Joe Biden is the Democratic candidate for the 2020 presidential election and the former Vice President of the United States. Jo Biden started his political career with being a defense attorney for criminal cases in Wilmington, Delaware. His first instance in Congress was being sworn in as a US senator was in 1973.

He is a proponent of making coronavirus tests accessible and free to the people, and has been largely critical of Trump’s response to the virus. Health care is an important issue to Biden, as he advocates for adding a public option to the Affordable Care Act. Biden also promises to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement, which opponent President Trump pulled the United States out of in 2017. He has promised that on day one of his presidency that he would lift the muslim ban from entering America. He has also promised a bill to repeal liability protections for gun manufacturers.

Donald Trump is the 45th president of the United States and is running for his second term. He is the Republican candidate. He is 74 years old and he has a graduate from the Wharton School of Finance. 

President Trump has stated that he has gone around the globe working to restore America’s prominence in global diplomacy. His official website stated that the President underscored the commitment of the United States to providing advanced military equipment. In Saudi Arabia, Trump pushed for a coalition of nations to confront Iran and attended the opening of the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology. He has followed through on his promise and recognized Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel and directed the relocation of the U.S. Embassy.

Trump has enforced immigration laws to protect American communities. His official website states that upon entering office, President Trump called on Congress to fully fund a wall along the southern border, to close legal loopholes that enable illegal immigration, to end chain migration, and to eliminate the visa lottery program. Also under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Homeland Security took action to wind down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in an orderly fashion, following the assessment of the Department of Justice (DOJ) that DACA lacks legal authorization. The Department of Homeland Security launched the office of Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE). The President released his immigration reform proposal which calls for the transition to a merit-based immigration plan.

During the four years, his official website states that Trump has worked to improve access to affordable quality health care. Trump also signed a six-year extension of CHIP to fund healthcare for 9 million. President Trump has mobilized his entire administration to address drug addiction and opioid abuse by declaring the opioid crisis a nationwide public health emergency

According to his website, the Department of Justice and Trump are working with local law enforcement to protect American communities. The Trump Administration also expanded Project Safe Neighborhoods to encourage U.S. Attorney to work with communities to develop customized crime reduction strategies.

President Trump, according to his website, is unleashing economic growth and jobs. His official website stated that since his election, the Trump administration’s pro-growth policies have generated 6 million new jobs, the unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest point in 50 years, and wages have grown at more than 3% for 10 months in a row. 

Trump has worked very hard and will work very hard to make America great again. 

It is said, on his official website, that he pushed the boundaries of what is possible his entire career, devoting his life to building business, jobs, and the American Dream. 

Dr. Jo Jorgensen is the Libertarian candidate for President. She’s been a full-time Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Clemson University since 2006 and holds a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology (Clemson, 2002). She also graduated in 1979 from Baylor University with a B.S. in Psychology and in 1980 from Southern Methodist University with an MBA. Her slogan for the campaign is let her speak.

With the Covid-19 situation, according to her official website, she believes that the Washington bureaucrats and politicians have shown gross negligence and ineptitude, thereby lengthened the pandemic. She wants to make sure that the federal government does not bungle and worsen a situation like this ever again. She has stated that if she is president then she will get rid of the efficacy requirement of the FDA, if not the FDA entirely.

While unemployment rates remain dangerously high and families are in dire financial straits Jorgensen wants to help. America needs a swift economic recovery. She believes we can accomplish this by ending the many ways in which the government stands in the way of job creation. She wants to end all federal government licensing requirements on workers and will encourage states to do the same. One of her highest priorities is lowering government spending and taxes to give us more jobs. She has stated that she “will work tirelessly to replace government regulation with natural market regulation, which is far more effective and sensible. Forming new businesses will be easier than ever.”

Jorgensen wants to fix our Healthcare system. She thinks Americans should be in charge of their own healthcare money. This would give patients the opportunity to shop for care the same way they do with any other product or service, and costs would go down as a result. She has stated that if she is your president, so that new medicines and procedures get to patients as quickly and safely as possible. She will also make more drugs available over the counter.

