Election 2020: Call makes endorsements for South County contests

The Call endorses Ernie Trakas for 6th District County Council and Sam Page for county executive.

1st District Senate

Voters have two viable, energetic candidates running for the 1st District Senate seat currently held by Scott Sifton, who is term-limited.

Beck, a Democrat, is the candidate most in the mold of Sifton, having held a legislative seat representing Affton for six years after serving on the Affton Board of Education.

Lenihan, a Republican, is CEO of a medical university and has the background to bring unique ideas to how the state handles health care, which takes up more of the state budget than anything else.

But we believe that voters in this Senate district, which runs from Oakville to Richmond Heights, will find the ideas of Beck more appealing, including his commitment to ensuring that Medicaid expansion is enacted along with a focus on support for unions and the police.

The Call endorses Doug Beck.

15th District Senate

Rep. Deb Lavender, who is challenging incumbent Sen. Andrew Koenig, did not submit The Call’s candidate questionnaire, which makes her ineligible for endorsement.

But The Call cannot endorse Koenig, who has shown a troubling tendency to try to put local newspapers like us out of business by not only trying to lift the current requirement that public notices have to appear in local newspapers, but actually inserting a clause that public notices cannot appear in newspapers.

We don’t believe that Sunset Hills voters, who rely on this newspaper for critical coverage of local government, support this, and we don’t see how a public official can justify anything that imperils local news.

The Call does not endorse.

94th District House

This race is a rematch of the November 2018 election, where winner Jim Murphy, R-Oakville, edged Mehlville school board member Jean Pretto in a heartbreaker for Pretto, a Democrat. As we said last time, we think that voters would be well served in the state House by both of these candidates, but in this case we give the tip of the hat to Murphy, who has proven effective as a legislator during his two years in office.

He was named the Freshman Legislator of the Year by the GOP and, even more impressively, got two bills passed in this year’s shortened COVID-19 legislative session — two of the 15 total bills passed.

With Republican supermajorities in both the House and Senate, it’s difficult for any Democratic lawmaker in Jefferson City to make a significant difference when there’s virtually no hope of passing any bills against that opposition.

We think Pretto would be an exciting and passionate defender of the 94th District’s values in the House and would love to hear what we’re sure would be her very colorful floor speeches — but we also can’t deny that by any measure, Murphy has proven his worth as a bipartisan legislator in the last two years. Because he’s accomplished more in two years than some legislators accomplish in eight and has proven himself to be a successful lawmaker, The Call endorses Jim Murphy.

95th District House

In this race for the 95th District seat representing Oakville, we believe Oakville residents also have two good candidates in Republican incumbent Rep. Michael O’Donnell and Democratic challenger Ann Zimpfer, a retired Mehlville teacher.

We applaud Zimpfer’s focus on education, especially early childhood education and special needs, but we also believe O’Donnell brings important experience to the Missouri House as a municipal bonding professional. We feel better about significant bonding legislation like that passed to improve roads and bridges last year when professional eyes like O’Donnell’s are watching it.

The Call endorses Mike O’Donnell.

96th District House

This race is also a November 2018 rematch between Republican incumbent David Gregory and Democrat Erica Hoffman. Hoffman is a passionate advocate on issues like health care and the environment, as well as nonpartisan issues like the flooding that has plagued Sunset Hills and Fenton in recent years. She has proven herself to be a dedicated community volunteer in St. Louis County and the state, and if all citizens were as engaged as she is, this world would be a better place.

Among all of South County’s legislative districts, the 96th District is one of the ones that leans most Republican, so we’re not at all sure that the outcome will be different this time. But we endorse on who should win, not who will win.

The Call endorses Erica Hoffman.