Missouri’s Busch Valentine drops new folksy campaign anthem. It made some Democrats cringe
Trudy Busch Valentine, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Missouri, put out a video Friday featuring what she described as her new campaign anthem — a folksy song called “Show Me Trudy.”
The video features various photographs of the Senate hopeful smiling with constituents as the song plays in the background. The lyrics of the song play across the bottom of the screen, karaoke-style: “An inspiration for all to see – show me Missouri, show me Trudy.”
On Twitter, Busch Valentine said the song “perfectly captures what this campaign is all about.”
The video, particularly the song, is a unique campaign tactic for Busch Valentine, who has to bridge a wide gap to defeat Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, the Republican nominee, on Nov. 8. While some supporters praised the song’s earnest nature on social media, some Democrats and Republicans quickly made light of it on Friday.
“I support her campaign and I really want her to win, but, as for the video, can I be quoted cringing?” said Jeff Smith, a former Democratic state senator. “It’s an uphill battle and I certainly understand the desire to try innovative approaches. I’m not persuaded this one will resonate.”
Jacob Long, Busch Valentine’s communications director, said Jim Ford, a supporter from Webster Groves, made the song. Busch Valentine’s team added the photos to Long’s song for the video.
“We didn’t solicit it, but we do think it perfectly captures what our campaign is all about,” Long said in a text. “Being a new voice, serving with integrity, and time for a change.”
Ford, a retired educator, wrote the lyrics and played guitar on the recording. Ford posted the song on his YouTube channel Monday.
Reached by phone Friday, Ford said he encouraged Busch Valentine’s team to use the song but was unaware that it was used in the video published on social media Friday.
“I didn’t see it, but I think it’s great,” he said. “I tried to use these images and words, they’re mostly from her website — my mom was a nurse and so that’s another reason Trudy and her campaign appealed to me. Mom was always a healer and we need a lot of healing in our state and in our country. So I tried to highlight that in the song.”
Busch Valentine, a nurse and heir to the Anheuser-Busch fortune, faces long odds in the race to fill retiring U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt’s seat. Democrats haven’t won a Senate race in Missouri since 2012. A poll released earlier on Friday showed Schmitt holding a double digit lead over Busch Valentine.
“She’s got a major uphill battle so she has to try things that haven’t been tried before,” said state Rep. Wes Rogers, a Kansas City Democrat and vocal Busch Valentine supporter. “This is something I’ve never seen. So, I’m all in.”
The video accompanying the song features photo of Busch Valentine with four Clydesdales, the breed of horse that has served as a symbol for her family’s beer brand Budweiser.
Rogers said he thinks people talking about the video is good for Busch Valentine.
“It’s kind of silly, you know, silly and endearing aren’t exclusive of each other,” he said. “If people watch it and think well, gee, you know, she’s just a nurse trying to do good then that’s a good thing. Even if they chuckle at a little bit of silliness.”
Missouri Republicans were less sympathetic.
Steele Shippy, a GOP strategist and former campaign manager to Republican Gov. Mike Parson, criticized the video in a statement to The Star.
“Only an heiress to millions of dollars who was born with more money than most Missourians will ever see in their lifetime would release such an ego-driven piece of campaign rhetoric,” the statement said. “A born-millionaire dubbing themselves ‘an inspiration to all’ while thousands of Missourians are suffering from inflation is the most ridiculous, out-of-touch statements I’ve seen in recent history.”
When asked about some of the negative reaction to the song, Ford said he used phrases like “heaping dose of honesty and integrity” because music is different from a political speech or bumper sticker.
“Probably she’s not going to say that, but in a song in a state with country music and mountain music and Ozark music, there are a lot of those kinds of phrases in music and I thought that would just kind of get the message across,” he said. “That’s kind of who she is. She’s not a typical politician, so if they cringed at that, that would be my fault. Hopefully, they weren’t cringing at the photos, which I’m sure were great.”
This story was updated to clarify Steele Shippy’s title.
This story was originally published August 26, 2022 at 4:31 PM.
