Attorney General, Harris secured the successful prosecutions of many involved with transnational criminal organizations, and helped to clear the state’s DNA backlog in 2012 by helping the California Department of Justice improve its testing capabilities. She also
During her time as a Senator, she served on various Committees, including the Select Committee on Intelligence, the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, the Senate Committee on Budget, the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Environment and Public Works. In her role on the Judiciary Committee, she rigorously questioned several Trump allies, including former Attorney Generals Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr for their alleged conduct during the Trump administration; she has since used video of these interactions to promote her campaign.
She also voted to unsuccessfully impeach Trump in 2020 for his conduct in pressuring Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate Joe Biden. She did not cast a vote in his second impeachment for insurrection, as she had moved on to her new role at the time of the trial.
Having served in her current role of Vice President since January 2021, Harris has overseen more tie-breaking votes than any of her predecessors due to the razor-thin majority that the Democrats held in the Senate chamber. According to Ballotpedia, she has cast 33 tie-breaking votes, 4 more than John Adams did during George Washington’s tenure.
The addition of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to the ticket in early August proved to be yet another boost of enthusiasm. Walz is a former public high school teacher and football coach, and has been involved with politics on both the national and state level since 2006. He seems to be almost universally beloved to most Democrats, with his “weird” observation noticeably striking a chord in the political landscape ahead of the Democratic National Convention.`
Harris’s agenda and personal politics have shifted over the years. For example, she was once opposed to fracking, she no longer is against it as of 2020. In opposition to Trump’s tax cuts, she looks to cut taxes for middle class families and make rent and home ownership more affordable than it currently is. One issue she remains steadfast on is a woman’s right to choose, with one of her main goals, if elected, being to codify abortion rights in Congress, therefore sidestepping the Supreme Court’s ruling and formally restoring abortion rights nationally. To do this, however, Democrats must win back control of the House of Representatives and keep control of the Senate.
Harris and Walz, both gun owners, support stronger gun control measures. Her campaign website reads, “As President, she won’t stop fighting so that Americans have the freedom to live safe from gun violence in our schools, communities, and places of worship. She’ll ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, require universal background checks, and support red flag laws that keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. She will also continue to invest in funding law enforcement, including the hiring and training of officers and people to support them, and will build upon proven gun violence prevention programs that have helped reduce violent crime throughout the country.”
There is pressure being placed on Harris and Walz by groups of activists to call for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, with the aim being to stop the carnage in Gaza. Harris, during her convention speech, confirmed that she aimed to maintain relations with Israel while calling for accountability for those involved with the conflict.
Jacob’s Analysis: Despite the momentum that Harris has built since her campaign began in July, this will prove to be a close race that will likely come down to a handful of states. Trump (and by extension, his ideology) has proven to be quite the difficult political opponent to defeat despite his very public stumbles. It’s genuinely a toss-up, but Trump mathematically has an easier path to victory.
Easy paths, though, aren’t always a guaranteed victory. I think that Harris will clinch enough votes needed to defeat Trump, but it absolutely will be closer than either side wants it to be.
WATCH HERE: Frontline PBS’s “The Choice: 2024”
US House Of Representatives District 1 Race
Background: “District 1” encompasses all of the city of St. Louis as well as most of north St. Louis County, including the cities of Maryland Heights, University City, Ferguson and Florissant. It is without question, the most Democratic congressional district in the state. It’s set for a shake-up regardless of who wins, as the incumbent, Democrat Cori Bush, was ousted in the primary elections in August.
Andrew Jones, Jr. (Republican)
Jones is the current Executive Vice President of Business Development and Marketing at Southwest Electric, and previously ran and lost to Cori Bush in the 2022 midterm elections. He was born in Cairo, Illinois, and raised in East St. Louis. He also holds a variety of college degrees, including Bachelor of Science in Economics and a minor in Business Administration from Lincoln University in Jefferson City, as well as an MA in International Business from Webster University and an MBA from Washington University’s Olin School of Business.
Jones’ campaign website outlines his stances on multiple issues. He believes in transparency in education and that parents should be able to partner with educators and administrators on the books that are in school libraries. He believes that government spending is “out of control” and believes that his business experience will be an advantage in helping to set “sound fiscal policies” that guide the federal government’s spending.
He also is pro-life, and “will push to close the border and invest in our first responders.”
Wesley Bell (Democrat)
Bell, the current Prosecuting Attorney for St. Louis County, defeated incumbent Representative Cori Bush in a hotly contested primary election in August.
Bell’s campaign came under scrunity by Bush and her supporters for having the financial backing of AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobbying organization. The campaign, according to the Huffington Post, also took campaign contributions from Republican Donors during the primary season.
