In the upcoming November election, seven positions with jurisdiction over the University of Missouri will be filled at either the state or federal level. The elected candidates will have an opportunity to influence Missouri’s higher education policies, such as diversity, equity and inclusion, critical race theory and student loan forgiveness. 

U.S. Senate Race

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. is vocal about his conservative stance on several higher education topics.

In an interview with The Kansas City Star, Sen. Hawley likened men having jobs in education to “inserting a square peg into a round hole.” Previously, Hawley was a teacher at an elite British all-boys school and an associate professor at MU.

During his time in the U.S. Senate, Hawley introduced the “Make the Universities Pay Act,” which aimed to make universities pay for half of defaulted student loan debt, allow student loan debt to be discharged in bankruptcy and require universities to release information about post-graduate career outcomes. The last action regarding the act was taken in 2022 — it has not passed since.

Sen. Hawley also introduced the “Love America Act of 2021.” 

“Senator Hawley’s bill would require all schools and school districts that receive federal funding to ensure students are able to read and recite America’s founding documents and bar federal funding from schools that teach those documents are the products of white supremacy or racism,” according to Hawley’s campaign website.

Sen. Hawley opposes student loan forgiveness.

“Joe Biden at it again, abusing his power to put working people on the hook for billions in college debt.,” Hawley said in a post on X. “It’s unfair to millions who played by the rules – and to millions more who don’t want to subsidize wacky professors teaching men can get pregnant.” 

Hawley’s opponent, Democratic candidate Lucas Kunce, has a different stance on student loan forgiveness. 

“I wish the ‘budget hawks’ in Congress losing their minds over student loan forgiveness had been as budget-conscious about the $6.4 trillion they spent on pointless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Kunce said in a post on X.

Kunce has not taken a stance on issues like affirmative action or diversity, equity and inclusion measures in higher education. 

Missouri Governor Race

Crystal Quade, the Democratic candidate for governor, has no information on her website regarding her opinions on higher education issues. During her time in the House, she sponsored several bills aimed to expand K-12 education and establish a Missouri child tax credit.

Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, the Republican candidate for governor, opposes student loan forgiveness. In 2023, he posted on X saying,“There is no such thing as canceling debt” and that the attempt from the Biden administration to do so was an “unconstitutional scheme.”

On a visit to Northwest Missouri State College in 2019, the student newspaper reported that  Kehoe supported higher education funding, “As long as they’re producing and we’re not just pouring money into a bottomless pit,” he said. 

Missouri Lieutenant Governor Race

Democratic Lt. Gov candidate Richard Brown said he “most definitely” supports student loan forgiveness.

“I know there are some people that are upset because they struggled for years to pay [their debt] off,” Brown, who carried student debt for 25 years, said. “But you know, if we got an opportunity to help some folks where they might carry that kind of debt, it makes the load a little bit easier for them.”

On the subject of diversity, equity and inclusion programs, Brown said he is not certain why it became a “political hot bed.”

“Most major corporations in the United States have some type of DEI statement. The reason why we have these DEI statements, we have the DEI offices, departments is because it works,” Brown said. 

On the matter of having critical race theory taught in universities, Brown pointed out that universities choose their own curriculum, and students choose their own university.

“You don’t have to take those classes if you don’t want to, but if you choose to take them and if they’re available, I think that’s fine,” Brown said.

Republican Lt. Gov. candidate David Wasinger has said little about higher education reform.

“I support protecting parents’ rights to have a say in their children’s education and ensuring that our schools provide a quality education that prepares students for the future,” Wasinger said on his campaign website.

In the 2024 Republican Primary, Washinger lost Boone County to Lincoln Hough by six points.

U.S. House of Representatives – 3rd Congressional District Race

Bethany Mann, Democratic U.S. House candidate, has expressed support for President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness but asserted that it’s not the ultimate solution during a candidate forum at Jefferson City Hall. 

“The country’s student loan system is predatory because it traps financially inexperienced young people into accumulating mass amounts of debt they don’t know they can repay,” Mann said.

Mann’s campaign focuses on K-12 education reform rather than higher education, including efforts to eliminate standardized testing, raise teacher pay and modernize K-12 classrooms.

On his campaign website, Republican U.S. House candidate Bob Onder claims that in 2016, he sponsored SB 638 “to guard against public school children being indoctrinated with divisive Critical Race Theory.” According to the Missouri Senate website, Onder did not sponsor the bill. The bill contains no language related to critical race theory.

