ANALYSIS |
With three weeks to election day, Republican Eric Schmitt is turning his attention to the high rate of inflation as a potentially winning issue for him in his U.S. Senate race against Democrat Trudy Busch Valentine.
While Schmitt’s campaign has generally declined requests for media interviews (including multiple requests from the Daily Citizen), they are pounding out news releases, Tweets and TV ads for their focus on pocketbook issues.
And, as part of their case against Democratic policies, they picked out one comment from a Busch Valentine interview with the Daily Citizen, in which she said she was pessimistic about the fight against inflation.
“Well, I think that’s going to be difficult” to bring inflation under control. She cited the war in Ukraine and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. “We still have had back-ups (supply chain delays) in being able to get things to America. We need to start manufacturing more products in America so we don’t get into these types of situations.”
In a press release Oct. 12, the Schmitt campaign said: “It’s not shocking that Valentine won’t do a thing about inflation. Living in her mansion, higher prices do not impact Valentine. Limousine-liberal Valentine has shown that she is going to D.C. for her elitist friends — not to lower prices for working families.”
The following day, the campaign issued another release, slamming the Biden administration after data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed inflation rose by an annual rate of 8.2 percent in September.
Schmitt’s press release said: “Make no mistake — the Democrat’s radical economic policies directly caused these skyrocketing inflation numbers. Missouri families deserve better than my liberal opponent …”
In the Daily Citizen interview, Busch Valentine said she would focus on building a strong middle class as key to growing the economy. “In Missouri, we need more good jobs, we need more businesses to come here. We need more manufacturing plants. We have to get more union jobs going again, bring back the union jobs, because they have really been the best path to having a strong, working middle-class family with good benefits, good vacations, good health care, all those things.”
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
RECENT SENATE CAMPAIGN DIGESTS
In the News
Kanye West becomes flashpoint in Missouri Senate race — The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports “Schmitt tweeted and then deleted support for Kanye West on Tuesday night, three days after the rapper was locked out of Twitter and Instagram over antisemitic posts that the social networks said violated their policies.” After deleting the post, Schmitt said he wasn’t aware of West’s most recent comments. Busch Valentine condemned Schmitt’s original Tweet, saying “he is openly embracing those who spew vile antisemitism.”
Eric Schmitt says children are exposed to ‘radical ideology’ in schools — According to a story in the Post-Dispatch, Schmitt gave a brief interview Oct. 9 after talking to a St. Louis suburban crowd. In answer to a question about whether children were under threat in schools, Schmitt said: “We’ve exposed a lot of them with this radical ideology, critical race theory, and people who tell you it’s not happening in our schools, that’s not truthful.”
AdWars
Tying into his theme attacking Busch Valentine for being out of touch with middle-class voters, Schmitt released his latest TV ad Oct. 11 in partnership with the Missouri Republican Party. The ad says, in part: “Trudy Busch Valentine is an heiress. She comes from billions and does not care what inflation is doing to your wallet. … My blue-collar roots run deep. I’ll stop Biden’s tax-and-spend agenda — dead in its tracks.”
Busch Valentine’s latest ad hammers at Schmitt for his anti-abortion views and actions taken, as attorney general, to implement Missouri’s trigger laws that ban abortions, with no exceptions for rape or incest. The ad says in part: “As a nurse, I know the gut-wrenching decisions women make about their health care. And I am horrified by the freedoms taken away under Eric Schmitt.”
Tweets of the Week
The Daily Citizen Senate Campaign Digest is compiled by David Stoeffler, CEO of the Daily Citizen. Stoeffler has more than 30 years of experience in covering politics in Wisconsin, Nebraska and Missouri. If you have tips or suggestions for the Senate campaign coverage, you may email him at dstoeffler@sgfcitizen.org.
