MARYVILLE, Mo. – Former Maryville High School teacher and progressive Democrat Jess Piper is running for state representative in the vastly conservative HD 1 in Northwest Missouri.
Piper, a staunch liberal and self-proclaimed public school advocate, prides herself on supporting the Biden administration, vaccine/mask mandates and Medicare-for-all. She also aggressively condemns conservative ideals such as school choice, gun rights and pro-life legislation.
As a former teacher, Piper praises those who use race-based education in classrooms and proudly admits to teaching parts of The 1619 Project in her own classrooms. According to their website, The 1619 Project uses Critical Race Theory and similar theories “to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of the United States’ national narrative.”
However, even after defending the use of the project in classrooms and happily teaching it herself, she contends that Critical Race Theory isn’t being taught in schools.
Although she seems vocally supportive of helping solve the teacher shortage in Missouri, Piper refuses to mention that a primary cause of the teacher shortage is due to resistance against the Biden administration’s vaccine mandates – a measure in which she unequivocally supports.
“The path forward in creating change in Missouri is by flipping seats in rural areas,” Piper once tweeted. “Breaking the hold of the supermajority will happen in rural Missouri.”
However, Piper’s hope to elect Democrats in rural Missouri seems overly optimistic when looking at past voting trends. In the 2020 Presidential Election, Trump won the Show-Me State by over 15 points. But, if the highest populated areas are taken out – Jackson, St. Louis and Boone Counties and St. Louis City – Trump received over 70% of the vote in the rural areas of Missouri.
Similar to far left political pundits like Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Cori Bush, Piper spends significant time on Twitter lecturing about liberal policies and denouncing GOP measures like the Second Amendment Preservation Act, which was heavily favored by Missouri voters.
But with her campaign seemingly fueled by out-of-district support on social media, Piper is accused of caring more about her online following than the citizens of HD 1. Her substantial following on social media is believed by many to be the product of Twitter’s heavily liberal platform, not because of actual support in the district.
“I think most of her Twitter popularity is coming from places like Kansas City and St. Louis,” said Piper’s opponent, Jasper Logan. “Anybody I’ve talked to here who has heard of her didn’t have anything nice to say. I haven’t met many of her supporters yet.
“This is a very conservative district which tends to vote for candidates who support small government, low taxes and individual freedom, which is what I stand for and what she doesn’t stand for, obviously.”
Piper is also a huge opponent of implementing voter ID legislation to make elections more secure, and claims that the ID laws “restrict voter rights.” However, she hasn’t spoken out about the myriad of other laws requiring IDs for things such as driving a car, purchasing tobacco and applying for government assistance programs.
It’s also worth noting that the vast majority of Voter ID laws in the United States include a provision for the state to provide IDs free of charge, refuting liberals’ claim that it oppresses lower class voters.
A loyal supporter of the Biden administration, Piper applauded Biden’s controversial trillion-dollar infrastructure bill amid America’s ongoing historically bad inflation rate – an issue that many blame on government spending. According to the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the United States is facing the highest inflation rate in 30 years.
Another prioritized issue for Piper includes raising taxes and making sure the wealthy “pay their fair share.” However, it seems that Piper has had an issue paying her own fair share in taxes. She had a certificate of lien filed against her in 2016 for refusal to pay income taxes and was ordered to pay over $2,000 in unpaid taxes and fees, according to courts.mo.gov. Piper eventually settled the judgement in February of 2020.
As Piper continues her online persona of calling out legislators and critiquing the Republican Party, voters are still waiting to see if she’ll bring the zeal and passion she has on Twitter to the actual district.
