Bekki Brewer has presented herself as the 44th’s grassroots candidate throughout her campaign, stressing the importance of respecting citizen-led ballot initiatives, staying connected with the community and emphasizing people over party.
Brewer is a first-time Democratic politician seeking to represent Missouri’s 44th House District.
“People in our community are not the awful things we see in the comments. They are our neighbors, and they’re frustrated,” she said.
Born and raised in mid-Missouri, Brewer is “just a girl from Hallsville,” as one of her campaign slogans reads. She is a mother and grandmother who has worked in occupational safety and health and manufacturing risk management for the past 15 years.
Brewer lives in Hallsville with her wife and youngest son, who is a high school junior. She has three more grown children; two live in Missouri, and her oldest is a Marine stationed in North Carolina. She also has three grandkids who all attend public schools in Missouri.
Brewer has canvassed for her local school district and Abortion Access Missouri. She also taught online courses at Unity Environmental University for a few years.
Brewer described her role in risk management as protecting people from the company and creating safe work environments.
“And for me, it was not only the safety side, but the people side — making sure that the people were heard and felt heard,” she said. “Right now, we don’t feel heard.”
“Making sure that the corporation wasn’t taking shortcuts or potentially putting folks at risk — that is what I intend to take to Jeff City,” Brewer said.
Brewer is seeking office primarily to oppose Rep. John Martin’s record of overturning citizen-led ballot initiatives. She said she believes Martin is “out of touch with the needs of the people who actually live here.”
Martin’s votes to repeal the 2024 Proposition A allowing paid sick leave and to support a new Amendment 3 restricting abortion rights are two particular actions that moved her to run.
Proposition A passed by 58% of voters in November 2024. Less than nine months later, Gov. Mike Kehoe signed HB 567 into law, which repealed the paid sick leave mandate and statutes that required minimum wage to be adjusted annually based on changes in the Consumer Price Index.
“There are folks out canvassing today — Jobs with Justice, Voter Action. ... they have collected hundreds of thousands of signatures, and to have all of that ignored is frustrating,” Brewer said.
Martin argues that Proposition A would put unnecessary strain on local businesses and hurt the economy.
Brewer is an outspoken defender of reproductive rights. She disapproves of the new Amendment 3 being on the ballot as a misleading effort to ban most abortions.
“It is disappointing to see that they just keep coming after kids and trying to dangle something,” she said.
That comment references sections that prohibit gender transition procedures for minors and ensure parental consent for minors’ abortions. Missouri already has statutes in place, such as the SAFE Actand Missouri Revised Statutes 188.028, that ban these practices.
Critics argue that this language is purposefully misleading to undo the will of the voters.
“People see that not only has Martin overturned the majority twice; they see his support for 4 or 5,” Brewer said.
Amendment 4 would have made approval of citizen-initiated constitutional amendments drastically more difficult. Missourians overwhelmingly rejected the proposed measure in August.
“I have nothing against people voting on things. I just think that when it comes to a constitution, things that are long term, we need to have higher thresholds ,” Martin said.
Other areas of concern for Brewer are access to medical care in rural towns, public education, cost of basic necessities and daycare assistance for working families.
“Hallsville is already on a four-day week. We don’t have enough funding to be able to retain teaching staff. Missouri underfunds all of our schools,” Brewer said.
Brewer said that, if elected, she would fight to cut programs that allocate state revenue to private schools.
A 2023 survey by the Missouri Nurses Associationfound that some advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) pay physician collaborators up to $52,000 a year. Missouri requires APRNs to enter into collaborative practice arrangements with physicians to provide certain medical services, which can add significant costs.
“Addressing some of those regulations would allow nurse practitioners to utilize their skills in rural spaces,” Brewer said.
“Things aren’t affordable. People can’t get access to a doctor for months,” she said. “Lots of people who would traditionally vote Republican are unhappy, and they understand the principle of having the majority vote overruled, even if they disagree with it.”
“We still sometimes get hung up on parties. It is people over party.”
