Today’s story on Democrat Jen Tracy is the first of a two-part series on the race for 120th state representative, which will be decided in the Nov. 5 general election. Part two in next week’s edition will be on Republican John Hewkin.
Jen Tracy
Submitted photo
Jen Tracy of Bourbon sat across the table from me. We were in my Salem office, and it was the first time we’d met. We talked about her background, her community involvement, people we both know in Dent and Crawford counties. A lot of it was small talk.
Tracy, a Democrat, is running against John Hewkin, a Republican, for 120th District state representative. The general election is Nov. 5, with the winner representing Dent and Crawford counties in Jefferson City beginning in January.
The entire time I talked to Tracy, both of us had to know the subject of party affiliation would come up.
First, a little lesson on party affiliation in this part of Missouri. There is not a Democrat that holds a county office in any of the three counties – Dent, Phelps and Pulaski – where Salem Publishing Company has newspapers. There are none in Crawford County, either. All of those counties mentioned do not have a Democrat representing them on the local or state level. None. In most instances you won’t even find a Democrat on the general election ballot. To find a Democrat that governs over anyone in those four counties you have to go all the way up to Kamala and Joe.
So, how in the world does Tracy think a Democrat can get elected in a part of Missouri that the Republicans have turned this deep and dark red? (Speaking of red, by now, some of my Democrat friends are fuming. But please read on. I will let Jen Tracy answer that question.)
“I felt that people like me, with my beliefs and my views and my values, weren't necessarily being represented,” she said when asked why she ran as a Democrat and thought she had a chance to win, “and I had a lot of friends and family who felt the same way. And it was always one of those things, ‘well, gosh, somebody should run.’ And so finally, it was kind of, well, why not me?”
So, Tracy filed as a Democrat and was unopposed in the August primary. In the Republican race, Hewkin had opposition from Dent County’s Lancer Blair and got 4,800 of the 6,587 votes cast. In the Democrat race, Tracy got all 735 votes. A total of 6,587 to 735 are big numbers to overcome.
But she’s going to try. Tracy said 40% of the seats for state rep in Missouri were unopposed. It’s a stat that not only frustrates her, but puzzles her. Win or lose, we need competition. We need more voices heard. I agree.
“I know that's (being a Democrat) scary to a lot of people, but I don't believe that anybody having a super majority is healthy for the balance,” she said of the Republican party. “And I mean no disrespect to the Republican Party. Because, let's face it, the majority of the people I encounter every day and the majority of my friends probably consider themselves Republicans. Granted, not the faction that's, you know, trying to wreak havoc all the time, but good, old-school Republicans.”
Getting substantial numbers in the district to move from Republican to Democrat will take some doing, obviously. Impossible might be a better way to put it.
“I feel like I'm a good old-school Democrat, and we have to be able to get some sort of balance back in Jefferson City,” she said.
That’s Part A. Part B is convincing a conservative district that believes the Democrat Party is way too liberal to vote for anybody. Period.
There was a day when Democrats had the majority not only in Missouri, but locally. But as the national Democrats floated to the left, the folks in places like Dent and Crawford floated to the right and the Republicans. The disparity now is staggering.
Tracy is trying to sell the fact that she should not be labeled.
“I feel that my community service, my board work, makes me a good candidate. Whenever I'm sitting down at a table with fellow board members, and we're trying to hash out something for our housing committee or our fundraising committees – like the barbecue festival or economic development group or chamber – there is no difference (between Republican and Democrat),” she says. “There is no Scarlet D on my shirt. There are no political affiliations tied to the people at that table, but we're simply talking with each other. How can we get things done for the betterment of the people within our community? That's, I think, where our focus should be. I think a lot of representatives have forgotten what their job is. You are a representative.
“I don't pledge allegiance to any party. I'm here to represent the people as Jen Tracy. You know, that's the job at hand. If I don't win re-election because of some kind of not voting straight party line, so be it, I'll be a one-term rep, and I'm okay with that, as long as I was thinking with my values.”
But no matter what Jen Tracy says or has done, no matter how likeable she is or how right she is that one-party systems have big downfalls, she is still a Democrat voicing platforms that the majority of what she wants to call her district don’t like. Reproductive rights is the biggest, most emotional issue, one that not only impacts her race but will appear as an amendment on the Nov. 5 ballot. You can go to her website and read all about her stand on the issues, from health care and education to farms and reproductive rights.
Jen Tracy is a Democrat in a Republican world. Whether you want to call it abortion or reproductive rights, it just might be the most divisive issue in the election for state representative, certainly the most emotional.
“It is a huge one, and I understand that for a lot of people, that's a very sensitive subject to them,” she said as we talked about the issue. “And by all means, it is a very personal decision, but it's a medical procedure. I think some people don't realize that it is a medical procedure. I have a friend of mine who had to go across state lines, within the last six months. She was bleeding out in her bathroom, but she knew that she couldn't seek care here in Missouri, because they just send you home. Women die due to complications. Is that right?
“That’s somebody's wife, that's somebody's mother, that's somebody's daughter, and this is medical care, and I understand it's a sensitive subject for some, but that's your choice, right? If you don't want to have an abortion, you don't have to have one, but by all means, you shouldn't be able to dictate what other women have to encounter in their lives. Yes, some are voluntarily choosing to have an abortion just because they're pregnant, and they don't want to be. But there are also all of these other situations that are way more than just that, and I think we need to look at the bigger picture. And my view of that is government and legislators surely don't need to be talking about my reproductive system and what I can and can’t do with that.”
One of Tracy’s biggest pitches is asking people not to be one-issue voters. There are a lot of issues, and voters should look at them all, weigh them and then vote, she says.
“There’s no pretending when it comes to me, this is who I am, and if you cannot vote for me based on what I believe in, what I represent, I'm fine with that. I'm not your candidate, and that's okay. But I do want people to have more open minds and not be just these one-issue voters, because it's so much bigger than that.”
Tracy is running as a self-described “progressive Democrat.” While the majority of issues facing our country can be agreed on by most Americans – Republican and Democrat – the ones that we can’t agree on divide us, and divide us to the point of, well, you know the answer to that one.
“People tell me if you don't pick a party, people don't know what your ideas are, and I can appreciate that,” she said. “But don’t label me. You know what? Call me. I'll have coffee with you. I will gladly sit down. And that's why I try to do things so that people have an opportunity to get to know me, and have different events where people can come have coffee and chat on education, things like that. The issues.”
In our conversation that lasted well over an hour and a half, Tracy talked about grocery prices, the cost of housing in the district, CEO salaries, transportation, broadband, small farms and a bunch more issues that cause us aches and pains in rural Missouri. She is talking about the same kinds of things with voters as she works her way through Dent and Crawford counties.
There has not been a Democrat representing a state congressional district that Dent County has been a part of since 2004, when Frank Barnitz of Lake Spring served as the 149th district’s state rep.
Democrats, Republicans, too, have changed a lot in these past 20 years. Flipping seats is difficult – some might argue impossible in the 120th – but even if Jen Tracy doesn’t succeed, it’s good to have other voices and other opinions involved in our election process. Nothing spells disaster more than an uncontested seat. That’s a story for another day.
John Hewkin has been a sports fan since he was a kid. He’s played, coached and been a fan of sports. I was a sports writer for 15 years before moving back to Missouri, but to this day you will still find me in my man cave a lot of nights and weekends watching something that requires a ball.