After leaving the Missouri Senate in 2023, he “led citizen groups in the fight against gender activists.” His efforts contributed to the passage of SB 39, a bill that states it “establishes guidelines for student participation in athletic contests organized by sex.”

Since its passage, the bill has been used to restrict transgender athletes’ participation in sport programs from elementary school through college, effective at public and private institutions. 

In the 2024 Republican Primary, Onder lost Boone County to Kurt Schaefer by 19 points.

Missouri Secretary of State Race

Barbara Phifer, Democratic candidate for Missouri Secretary of State, details her plans for education reform on her campaign website. 

“I will also support investment in higher education and workforce training, to ensure all Missourians have the opportunity to gain the skills to compete in our economy,” Phifer said. 

While she has not spoken directly on diversity, equity and inclusion, critical race theory or affirmative action, Phifer said she would work to make Missouri an inclusive state. 

During his time in the Missouri Senate, Denny Hoskins, a Republican candidate for Missouri Secretary of State, voted to bar transgender athletes from competing in sports in both public and private schools.

Hoskins also sponsored Missouri Senate Bill 236, also known as the “Missouri Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act.” His bill was combined with others under the same name and was passed by the Missouri General Assembly, restricting gender-affirming care for minors. The passage of the bill in 2023 sparked a student-led protest on MU’s campus and in downtown Columbia.

In the 2024 Republican Primary, Hoskins lost Boone County by one point to Dean Plocher.

Missouri State Senate 19th District Race

Stephen Webber, a Democratic candidate for Senate district, is native to Columbia and attended the University of Missouri School of Law. 

As a member of the Missouri House of Representatives, Webber made an impact on the University of Missouri. In 2015, he was on the Appropriations-Higher Education Committee. According to his campaign website, Webber worked to fund the University of Missouri and sponsored MO HB 629 in 2013 — which would require that one voting member of the University of Missouri Board of Curators be a student if passed. The bill is dead.

In 2016, Webber co-sponsored HB 2432, which “gives the Missouri Department of Higher Education authority to refinance certain student loans.”

While he has not spoken directly on diversity, equity and inclusion measures or affirmative action, Webber attempted to pass the “Missouri Non-Discrimination Act,” which would protect LGBTQ+  workers from being discriminated against in the workplace, every year he was in the House.

James Coyne, Republican candidate for Senate district 19, joined the race two days before the nomination deadline. His nomination came as a result of his Republican colleague, former state Rep. Chuck Basye, dropping out of the race after receiving a cancer diagnosis.

On his campaign website, Coyne advocates for limiting the size and scope of the Missouri state government. 

Coyne believes that the government has a monopoly on schools, and that said monopoly needs to be broken. 

Coyne said that “parents should be able to use funds set aside for their kids to attend any school they believe is best.”

Missouri State House 45th District Race 

Kathy Steinhoff is the incumbent for House District 45. She has no Democratic or Republican challengers.

“I feel like there is a nationwide agenda to really step backwards in terms of what our country has done in looking at things like diversity, equity, and inclusion, which, for some reason, have become bad words, when we’re talking about legislating things,” Steinhoff said. 

Furthermore, Steinhoff said that the dissolution of MU’s IDE Department is “an example of trying to appease some of those lawmakers in power. But at the same time, I think when you dig into how it was done away with, many of the aspects of that department are being preserved across our university.”

Steinhoff added that she believes that protecting the intent of those programs as the law changes is the wise thing to do.

“There’s a lot of people that would say, ‘Oh, we should just stand our ground and push back,’” Steinhoff said. “But if that means that we can no longer educate as many students, we can no longer hire as many faculty, we can no longer have top notch facilities, at what point are we really helping our students?”

On the matter of student loan forgiveness, Steinhoff said that the current student loan system is predatory towards students.

She explained that, in some cases, people will carry student loans far into their adult lives, and owe much more than the original principal, in part due to relatively high interest rates.

For more information about student political groups’ events and election preparation related to the 2024 election, visit The Maneater’s election guide.

Edited by Eric Hughes | Ehughes@themaneater.com

Copyedited by Emma Harper and Natalie Kientzy | nkientzy@themaneater.com

Edited by Emilia Hansen | ehansen@themaneater.com

Edited by Annie Goodykoontz | agoodykoontz@themaneater.com