Ours as well! We had lots of great amendments and speeches for (and against for a couple of them). I had never been to a caucus and had no idea what to expect, but really enjoyed it even though I was STARVING - as I got there at 8:30 and I didn't leave until almost 2:00. Ended at ~1:15 but I am a gabber. I had been warned to bring a snack, but left my bag of trail mix at home.
Yes you had to declare your party but for the overall voter base, party registration is still optional, I worked the primary in 2022, and we had to ask each voter which party ballot they wanted, regardless of what they were registered as or if they had even declared a party affiliation. (the option to affiliate was just added by the legislature in the 2022 session but didn't go into effect until after the 2022 elections.) Asking people if they wanted to declare a party when they voted started with the April 2023 elections (in my area anyway). Rep Dan Stacy has been fighting a multi-year battle to pass closed primaries, where you have to vote the party you are registered as, but it has failed to pass year after year. Not sure of the reason, other than the theory some have that there are some fake R's who like it this way? That, and the Senate fails to get much of anything done these past several years.
Senator Rick Brattin is amazing but there are a lot of RINOS in the MO. senate AND in the MO.House of Representatives, including my representative, Sherry Gallick. For anyone from MO. reading this comment, Diane Diehl, Jeff Farnan, Mike Haffner and Dave Hinman are RINOS too.
Add Mary Elizabeth Coleman to that list. She has her eye on running for Congress and led the effort to kill the landfill bill last session and looks like the monied class is working to defeat it again this session. (big PAC contributions to the climbers who are raising war chests for future runs) If you are not familiar, there is an effort to put a landfill in just north of the Cass/Jackson line. Homes/schools/churches and Longview Lake are all close by. Haffner has been a huge advocate for the bill that would enable surrounding municipalities to 'kill the fill' Current law says 'one half mile' but new legislation would make it one mile, allowing Lee's Summit, Grandview and Raymore to shut this down. There is a small patch of land along 150 where there are land acquisition efforts that is KCMO and while Mayor Q is playing dumb, he is not fighting it either. The proposed site is JUST under the half mile requirement. This has actually been a bipartisan fight. A woman who is a huge lib and a thorn in our side in local elections is big in this fight as her neighborhood is adjacent to this site. Proof politics does sometimes make for strange bedfellows.
Ours as well! We had lots of great amendments and speeches for (and against for a couple of them). I had never been to a caucus and had no idea what to expect, but really enjoyed it even though I was STARVING - as I got there at 8:30 and I didn't leave until almost 2:00. Ended at ~1:15 but I am a gabber. I had been warned to bring a snack, but left my bag of trail mix at home.
Yes you had to declare your party but for the overall voter base, party registration is still optional, I worked the primary in 2022, and we had to ask each voter which party ballot they wanted, regardless of what they were registered as or if they had even declared a party affiliation. (the option to affiliate was just added by the legislature in the 2022 session but didn't go into effect until after the 2022 elections.) Asking people if they wanted to declare a party when they voted started with the April 2023 elections (in my area anyway). Rep Dan Stacy has been fighting a multi-year battle to pass closed primaries, where you have to vote the party you are registered as, but it has failed to pass year after year. Not sure of the reason, other than the theory some have that there are some fake R's who like it this way? That, and the Senate fails to get much of anything done these past several years.
Senator Rick Brattin is amazing but there are a lot of RINOS in the MO. senate AND in the MO.House of Representatives, including my representative, Sherry Gallick. For anyone from MO. reading this comment, Diane Diehl, Jeff Farnan, Mike Haffner and Dave Hinman are RINOS too.
Add Mary Elizabeth Coleman to that list. She has her eye on running for Congress and led the effort to kill the landfill bill last session and looks like the monied class is working to defeat it again this session. (big PAC contributions to the climbers who are raising war chests for future runs) If you are not familiar, there is an effort to put a landfill in just north of the Cass/Jackson line. Homes/schools/churches and Longview Lake are all close by. Haffner has been a huge advocate for the bill that would enable surrounding municipalities to 'kill the fill' Current law says 'one half mile' but new legislation would make it one mile, allowing Lee's Summit, Grandview and Raymore to shut this down. There is a small patch of land along 150 where there are land acquisition efforts that is KCMO and while Mayor Q is playing dumb, he is not fighting it either. The proposed site is JUST under the half mile requirement. This has actually been a bipartisan fight. A woman who is a huge lib and a thorn in our side in local elections is big in this fight as her neighborhood is adjacent to this site. Proof politics does sometimes make for strange bedfellows.
I hope other Missourians will weigh in and we can spread the word through our C&C group!