Missouri Jobs with Justice Voter Action stands in solidarity with candidates committed to working people and the issues that matter to Missouri families.
MOJWJVA’s leaders made strategic decisions to limit our organizational targeting to a small number of races. We based those decisions on where current elected officials undermined the will of the people, where races are competitive, where the candidates are aligned with our issues, and where our leaders had the capacity to make a grassroots difference in the race.
Meet the worker champions MOJWJVA is standing with in the November 3, 2026 general election.
MOJWJVA proudly stands in solidarity with Keri Ingle, a worker champion running for State Senate. Keri isn’t a career politician. She’s a mom who stepped up to fight for lower costs, better opportunities, and a Jackson County where working families can get ahead. With a background in criminal justice and social work, she’s spent her career helping families get the assistance they need, and she doesn’t get caught up in political games. She focuses on the everyday issues that affect our lives: affordable healthcare, safe neighborhoods, strong schools, and a future that puts people ahead of party. As she puts it, she ran for office because she was tired of watching politicians put headlines before real solutions, and she’s never stopped showing up, listening, and doing the work. As State Senator, Keri will prioritize public education that gives every child a strong school no matter their ZIP code, workers’ rights that ensure working hard actually pays off, and personal freedoms that keep health care decisions between patients and their doctors.
The stakes in this race couldn’t be higher, because Keri’s opponent Jon Patterson has been Speaker of the House since 2025, and he controls which bills come to a vote. Under his leadership, the Missouri House voted to strip away minimum wage increases and guaranteed paid sick leave that over 57% of Missouri voters approved. Patterson was a lead sponsor of the massive sales tax hike on groceries, gas, and everyday goods that voters rejected by over 80%. And when it came to ending majority rule and forcing a new abortion ban onto the ballot, Patterson knew those measures were unpopular, refused to vote for them, and then did nothing to stop them. That’s not leadership. That’s a politician protecting his own headlines while working families pay the price. MOJWJVA doesn’t just endorse Keri Ingle. We’re ready to organize alongside her, hold her accountable to the promises she makes to working people, and build the lasting community power that will make Missouri a state where working-class people don’t just get by, but lead the way. Learn more about Keri here.
As State Senator, Keri Ingle will prioritize:
MOJWJVA proudly stands in solidarity with Betsy Fogle, a worker champion running for State Senate in Springfield. A lifelong Springfield resident, Springfield Public Schools graduate, and former OBGYN social worker at Jordan Valley Community Health Center, Betsy spent years helping low-income families overcome barriers to care. In 2020, she ran for office and flipped a State House seat to represent Springfield. Since then, she’s delivered: casting the tie-breaking vote to fully fund classrooms and secure an additional $300 million for Missouri students, supporting Medicaid expansion for over 300,000 Missourians, and fighting for the largest tax cut in state history for working families. When Jefferson City politicians gutted Proposition A, Betsy immediately filed legislation to restore the minimum wage and earned sick leave voters approved. As State Senator, she’ll prioritize public education, workers’ rights, and personal freedoms while protecting a basic safety net for Missouri’s most vulnerable citizens.
While Betsy works for the people, her opponent Melanie Stinnett works for herself, and her record shows it. Stinnett took more than $300,000 in tax dollars through a government loan she never repaid, then contributed to her own campaign and bought a house, while creditors pursued her businesses for unpaid debts and she was prohibited from doing business in Greene County on three separate occasions. Worse, in the legislature, Stinnett chairs the committee with direct oversight over her own employer, and after taking over that committee, her company has taken more than $10 million in payments from Missouri taxpayers. That’s not public service. That’s a fox guarding the hen house. On top of the self-dealing, Stinnett voted to strip away minimum wage increases and guaranteed paid sick leave that over 57% of Missouri voters approved, pushed the massive sales tax hike on groceries, gas, and everyday goods that voters rejected by over 80%, schemed to end majority rule and silence Missouri citizens at the ballot box, and supported banning abortion even in cases of rape, incest, or when a mother’s life is at risk. MOJWJVA doesn’t just endorse Betsy Fogle. We’re ready to organize alongside her, hold her accountable to the promises she makes to working people, and build the lasting community power that will make Missouri a state where working-class people don’t just get by, but lead the way. Learn more about Betsy here.
As State Senator, Betsy Fogle will prioritize:
MOJWJVA proudly stands in solidarity with Bekki Brewer, a worker champion running to represent her community in the State House. Bekki lives in Hallsville with her wife and youngest son, a high school sophomore, and with three grown children and grandchildren in Columbia Public Schools; her commitment to her community runs generations deep. For the past 15 years, she has kept people safe, advocated for others, and taught, all while volunteering with local nonprofits and schools to strengthen the community she’s proud to call home. Bekki didn’t come to this work through politics. She came to it through service, and as State Representative she’ll prioritize the issues that matter most to working families: public education that gives every child a real shot, workers’ rights that guarantee fair wages and dignity on the job, and personal freedoms that let every Missourian make their own decisions without government interference.