Bell also supports Israel. His campaign website reads, “I believe Israel has the right to defend itself and go after those who perpetrated those attacks. In Congress, I’ll fight to make sure the United States remains Israel’s strongest ally.”
According to his campaign website, Bell supports common sense gun safety laws. “It is critical that we pass these laws in order to improve public safety,” the website reads.
He is also pro-choice, and he was was one of the first county prosecutors in the country to sign a letter vowing not to prosecute those who seek or perform abortions after the Dobbs decision in 2022.
Jacob’s Analysis: District 1 has proven to be a Democratic stronghold for many of these elections, and thus Wesley Bell could have the advantage here. But he may feel some blowback. Tensions following a controversial primary election against Bush, and specifically AIPAC helping to fund Bell’s campaign against her while tensions in Gaza remain in the news, may put a damper on Bell’s stroll to Washington.
US House Of Representatives District 2 Race
Background: “District 2” encompasses the remainder of St. Louis County, including Affton, Maplewood, and Kirkwood. It has been represented in Congress by Rep. Ann Wagner since Jan. 2013.
Ann Wagner (Incumbent, Republican)
Rep. Wagner succeeded Rep. Todd Akin, who vacated his post in an infamous and ill-fated run against then-Senator Clarie McCaskill in 2012. Born and raised in St. Louis, she graduated High School from Cor Jesu Academy on Gravois Road in Affton, and from college at Mizzou with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.
Six years after graduating, she began her political journey, even serving as the Missouri State Director for then-President George H. W. Bush’s ultimately unsuccessful reelection campaign in 1992. In 1999, she began working in the Missouri GOP, becoming the chair of the organization. Beginning in 2001, she simultaneously held this position as well as becoming a co-chair of the Republican National Convention. In 2005, she was named the United States Ambassador to Luxembourg, a post she held until mid-2009. She decided to run for Akin’s vacant seat, and won the election.
During her time holding national office, she “has been committed to regulatory reform, authoring bills such as the Retail Investor Protection Act which protects access to retirement savings for middle class families” according to her website. She also staunchly supports and authors legislation that combats sex-trafficking and online exploitation on the federal level, such as the SAVE Act (2021) and the Put Trafficking Victims First Act and the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (2018).
Wagner is pro-life, even saying on the day that Roe v Wade was struck down in 2022 that it was “a historic moment for families, for mothers and for the precious unborn children who cannot protect themselves.”
Ray Hartmann (Democrat)
Hartmann, the founder of the Riverfront Times, defeated Chuck Summers in the August primary elections to challenge Wagner. Hartmann, who graduated from Parkway Central, and later from UMSL, has had an extensive career in journalism. He earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1974, and his career experience in the field covers most of the mediums in the industry: he was a TV panelist for The Nine Network, a radio host for The Big 550 KTRS and he was the CEO/Owner of St. Louis Magazine. Outside of journalism, he served as president at Ray Hartmann & Associates and was a board member at the Starkloff Disability Institute.
On his campaign website, he says that he’s an advocate for common sense gun control and that “Despite countless mass shootings, Republican lawmakers continue to prioritize gun rights over the safety of the American people.”
He also says that he is pro-choice, and that he’ll fight for a woman’s right to make decisions about her own body.
On the topic of education, he says that he “will fight for increased public school funding, better teacher pay, and free school meals for all children so no child goes hungry in the classroom.”
He also pledges to “work to lower the cost of college and increase career and technical education opportunities, ensuring every student can access quality training without the burden of crushing debt.”
Jacob’s Analysis: It’s tough to oust an incumbent. Wagner seems to have an iron grip on her seat, whether or not she is trying to. Like the 2022 race and many before it, Wagner likely wins this one out simply out of familiarity to many voters.
US Senate Race
Background: After failing to knock off Trudy Busch-Valentine in the August 2022 Primary Elections, Lucas Kunce is back in the spotlight and this time, he’s going up against the Republican Incumbent, former Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley. The two clearly share a dislike for the other, with a tense confrontation caught on camera earlier this year between the two at the Missouri State Fair quickly going viral.
Josh Hawley (Republican, Incumbent)
A former Attorney General of Missouri, Hawley, like his successor Eric Schmitt, used notoriety earned during his tenure and parlayed it into a successful Senate run, ousting incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill.
Hawley has found himself embroiled in national controversy on more than one occasion, with his actions immediately before and after the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack being heavily criticized by the national media, and current and former colleagues.
He also has been critized in the past by some for representing a state he allegedly does not actively live in; he owns a home in Virginia and used his sisters Missouri address to vote in the 2020 elections.
In the Senate, Hawley currently serves on the Committee on the Judiciary, the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
He is pro-life and he publicly supported the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Notably, his wife even worked on the legal team that helped strike it down with the Dobbs decision.
