I spoke with a man named Roger. He's a farmer, but a lot of times you can't make ends meet just being a farmer. He was also a steelworker, a truck driver, and always a caretaker. He loves animals, and he mostly just wanted to meet Liberty Belle. He was happy she was on the campaign flyer so he could take her photo home.
Another man came up to a group of us, pointed at the word "Democrat" above the Webster County Democrats' tent, and said, "Tell me you're not one of those!" I told him I was. I didn't let him stomp off so easily. I walked alongside him for a couple of steps as Liberty Belle tried to eat a piece of pie out of his hands.
"Why'd you say that?" I said.
He stopped. He doesn't think Vice President Harris is prepared to run the country. He also isn't a big fan of former President Trump, but he thinks he'd do better. I asked him about local government. He said he doesn't vote a straight ticket. He looked over my flyer and said that he used to be in law enforcement after he served in Vietnam, and he wanted to know if my plans to fight corruption included whistleblower protections. I said they did, and we talked for a bit longer about my plans for a Public Corruption Unit. He said he'd vote for me. He'd never heard of Andrew Bailey.
I saw a young couple walk by with their kid. They were talking about something. Mom said, "Do I have to find the Republican tent?" I interrupted and said, "Of course you don't!" I'm not sure there was even one there.
Mom wanted to register to vote. We found out she was already registered, but I gave her my card to make sure she was registered at the right address. Everyone should check, including you. We talked about a few issues with voting, with government. Their kid really wanted to say hi to Liberty Belle, and after overcoming a strong bout of shyness, he waved.
We live in a beautiful country. There are a lot of people in power who don't want us talking to each other, asking about what we hope our home can look like, helping each other fix problems, making sure we're registered to vote. When we do, we learn that we agree on a lot, that we want our government to work for us, and that far too often it doesn't.
Just this week, we saw an illegal attempt by our Secretary of State and Attorney General to take away Missourians' ability to access the ballot. If you haven't seen it, I explained what was going on with Amendment 3 in two videos.
