Rural Caucus Newsletter, July 17th 2026
Missouri didn’t recently land at #7 on the “worst states to live in” list Worst states to live in America in 2026 by accident, Rural Democrats. Missouri Republicans have legislated us into a race to the bottom - for 23 years. In fact - which some of you may not realize - Missouri shows up in the basement on multiple national rankings:
* Health outcomes: Missouri ranks near the bottom nationally for maternal mortality, rural hospital closures, and preventable deaths.
* Education funding & teacher pay: Missouri is routinely in the bottom 10 for teacher salaries and bottom-tier for per‑student funding.
* Infrastructure quality: We’re ranked in the bottom 15 for road and bridge conditions.
* Public safety: Missouri ranks among the worst states for violent crime rates.
* Economic opportunity: Missouri sits in the bottom third for household income, job growth, and business investment.
* Access to healthcare: Bottom‑tier for mental health access, bottom‑tier for dental access, and bottom‑tier for primary care availability.
* Life expectancy: Missouri ranks in the bottom 10 for life expectancy and rural counties are even lower than the state average.
That's what happens when Republicans keep handing out tax breaks to the top one percenters and tossing out culture‑war fireworks to keep folks distracted rather than legislating what Missourians actually need. This ranking isn’t a surprise - it’s another warning. It's way past time for a change and if you’re as fed up as we are, hook up with your local Democratic organizers County Parties | Missouri Democrats and support your Democratic candidates Missouri Democratic Party's 2026 Election Center. Getting involved doesn’t mean you have to wave signs on a street corner or show up at every rally. You don’t have to do anything loud or dramatic - pitch in however you can with a phone call here, a conversation with a neighbor there, a little help at the county meeting. That’s how rural Missouri keeps moving the needle.
State Fair News
Please continue to look at the blank days and open shifts, and jump in where you can. For everyone's safety, our goal is to have a minimum of three volunteers per shift and we're not quite there on several days: State Fair Booth Sign-Up - 2026 - Google Sheets and give what you can: Missouri Democratic Party - Non-Federal — Donate via ActBlue or mail a check to: Missouri Democratic Party, 407 Jefferson St., Jefferson City, MO 65101. Please note on your check that it's for the State Fair tent.
We will have a "State Fair Best Practices" on Thursday, Aug. 6 at 7 PM: Zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81741254606?pwd=JpLOrvdKUP6rrNR10gUyhX93WZfMzr.1
Missouri News
Let’s be honest - this thing is less about medicine and more about election‑year chest‑thumping: Missouri Gov. Kehoe signs controversial ‘born-alive’ abortion bill into law • Missouri Independent Republicans spent the whole session squabbling over which extreme add‑ons they could bolt onto this thing, and after all that drama they landed on... infanticide, which is already illegal in Missouri. Doctors warned the bill could punish families facing heartbreaking, fatal fetal diagnoses - but sure, let’s ignore the medical experts too. It’s pure political theater while Missouri’s maternal‑health deserts keep spreading and the real problems get left to rot.
Home insurance is almost 9% of the cost of owning a house in Missouri. That’s not pocket change - it’s a whole slice of your paycheck disappearing because storms keep getting meaner and insurers keep getting jumpier: Map Reveals States Where Home Insurance Is Devouring Household Budgets - Newsweek. And a lot of insurance companies have stopped insuring homes, especially in states with high storm risk like Missouri. But the reason matters: it’s not random, and it’s not homeowners’ fault. It’s the combination of severe weather, rising rebuilding costs, and insurers deciding they’d rather bail than pay out: Is your state becoming uninsurable? We have the latest data. | Grist.
Missouri reports 43 cases of cyclospora parasitic infection: Missouri reports 43 cases of parasitic infection that's sickened thousands nationwide | KCUR - Kansas City news and NPR. The official number is 43, but the real number is almost certainly higher - probably much higher - because this parasite is massively under‑tested, and most folks just ride out a bout of diarrhea without ever seeing a doctor.
The House has signed off on ending the ritual of twice‑yearly clock‑changing, moving toward permanent daylight saving time. If the bill passes the Senate, Missourians would not “fall back” into standard time during the winter months: Map Reveals Proposed US Sunrise and Sunset Changes Under Sunshine Protection Act - Newsweek. What do ya'll think about that idea?
As the 2026 midterm elections approach, health care costs remain the public’s top economic worry and rank among the top health issues voters most want to hear about: KFF Health Tracking Poll: Public Views on Fraud in Government Health Programs | KFF. On July 23 at 11 AM, States Newsroom (Missouri Independent is part of that network) and KFF will hold a special public policy briefing "Medicaid and the Road Ahead - Spending Cuts, Work Requirements and What’s Next for States, Providers and Families." It promises to be very informative. Register here: • Missouri Independent.
Update on the August and November ballots, and the crazy amount of money being spent: Missouri ballot measure campaigns dominate fundraising, ad spending for primary • Missouri Independent. And here's a great updated blog on Amendment 5 from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Missouri Tax Amendment Likely to Seriously Harm Services, Shift Taxes Onto Working Families | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities,
National News
And true to being a Trump hack, right after Trump's deranged rant, Mullin is raising a scenario that the intelligence community says has never occurred - asserting foreign adversaries could hack voter machines: Markwayne Mullin warns states as DHS launches election security push. If the machine isn’t plugged into the internet, a foreign hacker can’t magically beam into it. They’d need physical access, insider help, or a compromised supply chain - none of which the article claims is happening.
