Keynote speakers address reproductive rights, democracy at Democrat Days of the Ozarks

Local Democrats met in Springfield on Saturday to celebrate the Greene County Democrats’ 102nd Annual Democrat Days of the Ozarks.

The keynote speakers at the evening banquet, National Organization of Women (NOW) President Christian F. Nunes and Former Ohio Democratic Party Chair David Pepper, bolstered the spirits of attendees with messages of hope ahead of a volatile election season.

Pepper, who has written several political novels, drew parallels between political struggles in Ohio, his home state, and Missouri.

Ohio voters recently struck down a proposed constitutional amendment to change the ballot initiative process, and later approved a measure enshrining the right to abortion in their state. Missouri voters are likely to see one, if not both, of these issues on their own ballots this year.

However, Pepper says that these struggles aren’t isolated to just Missouri and Ohio, but are happening in statehouses across the country. While many political analysts focus on the outcome of national races in a few states, Pepper raised concerns about the outcomes of elections for seats in state legislatures.

With the U.S. Congress often unable to pass legislation due to stalemates between Democrats and Republicans, Pepper says that the GOP has taken the fight to state legislatures, where they can advance conservative policies that are unable to pass at the national level.

“The single most important institution in America to accomplish what they want to do to subvert democracy, to lock into minority worldviews are the statehouses in the United States of America,” Pepper said.

By subverting democracy, Pepper refers to efforts to gerrymander districts to create favorable voting populations to elect candidates with certain viewpoints or efforts to increase the threshold to pass initiative petitions to something more than just a majority of the popular vote.

Pepper continued by stressing the importance of having candidates running on both sides in an election, rather than uncontested races where the primary supersedes the importance of the general election.

In recent years, Missouri has shifted to being a majority conservative state, with all statewide offices being held by Republicans. However, successful candidate recruitment efforts for Missouri Democrats this year have brought challengers for most of the statewide races. This presidential election year had the best recruitment numbers for Democrats since 2008.

For example, 100% of the statewide and congressional races in Missouri this year will feature Democratic and Republican candidates. Of the 17 Missouri Senate races up for election this year, 15 of those have candidates from both parties, and 135 out of 163, or 83%, of the seats in the Missouri House of Representatives will have challengers, up from 97 challenged seats in 2022.

Pepper encouraged attendees to look at these elections as a fight to preserve democracy, to ensure that voters have a choice between candidates when they vote in the November general elections, even in the most conservative rural areas of the state.

“We are in a full-out battle for democracy itself,” Pepper said.

Additionally, Pepper stressed that this battle for democracy at the current election is part of the long-term struggle, and that political activists must view this as a long game past the current election cycles, and something that must be fought in every state across the country.

“Every citizen of America deserves to live in a functioning healthy democracy in their state,” Pepper said. “We see them fighting that battle in all 50 states all the time.”

Pepper reminded attendees to have constant vigilance and continue that fight, even in traditionally Democratic areas, reminding them that many areas that have been traditionally liberal had such low voter turnout in some elections that the seat was flipped conservative.

“My hope is this motivates all of us,” Pepper said. “We're all on the frontlines of democracy in the battle.”

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Picking up where Pepper left off, Christian Nunes sought to inspire and preserve that hope for democracy in local Democrats by reminding them what it is that they are fighting for.

“I want you to think about the theme of your Democratic Days of the Ozarks, defending freedom and democracy, because right now, the soul of this country is crying,” Nunes said. “It is crying because it is a risk of losing our democracy and losing the freedoms of many people.”

With Democrats in the minority in most areas of the state, as well as in both chambers of the Missouri General Assembly, Nunes encouraged attendees to retain their hope in democracy and continue fighting for their values and beliefs.

“When we might feel a little agitated, might feel a little tired, might feel a little weary, I want you to think about what's at stake," Nunes said. “Remember, the work has been done before, and that will be done again with the collective power of the people.”

Nunes, who serves as president for the National Organization of Women, spoke in support of efforts to overturn the abortion ban in Missouri. Petitions were circulated at the event to put the measure seeking to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution on the ballot this year.

“Missouri, you stand as a stark example of the most egregious assault on reproductive rights, which is one of the most draconian bans that we've seen in a long time in this entire country,” Nunes said.

Missouri was the first state to enact its trigger law banning abortion when Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022. Nunes sees access to reproductive care as an essential right for all people, and laments the struggles that Missouri women have faced since the ban went into place.

“This is not a partisan issue. This is not a women's issue. This is not just a feminist issue,” Nunes said. “This is an issue that impacts and affects everyone because everyone deserves the right to reproductive freedoms.”

Nunes encouraged unity in the efforts seeking to restore abortion rights in the state. Earlier this year, a competing abortion ballot initiative sponsored by Jamie Corley, who is now running for Missouri secretary of state, was abandoned, allowing abortion supporters to coalesce behind one initiative petition from Missourians for Constitutional Freedom.

“Together, it will take all of us to stand united in our fight for justice and equality, refusing to back down in the face of opposition,” Nunes said.

For Nunes, having reproductive freedom means more than just bodily autonomy.

“It is about trusting people, trusting women, trusting childcare and people to make decisions for their families for their life for their health care,” Nunes said. “And not relying on politicians in Jefferson City or Washington to make those choices for them.”

Nunes concluded her speech by reminding attendees of the importance of their vote and their voices, encouraging them to inform their friends and neighbors of what’s at stake in the upcoming elections.

“Freedom and democracy are on the ballot this November, and we're going to make sure that everyone knows what's at stake,” Nunes said.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Speakers urge unity, vigilance at Democrat Days of the Ozarks