Tag: Chuck Raasch

The state’s top-ranking Democrat is on her way out of elective politics, taking with her the last vestiges of Missouri’s former status as a “purple” state. Sen. Claire McCaskill’s exit is a loss not only to Missouri, which has enjoyed responsible and effective representation from her during her dozen years in the Senate, but to our national political system as well. As one of the few remaining moderates in an increasingly polarized Congress, McCaskill’s voice of reason will be missed. McCaskill, 65, a two-term senator, lost her bid for a third term in November to Republican Josh Hawley and delivered her farewell address to the Senate on Thursday. McCaskill told the Post-Dispatch’s Chuck Raasch that she won’t seek elective office again, ending speculation about a possible gubernatorial bid. But she vowed to remain politically active in supporting roles, potentially including working with Democratic legislative candidates. “I am not going to disappear,” she said. That’s good to know. But what ultimately tripped her up was the political story of these times: the ideological polarization of the country, separating Americans person by person, region by region, state by state. It is a longtime battleground state that in a few short years has shifted tectonically to its current status as solid-red Republican.