Criminal Justice Reform is a big issue for her. She wants to federally decriminalize all drugs and encourage states to do the same. She believes that as long as there is no victim and no crime done then she would pardon anyone convicted at a federal level of victimless crimes and instead allow the medical community to deal with substance abuse issues in a way that salvages lives, instead of throwing them away. She wants to defund federal involvement in policing. She will also defund the DEA and keep federal agencies out of local police matters unless called upon by state authorities.  She also will end the no-knock raids.

When dealing with environmental issues she believes that states should deal with many of the issues instead of it being entrusted to the federal government. She has stated that Local communities and individuals are nearly always better equipped to decide upon what will work for their economy while preserving the environment. She will also work with Congress to end all energy subsidies and level the playing field. 

Neutrality and Peace, Jorgensen believes that America needs to be free, off foreign battlefields, and at peace with other countries. She wants to stay out of foreign wars and open civilian trade between Americans and the citizens of other countries. She is proposing an American military force ready and able to defend the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, and all U.S. territories against foreign attackers or invaders.

For Social Security, she has stated that she will work with Congress to enact a plan like the Cato Institute’s 6.2% Solution, granting more choice to everyone who pays the FICA tax. This plan has been scored by the Social Security Administration itself as restoring Social Security to permanent sustainable solvency.

If you fail to pay taxes, what the government says you owe, you can be fined, have your wages garnished, assets seized, even go to prison. She wants the money out of the government sector and back to the people who earn it. She has stated that she will work tirelessly to slash federal spending, make the government much, much smaller, and eliminate the federal income tax, so you can keep what you earn.

Jorgensen wants to limit spending and eliminate debt. She stated that if she was president, she would first audit and then end the Federal Reserve. Ending the Fed’s manipulation of interest rates would mean more market stability. Investors could get accurate signals on market conditions instead of being misled by Fed manipulation. She will veto any bill that increases spending, borrowing, deficits, or debt ceilings. 

She thinks that the Federal Department of Education has utterly failed to provide our children with the opportunity to thrive. She will work with Congress to immediately ensure that student debt, like any other kind of debt, can be renegotiated in bankruptcy. She will also work to end the Department of Education and encourage states to eliminate regulations that stifle innovation in education, including state-mandated textbooks, curricula, and testing; minimum numbers of days or hours teaching; and teacher certification. This will return control of education to where it belongs – with parents, teachers, and students.

Jo Jorgensen wants to make the streets safer for children. She wants to ease relief for those in need. She wants to have peace and neutrality for America. She wants to make America a better place for all Americans.

Howie Hawkins is the Green Party candidate and is running for President. His campaign primarily focuses on his motion to provide an ecosocialist Green New Deal. This would include an economical and environmental program according to Ballotpedia. Hawkins participated in the Green Party’s first national meeting in 1984, where he would join the party. In 1976, Hawkins participated in the “Vietnam Veterans Against the War” and American Dunbar Post 1642. 

Hawkins was born in 1952 in San Francisco, California. In 1972, he enlisted in the Marine Corps but was not ordered to active duty. In New England, Hawkins worked in construction and developed cooperatives for common works in the 1990s. As well as later became a UPS worker. He has run for governor of New York and for local office in Syracuse as a Green candidate more than twenty times. 

According to Ballotpedia, regarding Hawkins’ foreign policy, he says he will center the ecosocialist Green New Deal on quote “…the third existential threat: nuclear war.” He vocalized that wars will steer to nuclear annihilation if the system isn’t changed and nuclear weapons aren’t abolished. “We will call for deep US military spending cuts and converting to a defensive military posture from today’s global military empire of over 800 foreign military bases,” Hawkins says. He goes on to say that the savings will be a peace dividend to reinvest in a Global Green New Deal. This will go to economic human rights, clean energy, and regenerative agriculture around the world. Hawkins believes that instead of making enemies, the United States can use its wealth to make friends and be the humanitarian superpower for the world and not its imperialist superpower. “We will oppose US military intervention for regime change and speak up for human rights wherever they are violated.” 

