JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – After a poor performance at the ballot box by Democratic candidates for the General Assembly, Gov. Jay Nixon on Wednesday met the press in his Capitol office for a wide-ranging news conference.
1) In the final two years, he says to not expect a change in his tactics.
Even while announcing the hiring of a new chief of staff to bring new energy to his inner-circle, Nixon said he does not expect to shift the way the he interacts with Republican lawmakers who are emboldened by even stronger majorities.
“Just because a couple of people got elected doesn’t mean Missouri dramatically changed yesterday. I know this state pretty well and I’m in a unique opportunity here with two years to go,” he said.
He also shrugged off the election as a possible indictment of his own performance as governor.
“We’ve been pretty successful,” Nixon said. “I don’t gauge my success on all these election things out there.”
Nixon said he’ll be meeting with legislative leaders over the next few weeks in the lead up to session. “I’m realistic about numbers,” he said. “I can count.”
2) Nixon criticized the RSLC’s play in Cole County.
Nixon was critical of the Republican State Leadership Committee for injecting more than $200,000 to try to beat Democratic Judge Pat Joyce in Cole County. Joyce was reelected Tuesday night despite the massive spending leveraged against her.
“This is a real solid statement by the people of this area that judges that work hard that, make decisions and are close to their community should be reelected regardless of their party or background so they can continue to make the necessary, independent decisions that are vital to democracy,” he said.
Nixon said he was supportive of the state’s nonpartisan court plan and the counties that have adopted it.
“Missourians like to have an independent judiciary, not a political judiciary,” he said. “Every judge this morning breathed a sigh of relief that the people of cole county were smart and informed enough to stay no to those types of tactics.”
3) Nixon again expressed his opposition to Amendment 10, despite voter approval the night before.
When voters went to the polls on Tuesday, they shifted significant budgetary power away from the governor to the legislature. Amendment 10, which passed with a wide majority statewide, requires Nixon and other future governors to go to the General Assembly to approve a spending restriction aimed to prevent the state from overspending.
“Their budget requires 11 percent increase [in revenue]. There’s nobody who says we’re going [to have] 11 percent,” he said. “You can’t spend money you don’t have… We’ll make it work the best it can.”
4) Two years after his initial push, Nixon is still hopeful for Medicaid expansion.
Nixon cited the election of Thom Tillis, North Carolina’s House Speaker, to the U.S. Senate as a positive vote for Medicaid expansion in a conservative states, and said he thinks that same route could be applied in Missouri.
“In North Carolina, Speaker Tillis, who won defeating incumbent Sen. Kay Hagan, during that campaign, in essence, moved dramatically to saying that there’s a path forward on the Medicaid issue in that state. Shifts like that you’re seeing across the country,” he said.
5) Nixon also weighed in on the infamous #CrackGate.
Nixon announced a new policy on his staff taking pictures while voting: “No more pictures while voting.”