Menu
Candidate Hallie Thompson hits Nevada
As she vies against Renee Hoagenson for the Democratic Party nomination for Missouri’s fourth congressional district seat, Ph.D. Candidate Hallie Thompson was in town Tuesday for some door-to-door canvassing, a speech to a county party meeting and an interview.
While Thompson (no relation to Vernon County’s Northern District Commissioner) was born in Springfield, she was raised on the family farm near the small village of High Point (“I think it had 42 people”), in Moniteau County.
In 2008 she graduated from high school in St. Charles and in seven semesters completed her undergraduate degree in biochemistry at the University of Missouri. Immediately she enrolled in graduate school and is about to earn her Ph.D. in plant biology.
“My hands get plenty dirty; my thesis is about how to protect corn in drought,” said Thompson.
While she need only defend her thesis to have her doctorate, she has put that on hold to run for office.
“I’m running to be the voice of those who don’t have money, those who want healthcare they can afford and who want leaders who will listen and work with the other side to get things done,” said Thompson.
She related her experience representing graduate students at MU.
“They took away our healthcare coverage and I spoke out and helped organize students and worked with the administration to get that restored,” said Thompson. “Administrators naturally want healthcare and we worked with them to find a way for grad students to have it too.”
While she pointed to this sort of problem-solving as a motivation for her candidacy she was asked if her nomination and election would merely trade one party agenda for another. Before the question was even finished she started shaking her head.
With fervor in her voice, Thompson said, “We have gridlock because too many in Congress put party before the people. A vote for me is a vote to end the status quo.”
When told the interview was turning to a review of various issues the seated candidate leaned forward and with a quiet yet firm tone said, “I have hope for this country but my hope is not in returning to some version of the good-old-days. My hope is in the people of this country, today and for all the years to come.”
As to the issues, not surprisingly, Thompson began with agriculture.
“We put all the risk on the smallest producers,” began Thompson.
She spoke of how profit margins are thinning for both farmers and livestock producers. She said the Farm Bill and tax code incentivize larger and larger operations.
“We need to rewrite these so you don’t have to have thousands of acres or animals just in order to get by,” said Thompson.
With a twinkle in her eye, she added, “And we need a foreign policy which will help and not hurt corn and soybean producers.”
Turning to second amendment rights she spoke of how she was raised owning and firing weapons and enjoys deer hunting.
“My husband and I have guns and we use them,” said Thompson.
She said, “We have to reduce gun violence; we have to allow the CDC [Centers for Disease Control] to do research.”
She decried the way the issue gets mired in a disagreement about guns which results in each side pointing fingers and nothing else.
Thompson wants multiple things on the table.
“Everyone takes a hunter safety course,” she said. “What if we created an advanced level course and it came with a legal shield for completing and practicing safe handling and storage?” she wondered aloud.
She spoke of better background checks, a renewal of an assault weapons ban, strengthening our mental health system and working to create a culture where people can express their frustrations without violence.
“One of the first jobs of government is to keep people safe,” said Thomson. “And that means from threats abroad as well as down the street and in your own home.”
Asked what she saw as the biggest problem in the immigration question, the candidate pointed to two things. First, she said, “We have an immigration discussion problem.”
She reiterated how on healthcare, guns, immigration and other issues it is very difficult to have an open and healthy discussion. Instead, she said people on both sides have stopped listening and trying to work out solutions but instead spout canned lines, point fingers and fail to listen let alone come up with practical solutions.
Thompson’s other point began with making a comparison with this nation’s drug policy which, she said, shifted the problem from being about health, jobs and relationships into being a law enforcement issue.
“It used to be called immigration and naturalization but now it’s called Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” said Thompson.
She said walls only treat the symptoms.
“Until we treat the underlying causes of immigration, people will still find a way in, you know they will,” she said.
Asked about the need to raise the minimum wage she said, “Yes,” but qualified her answer.
This needs “to be sensitive to the cost of living in different areas of the country,” she said. “And we have to raise the minimum for servers in restaurants and bars.
“I think $15 is about right but we need to do this in a balanced way,” said Thompson.
She spoke of wanting to help owners keep jobs and workers to have a living wage.
Said the Ph.D. candidate, “If only one side wins, we both lose.”
Turning to the recently enacted tax-cuts she said, “The tax-cuts on the wealthy and corporations need to be rolled back while the temporary tax-cuts on middle and lower incomes should be bolstered and made permanent.”
“Taxes and the tax code is the main tool for government to address all issues and help our society to be happier, healthier and in general, move forward,” said Thompson.
Thompson is facing Renee Hoagenson in the Democratic Primary.
She closed with two comments.
“As a country, we’re having trouble talking things out and listening to each other,” said Thompson. “And really, that’s our biggest problem and what we need to work on first.”
She reminded voters, especially young voters, to be sure to register or update your address in order to be able to vote in the Primary Election on August 7.
“And the last day to do that is July 11,” she added.