Why Democrats Don't Win in Missouri
Claire McCaskill - U.S. Senator from Missouri 2007 - 2019
Jason Kander - Secretary of State of Missouri 2013 - 2017
Jay Nixon - Governor of Missouri 2009 - 2017
The above are the names and offices of the last Democrats to win statewide elections in Missouri. Missouri is believed to be a deep red State, and recent polls support that claim. Is Missouri believed to be hardcore Conservative because of a supposed deep Southern history like many other red States? Not at all, in fact, Missouri is traditionally a purple State. I would say that Missouri is believed to be Republican by default not because of 19th and 20th-century politics, but because of how hard and how far Missouri has swung to the right in the 21st century - even within the past decade.
If Missouri is traditionally purple, why is it so deep red now? Is it a cult of personality from Republican politics? Not at all, Hawley, Parson, and Schmitt are collectively less entertaining than the classic metaphor of watching paint dry. Then what could it be? I would argue that Missouri is red not because of the quality of character of Republican politicians, but a mixture of the Republican media machine backing those Republicans and the lack of Democrats being able to collectively form an equally powerful media arm to counter the Conservative disinformation.
Let's review some numbers. FOX News Channel has the highest ratings for any cable news show with 'The Five' - averaging 3.332 million viewers a week. PragerU has over 3 million YouTube subscribers. Daily Wire's streaming service has over 1 million subscribers. Alex Jones had over 2 million subscribers before YouTube took his channel down.
What do those shows and networks have in common? I'll just say they have some interesting connections and court cases.
Study: Fox viewers more likely to believe COVID falsehoods - AP News November 10, 2021
Fox News' Worst Lies About Covid-19 From 2021 - GIZMODO December 30, 2021
Off the air, Fox News stars blasted the election fraud claims they peddled - NPR February 16, 2023
Fact check: Video presents climate change statements that lack key context - Reuters October 16, 2020
Pure nonsense: Debunking the latest attack on renewable energy - ars TECHNICA March 1, 2021
Is Dennis Prager Conservative Media’s Biggest Covid Jackass? - Rolling Stone November 23, 2021
Outrage As A Business Model: How Ben Shapiro Is Using Facebook To Build An Empire - NPR July 19, 2021
How Fracking Billionaires, Ben Shapiro, and PragerU Built a Climate Crisis–Denial Empire - VICE News August 25, 2022
Shocking new details blow up conspiracy theories about Paul Pelosi attack - LA Times October 31, 2022
COLORADO SPRINGS: FAR-RIGHT INFLUENCERS MADE LGBTQ PEOPLE INTO TARGETS - Southern Poverty Law Center November 22, 2022
How Alex Jones helped mainstream conspiracy theories become part of American life - NPR August 6, 2022
Alex Jones’s lies have cost him $965 million in a second Sandy Hook trial - Vox October 12, 2022
Conversely, MSNBC barely broke the top ten 2022 ratings rankings with 'Alex Wagner/Maddow'. CNN has struggled to find its new identity under Discovery. Liberal media fails to tailor their programming to an audience that is not wealthy and white. And liberal alternatives to conservative media are... disjointed at best.
Further, Conservative media produces twice as much content compared to liberal media.
In short, Conservative media out-competes, out-profits, out-performs, and vastly outnumbers liberal alternatives.
So... How does all of this affect Missouri, specifically? Well, Missouri Republicans understand the situation. They know that the quickest way to get their face in front of voters is to utilize the Conservative Media Machine. They understand that they can win the election with soundbites rather than actual policy proposals. They have learned to tailor their campaign around this media machine. That's why Conservative voters outnumber liberal voters over 2:1 in Missouri.
Republicans learned how to politick in the 21st century. Unfortunately, Missouri Democrats are still stuck in the 20th century. They run candidate, after candidate, after candidate, after candidate, after candidate that they deem 'safe' just to waste voter donor money and lose general elections by double digits.
What's the issue? Are Missouri Democrats just running unfavorable candidates? Are the candidates running on bad platforms? Do Missouri voters just not care about what Missouri Democrats have to offer?
Well... A little bit of all of the above, with various reasonings, but mostly none of the above. While Kunce had trouble finding his messaging in 2022 and Busch Valentine had difficulty not letting her family's affluence work against her, all of that could have been overcome. The problem lies in basic access. People can't vote for those they don't know about, and people won't support people they don't understand.
The average Missouri electorate gives their time, money, and vote to candidates who can talk to them about where they are in life. If all they hear are conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, COVID-19, and Ukraine disinformation, they will believe those conspiracy theories because they aren't told a competing narrative - a narrative based on truth. Especially when those conspiracy theories are framed as benign but targeted questions.
Okay. So we know the issue. How do we fix it?
We fix it by competing. I offer my solution in the form of proposing a multi-state media collective whose purpose would be to combat disinformation while establishing future candidates' branding and imaging. That's just what I would do if I had access to proper funding and wasn't disabled. Of course, Missouri Democrats don't have to do that, but they need to do something. Missouri Democrats are complacent. They would rather stick with their 20th-century political ideology than take a calculated risk. They would rather absorb donor dollars than study the political environment and learn how to work within it.
Democrats have the moral high ground - they consistently have the superior platforms and policies - but that moral high ground is also what makes them unelectable. They think they understand politics because they can fundraise so efficiently. But that fundraising does not always translate into real-world votes.
If Democrats in red States - if Missouri Democrats really want to become competitive - they need to learn to listen. They need to listen to the constituents that they hope to have. They need to listen to their real-world issues - from both sides of the aisle. They need to build platforms that are inclusive. They need to learn how to fight disinformation.
In short, Democrats need to learn the basic technological infrastructure that Republicans have mastered, and they need to learn how to utilize that infrastructure to win elections and save lives.
It can be done, but only if Democrats put their ego aside and become willing to build caucuses and embrace causes. As I already stated, Democrats have the moral high ground, but until they lose the accompanying hubris, they'll continue to be donation sinkholes and "also-rans" on the ballot.
I hope they can. Because it isn't just Missouri's future at risk, but the fate of the planet with the ongoing incremental climate crisis. We can't resolve climate change without the votes which can turn proposals into legislation - and legislation into action.
- Deets
We. The. People.