MOScout Daily Update: Mercy Faces Vax Protest - COVID ICU Stays Near High - More Redistricting Talk and more...

Mercy Faces Vax Protest

Springfield News-Leader’s Andrew Sullender reports on an anti-vaccine protest over the weekend outside Mercy Hospital.  Sen. Mike Moon and Rep. Brian Seitz were in attendance. Read it here.

·         Last month, Mercy hospital announced their employees need to be vaccinated by the end of September or face possible termination. Since then, local anti-vaccine groups have periodically protested outside the hospital at the corner of Sunshine and National. No previous protest matched the rally held Saturday evening, which drew a crowd of more than 200 and had protestors trailing out for half a block in two directions. The purported message of these protests is to take a stand against employers requiring vaccinations and mandating personal medical decisions for their employees.

·         Though some stayed on the message of personal choice, it was clear that many protestors believe the vaccine is dangerous, falsely claiming it is killing more than the virus itself.

·         According to that protestor, the COVID-19 vaccine was part of a “depopulation agenda” by the government. “Their goal is to make everybody sick. I’m not going to get a vaccine. I’m not going to wear a mask,” he said. “There are a lot of people who have gotten the vaccine that are in that hospital with quote and unquote COVID.”   The man explained he believes that the government is hiding adverse side effects by pretending that those dying from the vaccine are instead dying from the virus.

Meanwhile

Missourians in the ICU with COVID remains near record highs according to the state’s dashboard. But they haven’t moved meaningfully higher in the past few days, bringing hope that this wave may be cresting.

And

National media is reporting that booster shots may be coming later this year. “For weeks, Biden administration officials have been analyzing the rise in Covid-19 cases, trying to figure out if the Delta variant is better able to evade the vaccines or if the vaccines have waned in strength over time. According to some administration experts, both could be true, a distressing combination that is re-energizing a pandemic that the nation fervently hoped had been curbed.”

More Redistricting Talk

As Dems and Republicans jostle to push their agendas into the new maps, each party will have some conflicting interests.  The overall goal of each party of course is to increase the number of seats that they can win.  But each party also have constituencies to deal with. 

·         Republicans’ main constituency is the current incumbents.  In the state House, they’re aim may be less about trying to finagle one more seat to their supermajority, but rather to prevent incumbents to be unnecessarily drawn into districts together.  At the congressional level incumbents will want the safest seats possible, which will be at odds with the impulse from others to drawn a 7-1 map.

·         In addition to incumbents, Democrats have several other key constituencies that will influence their aims. Labor, women, and African Americans all are power groups within the Democratic Party and will sometimes have specific interests in particular seats and districts which conflict with the Dems’ overall goal for a map with more seats for the party.

And

“Missouri Mapmaker” makes a first stab at a state senate map for Missouri.  See it here.

·         SD19 is GOP held, but as it would become a Boone-only district, it will almost certainly flip to the Democrats in 2024. If current suburban trends continue, Democrats could be well positioned to win SD30, SD15, SD8, and SD23 later in the decade.

·         As with the current map, I don't see a path to a Democratic to a majority in this decade, barring very massive coalition shifts. That being said, Democrats probably have a reasonable chance of breaking the GOP's veto-proof majority later in the decade.

Dems Plan on Ten Regional Offices

Dems are plotting out their statewide infrastructure for 2022.  It includes ten “regional offices around the state in November 2021.”

And they’re starting to hire for them.

Sheets Gets MML ED Spot

Press release: The Missouri Municipal League Board of Directors is proud to announce the selection of a new executive director for the League, Richard Sheets, effective immediately. The Board voted to select Sheets at their most recent meeting in August.  Sheets has served as the League’s interim executive director since January 2021, after the retirement of previous director Dan Ross… Sheets has served with the Missouri Municipal League for 40 years… Prior to joining MML, Sheets served on the staff of Missouri Governor Joseph Teasdale….

New Committees

Jim Schulte formed a candidate committee (Jim Schulte for Missouri) to run for House 49 as a Republican.  Rep. Travis Fitzwater is termed.

Genesis was formed.  It’s a PAC.  Its treasurer is Steve Drake.

Quality Schools Alliance PAC was formed.  Its treasurer is Amber Watson.

Southern Drawl PAC was formed.  Its treasurer is Melissa Largent.

Lobbyist Registrations

Alex Eaton, Rebecca Lohmann, Danny Pfeifer, and Greg Porter added Leafly.

$5K+ Contributions

Legal Missouri 2022 - $22,500 from Fresh Green LLC.

MO Republican Party - $7,500 from House Republican Campaign Committee, Inc.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to David Berry, and Vernon Scoville.