The choice in this race is clear. While Bekki stands with working families, her opponent John Martin spent his very first term voting against them, stripping away minimum wage increases and guaranteed paid sick leave that over 57% of Missouri voters approved, scheming to end majority rule and hand citizen-led ballot initiatives to politicians and special interests, pushing a massive sales tax hike on groceries, gas, and everyday goods that voters rejected by over 80%, and trying to force a new abortion ban onto the ballot even after Missourians protected reproductive freedom in 2024. One term was all it took for him to abandon the will of the people. MOJWJVA doesn’t just endorse Bekki Brewer. We’re ready to organize alongside her, hold her accountable to the promises she makes to working people, and build the lasting community power that will make Missouri a state where working-class people don’t just get by, but lead the way. Learn more about Bekki here.
As State Representative, Bekki Brewer will prioritize:
MOJWJVA proudly stands in solidarity with Tara Murray, a card-carrying union member and worker champion for the 104th State House District. After 30 years in the classroom, Tara knows firsthand that strong schools and strong unions go hand in hand, and that’s why reinvesting in public education sits at the heart of her campaign. She’s fighting for free breakfast and lunch for every student, universal preschool, and the pay and supplies our teachers have earned, because hungry kids can’t learn and educators shouldn’t have to stock classrooms out of their own pockets. As an MNEA representative and grassroots organizer born and raised in North County and rooted in St. Peters for more than 15 years, Tara didn’t wait for Election Day to fight for working people. She’s been doing it for decades, and she’s made clear that affordability comes first: food on the table, a roof overhead, strong unions that guarantee living wages, and affordable health care and child care for every family trying to make ends meet.
The contrast in this race couldn’t be sharper. While Tara stands with working people, her opponent Terri Violet spent her single term voting against them, stripping away the minimum wage increases and guaranteed paid sick leave that over 57% of Missouri voters approved, scheming to gut majority rule and hand citizen-led ballot initiatives to politicians and special interests, pushing a massive sales tax hike on groceries, gas, and everyday goods, and trying to force a new abortion ban onto the ballot even after Missouri voters protected reproductive freedom in 2024. That’s the dysfunction in Jefferson City Tara has had enough of. Voters in HD 104 deserve a representative who defends the personal freedoms they voted to protect, honors the will of the people, and answers to working families, not special interests. That’s exactly why our accountability program exists: to demand real promises face-to-face and keep the pressure on long after the votes are counted. MOJWJVA doesn’t just endorse Tara Murray. We’re ready to organize alongside her, hold Jefferson City accountable, and build the lasting community power that will make Missouri a state where working-class people don’t just get by, but lead the way.
As State Representative, Tara Murray will prioritize:
MOJWJVA proudly stands in solidarity with Jewel Kelly, a dues-paying member and true worker champion for House District 106. The oldest of 18 children, Jewel grew up in a single-wide trailer where a union job kept his family afloat, then worked factory shifts to pay for school before serving after 9/11 as an aircraft maintenance officer. As a card-carrying union member himself, he knows what it means to rely on working people for survival and opportunity. After losing his daughter to suicide in 2018, Jewel and his wife Caren founded the A Fighting Chance Foundation to fight stigma and teach Mental Health First Aid, and those experiences now drive his results-first focus on lower costs, better health care, safer streets, and honest schools for St. Charles County. He reads the fine print, watches the numbers, and holds every bill to one plain-language test: Legal. Safe. Fair. That’s the kind of representative who understands that workers need public education that actually prepares graduates for careers, workers’ rights that guarantee living wages and benefits, and personal freedoms that let families make their own health decisions without political interference.
The record makes the choice clear. While Jewel stands with working families, his opponent Travis Wilson spent two terms voting against them, stripping away minimum wage increases and guaranteed paid sick leave that over 57% of Missouri voters approved, scheming to end majority rule and give special interests power over citizen-led ballot initiatives, pushing a massive sales tax hike on groceries, gas, and everyday goods that was defeated by over 80% of voters, and trying to force a new abortion ban onto the ballot even after Missouri voters protected reproductive freedom in 2024. That’s the dysfunction Jewel has seen firsthand and is ready to fix. MOJWJVA doesn’t just endorse Jewel Kelly. We’re committed to organizing alongside him, holding our representatives accountable to the promises they make to working people, and building the lasting community power that will make Missouri a state where working-class people don’t just get by, but lead the way.
As State Representative, Jewel Kelly will prioritize: