‘It would not be received well.’ A Gov. Galloway would face heavy Republican headwinds
It’s January 11, 2021, and COVID-19 is raging across Missouri. The economy continues to suffer. Kansas City and St. Louis are coming off a year of deadly record-setting violence.
Into these cascading crises steps Nicole Galloway, the new governor of Missouri, with plans to order mask use statewide, aggressively implement Medicaid expansion and combat the drivers of violent crime.
That’s the hope of Democrats – and the fear of Republicans – as Election Day approaches. Galloway, the state auditor, promises a sharp departure from the past two years of leadership from Republican Gov. Mike Parson if elected.
But the agenda of the former Boone County treasurer will run headlong into the General Assembly, where Republicans are in firm control. Facing four years with a Democratic governor, conservative legislators could slow down or frustrate her plans, if not stop them altogether.
Democrats are braced for some opposition to Galloway as a matter of course, but they believe that some factors would help ease her way. While no one expects control of the House or Senate to change hands, they are optimistic the election will erode Republican majorities in both chambers – giving Galloway greater leverage in disputes.
Democrats are also hopeful that enough common ground exists to make progress on some key issues, such as violent crime.
“Nicole is not especially partisan. She’s very pragmatic, so I think she’d be willing to work with legislators on a number of issues,” said Sen. Lauren Arthur, a Kansas City Democrat.
Republicans expect parts of Galloway’s agenda will face a chilly reception in the General Assembly. But Missouri Democrats have recent experience navigating similar situations and point to former Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon, who served two terms while working with a Republican-controlled legislature.
If elected, Galloway’s first standoff with Republicans would likely come almost immediately. She has promised to issue a statewide mask order, a step to control the virus that Parson has resisted.
“If we do not contain the spread, if we don’t have a mask rule, if we don’t have real contact tracing, if we can’t deploy CARES Act funds at the local level to really fight this virus and help people get through this, then we won’t be able to repair our economy,” Galloway told The Star’s editorial board in a recent interview.
Health experts have enthusiastically encouraged mask use for much of the pandemic and Galloway has indicated she will follow their lead. For his part, Parson has publicly called for mask wearing but has also been spotted at events without one.
A statewide order would almost certainly provoke a prompt backlash from conservative and rural quarters of Missouri. “Don’t mess with me” attitudes and disdain for Democratic policies could combine to spark a legislative challenge to the new governor’s powers.
“It would not be received well,” said Sen. Eric Burlison, a Battlefield Republican. “I think people in Kansas City, St. Louis and even Springfield forget how big Missouri is, how much of Missouri is very, very rural.”
Neighboring Kansas shows what can happen when a Democratic governor imposes a mask order on a conservative-leaning state. In June, GOP leaders struck a bargain with Gov. Laura Kelly that allowed counties to opt out of her orders. When Kelly imposed a mask mandate in July, most counties swiftly spurned it.
“If Nicole gets elected, it wouldn’t surprise me to see some of the legislation put forth that mirrors a lot of what maybe Kansas legislators did to try and control Laura Kelly’s ability to take action,” Arthur said.
Even local mask orders have encountered intense opposition. In Branson, the president of a local medical center was confronted by several individuals in a parking lot following a board of aldermen meeting where he spoke in favor of a mask mandate earlier this month, The Branson Tri Lakes News reported.
James Harris, a Republican consultant in Jefferson City with ties to Parson, predicted a mask mandate would be met with “wild opposition” around the state.
“I think you mandate the mask in Gentry County, Missouri, and folks would be coming with pitchforks,” Harris said, referencing the rural northwest county. “I think she would have a hard time implementing things in her agenda like the statewide mask mandate.”
A poll conducted earlier this month by Saint Louis University of 931 likely Missouri voters found that in the past month, nearly 73 percent reported wearing a mask when in stores and other businesses all of the time, while about 22 percent said they wore masks some of the time. Less than 6 percent said they never wore one.
Respondents were evenly split over Parson’s handling of the virus: 47.9 percent expressed some level of approval while 47.7 percent expressed at least some disapproval. They rated their local government’s handling of the virus higher, with 56.2 percent of giving at least some level of approval.
Galloway contends her election would mean Missourians have decided they want a mask mandate.
“In winning this election, people will have chosen a path to reset our coronavirus strategy, to have a statewide mask order, to prevent further shutdowns in our economy, to get our schools open again,” Galloway told reporters on Tuesday.
Will Galloway, Republicans find common ground?
Beyond her promise to tackle COVID-19, Galloway has released plans aimed at lowering healthcare costs and improving addiction and mental health services.
She has committed to sign a bill placing insurance protections for pre-existing conditions into state law. Such a measure would come into play if the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down the Affordable Care Act, which currently protects coverage for those with pre-existing conditions at the national level.
Galloway has emphasized criminal justice reform and said she would advocate for an amendment to the state constitution prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation and other characteristics; and ending the notary requirement for absentee ballots, which her campaign calls a “modern-day poll tax.”
But Galloway would assume office during a public health disaster unlike anything Missouri has experienced in at least a century. Until the pandemic begins to subside, her administration would remain on an emergency footing that could hamper efforts to pass a non-COVID agenda.
“It takes your offensive agenda and sets it on the shelf for a while,” Nixon, who entered office in 2009 during the Great Recession, said of becoming governor during a crisis.
The former governor recalled how the first year of his administration ended up dominated by a state budget crisis. Priorities, such as higher education, had to wait.
Health experts estimate a vaccine could be widely available to the public by mid-to-late 2021 that would begin to end the pandemic. After that, a Gov. Galloway would have a freer hand to pursue her policy portfolio.
She would still be constrained by a Republican-controlled legislature, but Galloway campaign spokesman Kevin Donohoe predicted Democrats are poised to pick up seats in both the House and Senate. He added that Galloway has worked with both parties to pass legislation during her time as auditor.
“Larger Democratic caucuses will give Governor Galloway the opportunity to bring both parties together to take action on healthcare, the pandemic, and putting the state back on the path to economic recovery,” Donohoe said in a statement.
Nixon said during his time as governor there was room to advance common goals even with a Republican majority.
“Clearly, you have a partisan divide there that presents opportunities for people to disagree if they want to,” Nixon said. “I think the responsibility and opportunity for a governor is at all times to try to bring people together.”
Combating violent crime offers a possible area for bipartisan action. Kansas City is having a record-breaking year for homicides, with at least 159 so far.
A special session called by Parson this summer to address violent crime ended with the General Assembly passing just two bills. But a proposal allowing inadmissible witness statements to be used in court in certain circumstances advanced through the House with bipartisan support even though it didn’t make it to Parson’s desk.
Burlison said violent crime is an area where both parties can work together. Burlison, who served in the House during Nixon’s tenure, said even during a Democratic administration there were times when parts of the Republican Party agreed with Nixon.
“I would imagine that’s probably what she would have,” Burlison said of Galloway. “Her challenge would be to really build strong relationships and good communication with the speaker and the Senate leadership and other senators.”
