Vice President Joe Biden is no stranger to St. Louis. In the past two months, he’s visited the city twice, both times campaigning for U.S. Senate candidate and current Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander. On September 9, Biden moderated a panel discussion at the St. Louis-based nonprofit LaunchCode, but also spoke in favor of Kander at a $1000+ per ticket private fundraiser later that day.
The Vice President returned to town on Friday, October 28, campaigning for 35-year-old Kander to a packed house at The Pageant, a music venue on The Loop.
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“[Kander’s] a patriot like my son. He came home to serve just like he left to serve. He’s the kind of person we need in politics in both parties as he said—young, optimistic,” said Biden at the rally. “Although I have to admit, not that young,” he joked. “I was elected to the U.S. Senate when I was 29 years old.”
Kander’s race against incumbent Roy Blunt for the U.S. Senate seat has drawn national attention—and increased funding from outside the state—as it tightens. A Post-Dispatch poll released this week put Kander one percentage point behind Blunt. If Kander wins, it could determine whether the Democrats take control of the U.S. Senate next year.
“The Senate election—which is one of the reasons we’re seeing so much outside money in this election—the Senate election is so much about the Supreme Court. … A Republican Senate will have a different standard than a Senate held by the other side, no matter who the president is,” said Roy Blunt, as reported by Real Clear Politics, at a campaign stop in Nixa, Missouri earlier this year.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee recently decided to pull funds from Florida, choosing to use resources to win competitive Senate races in Missouri, North Carolina, and Indiana instead.
Early on in the race, national pundits saw little chance that Kander could win in conservative-leaning Missouri. But most of Missouri’s statewide offices are held by Democrats, and Democratic candidates tend to do better in presidential election years when there is higher voter turnout. Kander’s popular ad, where he assembles an assault rifle blindfolded while talking about his support of background checks so “terrorists can’t get their hands on one of these,” has garnered over 1 million views on YouTube.
Although winning over Roy Blunt—an incumbent with few scandals in a state where the majority will likely vote for Donald Trump—will be a challenge for Kander, there is little doubt that the seat is within reach.
Kander went to law school at Georgetown University and served as a military intelligence officer in Afghanistan. Before he was elected as Missouri’s Secretary of State in 2012, he served in the state’s House of Representatives for four years. If Kander wins on November 8, he would be the first Millennial, or any individual born after 1980, to win a U.S. Senate seat.
“The generation that many of you represent, that Jason represents, is the most incredible generation ever,” said Biden to a youthful crowd at Friday’s rally. “…When I hear talk about the Millennial generation not being ready to lead, it makes me want to gag.”