Hawkins believes that parents and teachers should create an educational policy through locally elected school boards. He says that mayoral and state control of schools has become a way of closing public schools. As well as imposing educational policies from the top down. Particularly in the charter school privatization. Hawkins also states that high-stakes testing punishes students, teachers, and schools in high-poverty school districts for being poor. He also mentions that high-stakes testing has reduced education to teach to the test and takes away from many other qualities that should be developed by education, such as self-confidence, critical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork, and tolerance. 

On the topic of abortion, Hawkins supports the legal framework that has been established in the Roe v. Wade decision. He says that during the first trimester, it is the pregnant woman’s choice to decide to get an abortion or not. And in the second trimester, laws can only control abortion to protect the mother’s health. Lastly, Hawkins says that in the third trimester, or after “fetal viability pursuant to Planned Parenthood v Casey (1992),” the laws are able to prohibit abortions except for cases where it’s necessary to protect the health of the mother, according to his campaign website. He says this structure should be arranged into federal law by an act of Congress and opposes providers through laws or policies of abortion clinics that go beyond what he feels is needed to guarantee patients’ safety. However, Hawkins does support the laws that allow health professionals such as physicians and non-physician health professionals, which includes certified nurse midwives, nurse practitioners, and physicians’ assistants, to perform abortion procedures. 

According to his campaign website, Hawkins’ regulation policies include the following: “Ban and buy back military assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and bump stocks.” His requirements for a person to become a gun owner are similar to getting one’s driver’s license. These policies would require all gun owners to take and pass a gun safety test, visual test, as well as be licensed by a government agency. Hawkins wants to prevent people convicted of misdemeanor domestic violent crimes, which would include people guilty of assault or unlawful imprisonment, from being able to purchase and possess guns. 

Hawkins’ website for his campaign explains how if elected, he will demand open borders where movement between nations is free. People who are crossing the international borders will have to show their identification at a border crossing and only people who are wanted for any criminal charges held against them or affiliated with a terrorist organization would be detained. As well as anyone who crosses without checking in at the border crossing. “The status of undocumented immigrants should be legalized and provide a timely path to citizenship.” 

On Howie Hawkins campaign website, he explains why he has decided to run in the election. “I have decided to run because so many Greens and independent progressives and socialists have urged me to,” Hawkins says. “We have conceived of a campaign designed to grow the Green Party rapidly as we move into the 2020s and provide real solutions to the climate crisis, the new nuclear arms race, and ever-growing economic and racial inequality.” He goes on to say that he is not running by himself, but is running with a collective leadership. His campaign goals include building the Green Party as an activist and viable opposition to the two-capitalist-party system of corporate rule; creating an ecosocialist Green New Deal; social justice; civil liberties; and providing real solutions to life or death situations such as the Existential threat of a climate holocaust that he says could wipe out the human civilization, the threat to nuclear war, and the crisis a lot of families face, which is paying for food, rent, medical bills, etc. 

Don Blankenship is the Constitutionalist candidate for the 2020 presidential election. The Constitution Party believes in adhering to the original ideas and principles set forth in the United States Constitution. The Constitution party disagrees with scientists’ consensus on climate change, claiming that it is being used as an excuse to gain more control over development. The party is also opposed to abortion under any circumstances and adoption by same-sex couples. In addition, Constitutionalists oppose illegal immigration and are in favor of implementing stricter rules on legal immigration. Blankenship was the CEO of Massey Energy, the company whose negligence was responsible for a 2010 mine explosion that killed 29 miners. In 2015, Blankenship was convicted of conspiring to violate federal mine safety standards and was sentenced to a year in prison.

The Secretary of State, commonly abbreviated to SoS, deals with information. According to the official Missouri Secretary of State website, “The office is responsible for collecting, compiling, storing and publishing a variety of state documents. The Secretary of State, as keeper of the Great Seal of the State of Missouri, authenticates official acts of the governor. In addition, the Secretary of State serves as the chief elections official in Missouri.” 

John R. Ashcroft, Republican Party

Experience:  According to his website, Ashcroft has been Secretary of State for the past four years. He graduated from what is now Missouri S&T with a bachelor’s in engineering management and got his J.D. from St. Louis University Law school. He currently works in Ashcroft Law firm.

Issues: Ashcroft’s key policies include changing voting laws to require a photo ID to vote, helping new businesses by simplifying the registration process and reducing the associated costs, and Reducing the spending of the SoS office.

Yinka Faleti, Democratic Party

Experience: According to his website, Faleti has recently stepped down from his position as Executive Director of the non-profit Forward Through Ferguson in order to run for office. Faleti has graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and from Washington University Law School. Faleti earned the rank of captain while serving in the US Army and served as a state prosecutor.

Issues: Faleti’s key policies include protecting voting rights and ballot initiatives, and streamlining the process for new businesses.  

Paul Venable, Constitution Party

Experience: According to his website, Venable is chairman of the Constitution Party of Missouri.

Issues: Venable’s key policies include amending the Missouri constitution to allow for the statewide recall of all elected officials, conducting elections by hand-counted paper ballots, and abolishing Missouri primary elections in favor of the caucus system.

Carl Herman Freese, Libertarian Candidate

Issues: Freese does not have a platform with information on his policies. According to his campaign’s Facebook page, Freese is a member of the NRA, the Libertarian Party, and the United Church of Christ. 

It is now time again for Missouri to vote for their state senator. The election that happens every four years has come around and it’s not time to make our decision.

This year, the Democradic candidate is Steve Roberts, and the Republican candidate is Michael J. Hebron. In the primary, Roberts faced a few other opponents, which he beat out with a total of 12,238 votes. On the other hand, Hebron was the only Republican candidate and had no trouble getting the win. Roberts is also running for his second term.

Now that we know how these two men got to the final election, let’s get to know them and their ideas for Missouri. Steve Roberts is big on advocating for criminal justice reform. It’s a large part of his ideas this year and it was a part of what he did in the last few years already. Last year he authored legislation to incentivize employers to provide full time employment to felons seeking a second chance. He also in the past filed the Money Bail Reform Act, which prevented nonviolent and low level offenders from being confined unnecessarily while waiting for trial. As you can see he’s already made an impact for Missouri and this year he’s trying to advocate big for women’s rights and voter empowerment.

The next candidate is Republican Michael Hebron. Hebron was the only Republican runner this year but he didn’t take that as an automatic win. Hebron has campaigned tirelessly for redlining in Missouri. As well as other rights for property owners. Hebron is a realtor and knows the struggle of the job here in Missouri. He wants to be a voice for everyone. He believes that he, as a realtor working in poorer neighborhoods, has seen enough to know what the people need. He wants to be able to help business owners keep their stores and property owners to have better rights. He is putting a big fight out for redlining, which is refusal to give loans to people in poor neighborhoods as it might be a financial risk. Hebron is doing his best to get rid of those rules to help the people in property ownership.

With the election coming soon, it’s important to know each candidate and what they want to bring to the table. Always understand each side so you can give a fair and accurate vote. 

The Missouri State Treasurer oversees the state’s $20 billion in annual revenue, $6.5 billion investment portfolio, over $1 billion of Unclaimed Property, and MOST 529, an educational savings program for Missouri families.

Scott Fitzpatrick, Republican Party

Experience: According to his website, Fitzpatrick has served as Missouri Treasurer since his appointment in 2019. He previously served for six years in the Missouri House of Representatives including two years as the Chair of the House Budget Committee. Before entering politics he founded a small dock repair firm.

Issues: Fitzpatrick wants to continue his record-breakingly fast return of Unclaimed Property back to Missourians, push for every child born in the state to get a free college savings account, promote financial literacy, and bring more economic growth to Missouri.

Vicki Englund, Democratic Party

Experience: According to her website, Englund has served four years in the Missouri House of Representatives, six years on the Lindbergh Schools Board of Education, three years on the St. Louis County Economic Council and she owns a small business.

Issues: As Treasurer Englund wants to provide loans to small businesses struggling due to the COVID-19 pandemic, expand the MOST 529 college savings plan, promote inclusivity in the communities of this state and invest in sound businesses that support her goals for a better Missouri.

