Report from the Front Lines: Missouri

The Real-Life Inspiration from Running Everywhere

Meet Ashley Cossins. (Trust me, you’ll be glad you did.)

In her early 20s, Ashley and her husband tried for more than a year to get pregnant. But were unsuccessful.

It was then that doctors informed her she had endometriosis. In the decade since then, as the Missouri Independent wrote, Ashley has undergone “multiple surgeries, five rounds of IVF and miscarriages.” For her care, she was often forced to make a 400-mile round trip drive to St. Louis to access the closest specialist covered by her insurance. At one point, she “had depleted her lifetime fertility insurance benefits available through her previous workplace,” so she had to change jobs to continue her care.

In 2022, after the Dobbs decision leaked, Ashley’s doctor told her that she faced a non-viable pregnancy, requiring a medical abortion . The procedure would also allow her medical team to collect tissue that might allow them to better understand the cause of her infertility. In a short time, such a medical abortion would become illegal in Missouri.

“There’s no room for us,” Cossins has concluded, as she told the Independent. “There’s no grace. There’s no give, unless we demand it.” 

So…Ashley is demanding it!

What’s she doing?

“[M]otivated by the stigma and red tape she’s experienced throughout her infertility journey,” Ashley Cossins has stepped up and is now running to join the very Missouri statehouse that banned abortions in situations like her’s. And she’s running against an incumbent who didn’t even face an opponent in 2022.

When I tell you that candidates running in tough districts are heroes—are champions of democracy—Ashley Cossins (in the center below) is exactly who I’m talking about!

Stepping Up Across Missouri

A few weeks ago, I sent out a post celebrating that democracy champions had really stepped up in Missouri, running all across the Show Me State this year. Here were the numbers I presented:

• In 2022, Democrats didn’t run in 40% of Missouri’s 163 statehouse seats.

• But in 2024, candidates have stepped up to run for seats in 135 districts. That drops the number of uncontested races by more than half—to 17%.

That’s huge progress in Missouri’s long battle for democracy. And a number to build on for 2026.

But while the numbers are exciting, they don’t tell you the whole story. Not even close.

The real story comes when you meet the candidates—heroes like Ashley Cossins—feel their passion and courage, hear their compelling stories, and see the inspiration and excitement they generate.

Which is what I experienced this weekend in a visit to Democrat Days of the Ozarks, in Springfield, Missouri.

First, just look at this crowd of Democrats, coming together in a very “red” part of America. Southwest Missouri:

Now, imagine telling a crowd this big that in the next election for the Missouri statehouse—which is one of America’s most extreme—they had no choice but to vote for the same extremist who’d been there for years, because no one was running against them. That was essentially what much of this crowd would’ve faced in 2020 and 2022. Talk about ruining a gathering!

But this weekend, this crowd was able to celebrate the opposite news: that in almost every district in the region, a Democrat is challenging one of those GOP extremists (Congress too!). That this time, they do have a choice. They have a candidate to rally around, and support. That where they live, there’s a candidate working hard to bring transparency to Missouri’s broken statehouse and accountability to an extremist politician who has rarely (if ever) faced accountability in the past.

But…even better than telling them this, that crowd had the chance to meet the candidates themselves, as I did.

I’ve already introduced you to Ashely Cossins and her story, so let me introduce another strong woman running against another incumbent who ran unopposed in 2022.

Meet Leslie Jones (on the right):

As her website explains, Leslie is a mother of two, a music therapist, educator, business owner and advocate. She has “worked as a board certified music therapist for 15 years, working with all ages and abilities in our community within schools, outpatient therapy clinics, hospitals and skilled nursing facilities.” Leslie has a masters degree, and also works as an adjunct professor at her alma mater. In her activism, Leslie also served as a team lead for the Springfield chapter of Moms Demand Action, advocating to reduce gun violence in the community and state. It took all but one second of talking with Leslie to sense what a passionate advocate she is for her causes, including ending the private voucher giveaway now exploding across Missouri.

And last but not least, let me introduce you to Stephanie Hein. While I was flying home yesterday, she and her team had recovered from our dinner and were already canvassing for her November re-election:

And the reason Stephanie is in office in the first place (her first term as state rep.) is because of all the tireless canvassing she did in 2022, where she took on, outworked and defeated an incumbent in a district Trump won in 2020. Her win—by 203 votes!—was a shock to the Missouri GOP, and the only “flip” from red to blue in Missouri in 2022.

In meeting Stephanie, I felt like I was talking to a sitting Governor—no joke. Talented and sharp with broad experience in the private sector. Confident, savvy but down to earth. My guess is she runs circles around her GOP colleagues in Jefferson City who’ve never had to win a real election (which is one reason they are targeting her this cycle).

In addition to her work in the statehouse, Stephanie spent much of her time in recent months traveling the state, encouraging others to run just like she did so successfully. She’s one of the reasons 135 candidates like Ashley and Leslie stepped up all over Missouri.

You impressed? I sure was.

That’s three candidates.

Three powerful stories.

Three champions of democracy running in a challenging region of our country.

And in two of those districts, incumbents who got a pass two years ago now face accountability from two incredibly compelling women.

Now Imagine 135

Now….multiply those three stories by more 40!

Because that’s how many Missouri districts will have Democrats running in them this year.

And most of those candidates will be running in challenging districts, many against incumbents who haven’t faced challengers before.

But like Ashley and Leslie, that’s what makes these candidates heroes—bringing accountability and transparency and true stories of grit, courage and humanity to races that previously had no choice at all.

This is why we run everywhere.

And this is why we must show far more value to running in these races than we have in the past. (Knowing what you know now, think about getting a call from Ashley Cossins and not returning it—not wanting to help her get her story and message out. That response has been our standard operating procedure for far too long, and in the long run, it’s why extremism is on the march in so many states).

And if Stephanie gets reelected and Missouri Democratic candidates pick up three seats, they can end the gerrymandered GOP supermajority that has been wreaking havoc on Missouri on everything from reproductive freedom, to public education, to democracy itself.

Want to value these races? Consider contributing to them:

Help Ashley Cossins HERE.

Help Leslie Jones HERE.

Help Stephanie Hein HERE.

And if you want to help candidates just like them across Missouri, consider becoming a member of Blue Missouri—where (as in Blue Ohio and Blue Tennessee) we’re building a community that supports as many candidates as we can just like Ashley and Leslie, in districts just as tough.

You can join Blue Missouri HERE.

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Thank you Ashley, Leslie and Stephanie for being true heroes.

You are truly on the front lines in saving our democracy!