Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Scott Sifton declared he was “ready for the fight that lies ahead” in his keynote address to the 56th Truman Day Rally event in Poplar Bluff on Saturday.
Addressing a group of Democratic activists and supporters gathered at the Holiday Inn for the annual event, Sifton encouraged them to work with him to win the Senate seat currently held by Sen. Roy Blunt, who is retiring in 2022.
“I know how hard it’s been to be a Democrat in Missouri for the past 10 years, but we are much closer than we realize,” Sifton said.
The event, sponsored by the Butler County Democratic Women’s Club, began with a welcome from Pat Marler, who said, “It is truly a blessing to see you all here.”
Last year’s Truman Day Rally was canceled due to the COVID pandemic, like so many other familiar parts of American community life.
Regarding what she described as the ongoing political turmoil in the nation, Marler said, “We need to remember it is okay to disagree. We as Democrats can do the turnaround that is needed.”
Former Missouri State Senator Jerry Howard cited the “ongoing fake news program” in America as part of that turmoil and called upon Democrats to work against such misinformation.
“We need to do our best to blunt all the false information,” Howard said.
Local physician Dr. Dorothy Munch introduced Sifton, taking time to urge everyone to get vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus.
Sifton opened his address by saying, “This race has become a bipartisan effort to keep Eric Greitens out of the U.S. Senate.”
Sifton was a state senator during Greitens’ term as Missouri governor, which was cut short by Greitens’ resignation in the face of multiple scandals.
Sifton criticized many of Greitens’ cuts in Missouri’s governmental programs, adding that “We’re going to be ready for him.”
Sifton next said, “It’s not enough to say what we’re against but what we’re for.”
He related a memory of seeing his neighbors lose their home to the subprime mortgage collapse in 2009, which brought back his own experience of seeing his parents lose their home to unemployment and bankruptcy when he was a teenager in Kansas City.
He pledged to fight for the interests of all Missourians, but especially for working-class families, if he wins election to the U.S. Senate.
Many of the issues he mentioned directly affect Southeast Missouri families, including education, agriculture and broadband Internet access.
Sifton emphasized the importance of President Joe Biden’s infrastructure package, which could bring hundreds of millions of dollars to Missouri for rural Internet access where few services currently exist.
“We need someone in the Senate to be sure Missouri gets its fair share,” Sifton said.
Sifton grew up in Kansas City and graduated with honors from Truman State University in 1996, and then earned his law degree from the University of Michigan in 1999.
His political career started by serving on Affton School Board in the St. Louis County suburb from 2001-2010.
He was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 2010, and then elected to the Missouri Senate in 2012, defeating a Republican incumbent. He was re-elected in 2016 despite Donald Trump winning Missouri and several other statewide Democratic candidates falling to the Trump wave.
In Missouri’s Senate, Sifton led a 40-hour filibuster against a GOP amendment attacking marriage equality, fought to ban lobbyist gifts to legislators, supported Medicaid expansion, and advocated protections for victims of rape, domestic violence and sexual abuse.
He currently practices at OnderLaw, focusing on environmental cleanup litigation and recovering taxpayer funds spent combatting the opioid crisis. Sifton lives in St. Louis with his son, Stephen, and daughter, Madelyn.
Looking ahead to next year’s election, he said, “This will be a tough race, but it can be done.”
“Our last competitive race was in 2018, and Democrats received 49.997 percent of the vote statewide; 706 people were the difference,” Sifton noted.
He pointed out that these narrow margins, when divided among Missouri’s counties, meant that in Butler County and elsewhere, persuading seven people to change their vote from Republican to Democrat could be the margin of victory.
“This race represents an excellent opportunity to realign people’s thinking about the issues of the day,” Sifton said.
Judy Potter, the chairperson for the Truman Day Rally in Butler County, said, “Scott’s speech was fantastic. He will make a great candidate and an even better senator for Missouri.”