Trump is selling “privileged access” to information about what he is doing as president - planning to charge for special high-speed access to Truth Social posts, that affect national security and financial markets: ‘Brazen corruption’: Trump’s company set to sell faster access to president’s market-moving posts. This would allow Wall Street trading firms and other institutions to get news from Truth Social contributors in milliseconds so they can profit from moves in stocks, bonds and interest rates. This is another exploitation of government power to enrich himself & his family.
This is a profound setback for disability rights.The Only Research Center For Disabled Parents Is Losing Federal Funding – Mother Jones.
Hegseth's new plan: juice "all service members" so hard they can’t turn their heads without pulling a muscle. Annual testosterone checks - TRT - for everyone over 30 with a pulse, and he's calling it "lethality" & “The High-T Department of War.” Hegseth wants to test troops for low testosterone | AP News. Screening testosterone levels is already part of the military’s annual medical checkup, but the way Hegseth and others talk about it mixes well‑established science with a grab‑bag of claims that don’t have any backing behind them. RFK Jr. has been out there hyping testosterone and pushing to make it easier for doctors to hand out testosterone prescriptions like candy Trump officials want to make testosterone drugs easier to prescribe. Is that a good idea? | PBS News. That alone ought to make you lean back in your chair and go, “Hmmmm.”
Prices in the ACA market skyrocketed after Trump and Republicans in Congress failed to extend extra financial help for enrollees last year but the numbers are much worse: 5 million people dropped ACA health insurance after the GOP let prices rise : NPR. This is the predictable result of pulling support from working families.
At least 1,662 Department of Energy webpages - the ones that tell folks how to keep the electrical grid from frying during heatwaves have vanished: As America Baked, Team Trump Axed More Than 1,600 Energy Efficiency Web Pages – Mother Jones. And wouldn’t you know it, they disappeared right after Trump rolled out his plan to gut efficiency standards for appliances like air conditioners and heaters.
Trump administration published an obscure document - Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions Current Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions - which details all proposed rules and rescissions under consideration by the administration. Buried in the tome was a massive new giveaway to corporate poultry processors, who rank among Trump’s largest political donors: Massive giveaway to Trump donors buried in obscure government document. All this comes at the expense of the family farmer.
Other News
According to the Environmental Working Group and the Congressional Research Service, a person can qualify for farm payments just by tossing in any contribution - capital, land, labor, or so‑called “management” - despite never living or working on a farm: Map shows where Trump bill is boosting farm subsidies for city residents - Newsweek. Missouri has several such instances. The report points out that Trump’s “One Big Bad! Bill Act” blew existing loopholes wide open, making it even easier for people who neither live on farms nor work them to scoop up federal farm money. It also jacked up payment limits, meaning non‑farmers can now walk away with even bigger government checks.
A plan to move 1.25 million acre-feet of groundwater out of the Mojave Desert has cleared a major federal hurdle after Trump approved a 50-year permit: Mojave pipeline approved despite warning it will 'drain the desert'. This groundwater‑mining scheme will suck the Mojave Desert dry and wipe out the rare springs and wildlife that survive there - exactly what conservation experts warned about. And yet here we are, watching Trump shrug off decades of scientific warnings and refuse to conduct a full environmental review of the groundwater pumping. It’s the same old story: ignore the science, fast‑track the project, and let the environment pay the price.
Another Trump slap: the rollback of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments. Utah's case against Bears Ears and Grand Staircase collapses under 120 years of history - Center for Western Priorities. With that, Trump also ended the agreement with Native American tribes on managing Bears Ears: ‘Zero consultation’: Tribal reps say they were left out of monument reduction decisions • Utah News Dispatch
In closing...
We didn't watch Trump's dangerous and deranged speech. From all the reporting alone, it sounded like 26 straight minutes of nails on a chalkboard. Thankfully, Meidas Touch took the hit so the rest of us didn't have to. What they captured was a sitting president laying out - step by step - how he plans to undermine the 2026 midterms with beyond‑ridiculous lies and conspiracy theories. Here are the moments you need to know about.
— He openly laid groundwork to challenge the midterms. He claimed our elections were "compromised," clearly setting up the justification to tamper with results before a single vote is counted.
— He said he'll "correct vulnerabilities" in our elections. Translation: he told you exactly what he plans to interfere with.
— He contradicted himself on China in real time. He first claimed China was "working to influence" and "undermining confidence" in him, then said he was doing a "great job" with them back when he made the claim. He couldn't keep his own conspiracy straight.
— He claimed China rigged the 2020 election, this time by getting journalists to write bad stories about him, because China supposedly wanted Biden to win since Trump was "wise to them." (Trump conveniently ignores the fact that Russia, too, tried to influence our elections - in his favor.)
— He said they found "burn bags" from the Obama Administration full of supposedly incriminating material, without ever saying what was actually in them.
— He said he needs "urgent measures" to stop our elections from being "hacked," citing Maduro's rigged machines in Venezuela in 2020 as his "evidence."
— He attacked networks for not airing him live, accusing them of being "part of the conspiracy to rig elections" and suggesting they should lose their broadcast licenses.
— He announced he wants to seize voter data from states he's deemed "vulnerable" ahead of the midterms.
The response was immediate: Democrats call 'bulls---' on Trump's election interference claims. Folks, there’s an old saying that every village has an idiot. The problem with our village is that a lot of the villagers believe the village idiot - and they’ll repeat whatever nonsense he hollers from the porch like it’s gospel. Trump has a habit of saying the quiet part out loud, and he’s doing it again right now - no filter, no shame, just lies and chaos. So prepare to do whatever it takes to push back, talk to your neighbors, and keep the facts louder than the noise.
Onward and Upward!
Joshua Dunne
Chair
Jacqueline Farr
Vice-Chair
John Parks
Treasurer