Similarly to Trump, he supports the deportation of illegal immigrants and building a wall along the border, supports increasing tariffs on imported products, and he also supports term limits on members of Congress. He also supports a ban on the popular app TikTok, and does not support funding the war in Ukraine.
Lucas Kunce (Democrat)
On his campaign website, Kunce, a military veteran who served in Iraq in the years after the Sept. 11th, 2001 attacks, claims that he grew up in a workingclass neighborhood in Jefferson City. “Like so many Americans, my parents lived paycheck-to-paycheck — so when my little sister was born with a heart condition, the medical bills bankrupted us. Maxed-out credit cards and no money left, we struggled to get by.”
Affordable Healthcare, and a woman’s right to choose, is a big issue that Kunce is running on, but they’re not the only issues. Kunce supports more restrictions on gun control, supports raising taxes on the wealthy and raising the federal minimum wage, government methods to prevent climate change and racial/LGBT sensitivity training as requirement for government employees.
He also supports adding more seats to Supreme Court, federal funding of “sanctuary cities” and a federally mandatory buyback of assault weapons.
While campaigning on border security, he is on record as saying he does not support a border wall.
Notably, Kunce is running an intense advertising campaign against Hawley that targets his character and actions in Congress, and has managed to line up one particularly large celebrity endorsement. Local legend and famous actor John Goodman has recorded a voice-over for a Kunce campaign ad.
Jacob’s Analysis: On paper, this looks like an easy win for Hawley, but the man is not well liked by many. Kunce has also done a good job shining a light on Hawley’s failures during his campaign. This feels like a toss-up race, but Hawley absolutely still has the advantage as a Republican in a deep-red state.
Missouri 2024 Ballot Measures
For the upcoming 2024 election, Missouri residents will have, among others, six ballot measures they can vote for or against. Ballot measures are proposed laws and issues that, if voted in, will change a current law or create a new one.
Amendment 2: Legalize and regulate sports wagering in Missouri
This amendment would allow licensed gambling entities to offer sports betting through online platforms and in-person gambling locations to individuals 21 years of age and over. As of October 2024, only 38 states and the District of Columbia have legalized sports betting. If passed, there will be a 10% wagering tax on all revenue produced that will go towards education funding and the Compulsive Gambling Prevention Fund, which aims to help individuals overcome compulsive gambling.
Amendment 3: Amend the Missouri Constitution to provide the right for reproductive freedom
After the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, abortion is banned in the state of Missouri, unless of a serious health risk to the mother. If this amendment passes, it will allow women to make and carry out any decisions regarding reproductive health, which includes abortion, childbirth, and postpartum care.
Notably, the Amendment endured challenges by the Republican branch of the Missouri State Legislature, with the ballot even being removed at one point by Judge Limbaugh; the Missouri State Supreme Court reversed this decision on Sept. 10.
Amendment 5: Allow the Missouri Gaming Commission to issue one additional gambling boat license to operate on the portion of the Osage River from the Missouri River to the Bagnell Dam
Provided that this amendment receives enough support, an additional gambling boat will be allowed to operate in the Lake of the Ozarks region. As of 2024, there are 13 gambling boats in the state of Missouri, the maximum number allowed with the current law, according to CasinoCity.
Amendment 6: Define the administration of justice to include the levying of costs and fees to support the salaries and benefits for law enforcement personnel
This proposed amendment will have the administration of justice levying fees in order to support the salaries and benefits of both former and current sheriffs, prosecuting attorneys, and circuit attorneys, as well as provide a hefty retirement fund for sheriffs approaching the end of their careers.
Amendment 7: Establishes that only citizens who are Missouri residents can vote and prohibits ranked-choice voting
This amendment will only allow US citizens, 18 years of age and older, to vote in the state of Missouri, and each voter will have one vote for issue or open seat. Amendment 7 also states that it will prohibit ranked-choice voting in the state of Missouri and requires plurality primary elections, where one winner from each political party will advance to the general election. This will get rid of approval voting, which is used in St Louis elections, where a voter can vote for multiple candidates of a political party.
Proposition A: Establish a $13.75 per hour minimum wage by 2025, which would be increased by $1.25 per hour each year until 2026, when the minimum wage is $15 per hour, and also requiring employers to provide one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked
The current minimum wage in Missouri is $12.30 per hour. This does not apply to public employees, and tipped employees receive $6.15 per hour, but employers are required to make up lost tips, so the employee is making at least $12.30. This proposition will require a $13.75 per hour minimum wage by 2025 and then add $1.25 per hour by 2026. Currently, California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Washington, and the District of Columbia have at or over a $15.00 per hour minimum wage, according to GovDocs.
For more information about what may be on your ballot, visit https://stlouiscountymo.gov/st-louis-county-government/board-of-elections/.
