On the latest episode of Politically Speaking, Missouri state Sen. Tracy McCreery talks about the acrimonious end to the 2025 legislative session and the upcoming special session.
McCreery represents the 24th Senate District, which takes in a portion of St. Louis County. She served for roughly nine years in the House before being elected to the Senate in 2022.
Here’s what McCreery discussed on the program:
- McCreery took a decidedly dim view of Gov. Mike Kehoe’s special session on tornado relief, capital improvement projects and an incentive package for the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals. She contends that stadium subsidies are poor public investments and questions the wisdom of going back into special session “so that we could figure out a way to give rich, wealthy owners of stadiums some kind of giveaway.”
- She said there was some irony that Kansas City lawmakers, who were largely critical of a 2015 effort to use state bonds to build a new home for the St. Louis Rams, are enthusiastic about spending potentially money to help keep the Chiefs and Royals in Missouri.
- Asked whether Senate Democrats would forgive Republicans who cut off filibusters aimed at protecting voter-approved abortion rights and paid sick leave initiatives, McCreery replied: “They told those folks to shut up and sit down as well and that their vote didn't matter. What happened in that last week of session is really an affront to voters all over the state of Missouri.”
- McCreery said abortion rights supporters will have plenty of time to campaign against a measure to repeal and replace Amendment 3, which provides constitutional protections for the procedure.
McCreery was first elected to the House as an independent in 2011. After losing reelection in 2012, McCreery ran for an open House seat in 2014 and prevailed. She won three more terms without much difficulty.
McCreery squared off against Republican George Hruza in the 2022 race to succeed Democratic Sen. Jill Schupp in the 24th District. McCreery ended up winning by nearly 10 percentage points. Hruza eventually won a seat in the House last year.
