St. Louis County voters say Democrats need to focus on affordability for 2028

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - Democrats won 16 seats in the Missouri House in Tuesday’s midterm election, with 10 of those wins coming over Republican incumbents. Voters cited high costs and an entrenched majority as reasons for the shift.

Democrats also flipped congressional seats and won Senate battleground races.

Gabrielle Lucia, who lives in St. Louis, said people her age are struggling with expenses.

“I’m 25 years old, and I know people in my age group can’t even afford a house. They can barely afford gas. They can barely afford groceries. I literally just got a second job because I can’t afford anything,” Lucia said.

Jonice Young, who also lives in St. Louis, said, “Things are changing, and people should look out for it and pay attention.”

St. Louis County suburbs

In the District 2 congressional race, Fred Wellman defeated Rep. Ann Wagner.

Several of the unseated Republicans were moderate swing-district incumbents. Rep. Brad Christ lost in District 96. Christ had been a frontrunner for House speaker. He championed the state-appointed police board and major downtown redevelopment incentives.

Rod Willis, who lives in Wildwood, said the results send a message.

“I think it’s basically a shot across the bow, if you want to call it that. I think that if you lose touch of what affects everyday people, I think that eventually it catches up to you,” Willis said.

Voters rejected Amendment 3, 55% to 45%. The amendment would have enforced an abortion ban with some exceptions and banned gender transitioning for minors.

Voters also rejected a Republican-favored congressional map.

Voters approved Amendment 6, which curbs lawmakers’ power to overturn citizen laws. The vote reaffirmed citizen-led initiative petitions.

State leaders respond

Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway said voters sent messages through their votes on ballot initiatives.

“We really got to listen to the voters. Like, they’re sending some extremely strong messages in how they’re voting on these ballot initiatives,” Hanaway said.

Hanaway said she has no plans to run for governor in 2028. She said that despite the losses, she has full faith in Gov. Kehoe’s continued leadership.

“Undoubtedly, he’s being criticized because he’s taken on the hardest issues, but that’s what a leader does,” Hanaway said.

Looking ahead to 2028

Lucia said Democrats should focus on people rather than trying to impeach Trump.

“Right now we’re hurting more than ever. And I think they should just focus on the people rather than trying to impeach Trump,” Lucia said.

Willis said Tuesday’s midterm was a response to Trump and not a clear Democratic platform. He said what happens next will have an impact.

“I don’t think it has a whole lot to do with punishing anybody. I think there could be some people out there that voted for that. But I think the real issue, if the Democrats want to have a good outcome in 2028, they need to focus on what they campaigned on, which was affordability and things like that. So if they lose track and it becomes a witch hunt, I think it backfires on them in ’28,” Willis said.