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Politically Speaking: Eagleton seeks to follow his famous uncle into the electoral arena

St. Louis Public Radio | By Jason Rosenbaum,
Jo Mannies
Published July 5, 2016 at 4:45 PM CDT
Steve Eagleton
Jason Rosenbaum | St. Louis Public Radio

On the latest edition of the Politically Speaking podcast, St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum and Jo Mannies continue their interviews with candidates for the 15th District Senate seat. This time around, they’re interviewing Democrat Steve Eagleton.

The 15th District takes in parts of south and central St. Louis County. Since Sen. Eric Schmitt is term-limited, the race for the seat this year is wide open.

The two Republicans for the seat -- state Rep. Andrew Koenig, R-Manchester, andformer state Rep. Rick Stream, R-Kirkwood -- were on the podcast last month. Eagleton’s opponent, Mark Boyko, recorded a show that was posted earlier this week.

Steve Eagleton is the nephew of former U.S. Sen. Tom Eagleton, a legendary Democratic political figure. After a stint working for Turner Broadcasting, Eagleton eventually got his law degree and has spent a number of years as a mediator.

This is the second time Eagleton has run for the 15th District Senate seat. He narrowly lost in 2008 to fellow Democrat Jim Trout, even though he was generally favored by prominent Democrats to run against Schmitt. Back in 2008, the 15th District was more Democratic than it is today.

Here’s what Eagleton had to say during the show:

  • Eagleton said he lives in Kirkwood, but also travels extensively for work and family. He added that he spends about “60 percent of his time” in the St. Louis area. Eagleton’s residency was an issue during his last campaign.
  • Unlike most Missouri Democrats, Eagleton said he supports "right to work." That would bar an employer from forcing someone to pay union dues if a majority has voted to organize. 
  • Eagleton said he's more "moderate" than other Democrats, citing his opposition to restrictions on guns. He did add, though, that he's not in favor of a vetoed bill that would allow someone to conceal and carry a firearm without a permit.
  • As of early July, Eagleton hasn’t been actively raising money to run for the 15th District seat. In fact, he said on the show he just established a Missouri Ethics Commission committee in the past few days. By comparison, Stream and Koenig have been campaigning for the seat for months.

Follow Jason Rosenbaum on Twitter: @jrosenbaum

Follow Jo Mannies on Twitter: @jmannies

Music: “Bound for the Floor” by Local H 
Tags
Government, Politics & Issues Politically SpeakingSteve EagletonMark BoykoAndrew Koenig2016 Missouri electionsMissouri SenateTop StoriesElection 2016
Jason Rosenbaum
Jason is the politics correspondent for St. Louis Public Radio.
See stories by Jason Rosenbaum
Jo Mannies
Jo Mannies has been covering Missouri politics and government for almost four decades, much of that time as a reporter and columnist at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. She was the first woman to cover St. Louis City Hall, was the newspaper’s second woman sportswriter in its history, and spent four years in the Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau. She joined the St. Louis Beacon in 2009. She has won several local, regional and national awards, and has covered every president since Jimmy Carter. She scared fellow first-graders in the late 1950s when she showed them how close Alaska was to Russia and met Richard M. Nixon when she was in high school. She graduated from Valparaiso University in northwest Indiana, and was the daughter of a high school basketball coach. She is married and has two grown children, both lawyers. She’s a history and movie buff, cultivates a massive flower garden, and bakes banana bread regularly for her colleagues.
See stories by Jo Mannies
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