(The Center Square) – Two female Missouri senators on Tuesday announced 2024 campaigns, one for the U.S. Senate and the other for lieutenant governor.
State Sen. Karla May, D-St. Louis, launched her campaign for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Republican Josh Hawley during a rally outside the civil courts building in St. Louis. State Sen. Holly Rehder, R-Sikeston, announced her campaign for Missouri’s lieutenant governor on Tuesday through a media release.
Both senators had legislation signed into law by Republican Gov. Mike Parson last week. Senate Bill 34, sponsored by May, authorizes school districts and charter schools to offer elective social studies courses on the Hebrew scriptures and New Testament. Senate Bill 39, sponsored by Rehder, prohibits any student from competing in a sport designated for the biological sex opposite to the biological sex on the student’s birth certificate.
May is the third notable Democrat to announce a campaign for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Republican Josh Hawley. St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell announced his candidacy in June. After serving on the Ferguson City Council and implementing a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice after the death of Michael Brown, Bell defeated seven-term incumbent prosecutor Robert McCulloch.
Lucas Kunce, the runner-up to Trudy Busch Valentine in the 2022 Democrat primary for the U.S. Senate seat of retiring Republican Roy Blunt, announced his campaign on Jan. 6.
May served in the state House from 2010 to 2018. She currently serves the 4th Senatorial District covering parts of St. Louis and some surrounding municipalities. She currently is the Senate minority caucus chair and serves on the Appropriations Committee in addition to several others.
Rehder was elected to the state Senate after serving in the House from 2013 to 2020. She worked in governmental affairs in the cable television industry. According to her campaign release, she was a mother and a high school dropout at 16 and vowed to escape a cycle of poverty.
“I am running for Missouri Lieutenant Governor because I want to better the lives of all Missourians by unabashedly protecting sacred Christian and Conservative values,” Rehder said in a statement. “… I am not afraid to rock the boat for the sake of my constituents.”
Rehder might run against House Speaker Dean Plocher, R-St. Louis, who often has been mentioned as a candidate for the office being vacated by Mike Kehoe, a Republican running for governor.
“I don’t shy from hard work, and I won’t be outworked running for Lt. governor,” Rehder said. “I will be the hardest working candidate in the race, just as I have been in my previous elections and working for my constituents.”
