Mid-Missouri female candidates for public offices talked Saturday afternoon in Jefferson City not only about some of the issues they're passionate about but also why they think more women are getting involved in politics and what barriers remain for running as a political candidate.
The Central Missouri chapter of The Links, Inc. held a female candidate forum Saturday at Lincoln University's Inman E. Page Library. Topics included access to affordable health care, equitable and full funding for public education, child support and livable wages.
Valerie Shaw, a past Links Central Missouri chapter treasurer, said the organization does not advocate voting for candidates only because they're female or for any particular candidate or political party, but the organization wanted to give female candidates a platform to speak, given The Links is a female organization.
The Links was founded in 1946 and has a membership of more than 15,000 professional women of color in chapters of the United States, the Bahamas and the United Kingdom. The Links is "one of the nation's oldest and largest volunteer service organizations of extraordinary women who are committed to enriching, sustaining and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African Americans and other persons of African ancestry," according to the organization's website.
The invited candidates who attended the forum represented districts and offices in Cole, Boone and surrounding counties, and included several Jefferson City area candidates:
- Gaylin Rich Carver, Democratic candidate running for Cole County Associate Circuit Judge in a race with Republican Cotton Walker;
- Deidre "DK" Hirner, Democratic candidate running for Cole County Prosecuting Attorney in a race with Republican Locke Thompson;
- Sara Michael, Democratic candidate running for the Missouri House District 60 seat in a race with Republican Dave Griffith.
- Ann Moeckli, Green Party candidate running for Cole County Clerk in a race with incumbent Republican Steve Korsmeyer;
- Judy Ridgeway, Republican candidate running for Cole County Recorder of Deeds in a race with Democrat Ted Stewart;
- Ayanna Shivers, Democratic candidate running for the state 10th Senate District in a race with Republican incumbent Jeanie Riddle.
- Nicole Thompson, Democratic candidate running for the state 6th Senate District seat in a race with Republican Mike Bernskoetter and Libertarian Steven Wilson.
"Women are beginning to feel empowered," but also frustrated - "If not me, who is going to do this?" Democratic incumbent Boone County Recorder of Deeds Nora Dietzel said of the current time in politics.
Carver said she's seeing support for female candidates among people she wouldn't necessarily have expected it from - including older, white men.
Ridgeway said she got the confidence to run for office when she realized she was doing more of the work in her office, but wasn't being paid a comparable salary for it.
Brianna Lennon, Democratic candidate for Boone County Clerk, said she's starting to see personal and institutional infrastructure in place to support female candidates, which is especially important for her because she found out she was pregnant four months into her campaign.
Lennon said other female candidates on the ballot are people she can bounce ideas off of, and the institutional support is coming from newly forming groups that encourage women to run and can direct them to resources.
Thompson said she expected to step into a network of resources as a candidate, but said "I've learned that that's not true, at all," especially for a rural candidate and as a Democrat in a Republican district.
"This whole process is kind of backwards," she said of the expectation of her as a candidate to contact more than 100,000 people in the seven counties the 6th Senate District covers. Instead, she hopes people will come to her and share issues with her.
"Nobody gives you that stuff," Hirner said of the costs of things like yard signs and flyers, adding another challenge is getting a large number of people to volunteer to do things like knocking on doors.
"Being a minority, it's not as easy to go out there and make those connections," Shivers said, adding as an African-American candidate, no matter how articulate she is, some donors are not as willing to give, or give as much to her campaign.
Michael said people should be passionate, talk about candidates and even give friends rides to vote.
"What matters to us is if you come out and express your choice," for whoever it is, she said.
"The more we can do to lift each other up as women is what's important here," Dietzel said.
Shaw put forth a challenge to the audience of about 15 people to not only go vote, but take five other people with them.
The Central Missouri chapter of The Links - chartered in April 2016 - has also partnered with the Boys & Girls clubs of Jefferson City and Columbia to help girls build healthy self-esteem and lifestyles and develop leadership skills, according to the chapter's website.
The chapter has also participated in service activities such as food drives and partnering with Lincoln University to collect bottled water for the residents of Flint, Michigan, with lead-contaminated drinking water.