Nicholas (Nick) Kasoff, Libertarian Party 

Experience: Nick Kasoff has run in several previous elections for the Libertarian Party and works as an information systems consultant.

Issues: According to a post on his campaign’s Facebook account, Kasoff wants to make the Treasury more efficient by making more use of technology and help the environment along with ending programs like the college sweepstakes, which he views as pointless. 

Joseph Civettini, Green Party

Experience: According to his profile on the official Missouri green party website, Civettini has served as the Missouri Green Party Treasurer for 11 years and has a job as a Control Systems Engineer.

Issues: The Green Party as a whole supports helping the environment, decentralizing the government, anti-racist policies, and reforming the financial system.

The Attorney General is in charge of representing Missouri’s legal interests normally by representing the state in high courts. The Attorney General also sits on several Missouri commissions and can advise other government officials on legal matters.

Eric Schmitt, Republican Party

Experience: According to his website, Schmitt spent 16 years practicing the law in the private sector before serving eight years in the Missouri Senate and then working as State Treasurer for nearly two years. He was appointed to the Attorney General position in 2019.

Issues: If Schmitt continues serving as Attorney General he wants to get the state’s backlog of sexual assault kits tested, fight against human trafficking, help resolve the Opioid Crisis, hold big tech companies accountable and continue opposing the Affordable Care Act in court.

Richard Finneran, Democratic Party

Experience: According to his website, Finneran served as Assistant U.S. Attorney in St. Louis from 2010 to 2017.

Issues: If Finneran is elected to the position he plans to reduce the influence of partisan policy on legal decisions, advocate for victims of crimes and oppose the Republican party’s legal battle against the Affordable Care Act.

Kevin Babcock, Libertarian Party

Experience: Babcock has run for several other offices as the Libertarian candidate.

Issues: The Libertarian party as a whole stands for strong individual rights, limited government powers, and free-market capitalism.

Nicole Galloway, Democratic Party

Galloway is from Fenton and attended both Missouri S&T and Mizzou. She is a certified fraud examiner and currently lives in Columbia. Galloway is the state auditor, and she is running for governor to provide a new way. Galloway is running for governor because she wants to change the quality of Missouri education for the better, provide more job opportunities, end the waste of millions of taxpayer money, and more. Galloway plans on increasing the accessibility to healthcare, along with lowering the price of it. She plans on changing the way Covid-19 is being handled here in Missouri, tackling racial disparities, dealing with the corruption in Jefferson City, making the communities safer, and aiding the rural communities. 

Mike Parson, Republican Party

Parson is from Hickory County, and he served as an Mp for two tours of duty in the army. Parson also spent 22 years as a part of law enforcement. Parson is currently the governor of Missouri and thus is running for reelection. He is running for reelection because he pledged to move Missouri forward with integrity, trust, honor, and common sense. Parson wants to get Missouri back to work as soon as possible and lead the state through this economic comeback. Rather than reforming the police like other states are doing, Parson wants to give the police more tools to deal with the violence in Missouri cities.

Rik Combs, Libertarian Party

Combs grew up on a cattle farm and went to school at the University of Alabama. He also served in the Air Force and got his MS and Ph.D. while on duty. Currently, Combs is living in Cole County and is active in his community and charities. Combs is running for governor because he wants to keep Missouri from being controlled by special interest groups and to stop the corruption. He wants to slash taxes, reduce government spending, and protect private property. Combs believes in limited government, free enterprise, personal responsibility, and personal accountability. He is also pro-life and pro-gun. He believes that having the ability to defend one’s family and neighbors is the highest calling and responsibility bestowed by God. 

Jerome H. Bauer, Green Party

Bauer has a Ph.D. in Sanskrit Religious Literature, an MA in Religious Studies, an AB, Anthropology, and an AM in Social Science. He is also the co-founder of the Washington University Cooperative Network which was created in 2003. Bauer is currently living in St. Louis. He is running for governor because he believes that people can do better than Better Together, Medicaid Expansion, and the Green New Deal. Bauer believes in universal health care, disability rights, universal design, transportation equality, and equity. He also believes that saving that planet is neither left nor right, just common sense.