Everything I do in my political life is colored by my military service. It was the defining moment in my life and helped me develop the leadership skills that I still utilize.
Jason Kander
To me, leadership has always been about doing what's right. Because when you've had to write your blood type on your boots, you aren't afraid to make the right calls.
The secret to adulthood is that 99% of the time, you actually know the right thing to do. Adults make it hard when they are deciding whether to do the right thing.
I realize there are a lot of folks in my political party who disagree with me on this, but I think the Patriot Act is an important law enforcement tool, and it makes our country safer.
As the state's chief elections officer, it is my job to make sure that only eligible voters vote, but also that every eligible voter has the opportunity to vote.
If we all work together, then we can save the American Dream from the nightmare that is Donald Trump.
I believe in President Obama.
Really, Donald Trump's entire message is that people like Sen. Blunt are the problem.
Voter ID laws are the most potent form of voter suppression legislation.
Voters are okay with you believing something they don't believe, as long as they think you genuinely believe it, and you believe it because you care about them.
I'll be working every day to help elect voting rights champions in Missouri and around the country.
Doing things right in politics is no different than doing things right in life: Tell the truth, be yourself.
I'm a Democrat because I want every American to have a fair shot at the American Dream. That's what ties it all together for me, and in my experience, that means recognizing that no one is dealing with life one 'issue' at a time.
A lot of states that pass voter ID laws have little to no evidence of in-person voter impersonation fraud, which is the only kind of fraud that voter ID laws could guard against.
There are states with photo ID requirements that don't disenfranchise eligible voters.
I thought of myself as a soldier who was going to law school.
I signed up for military service in the months following 9/11, and later, as a military intelligence officer, I felt called, like so many others, to volunteer for deployment and service in Afghanistan.
I launched more formal elections investigations than any secretary of state in Missouri history, and we didn't get a single complaint about voter impersonation fraud - not one.
You can protect the integrity of elections without stopping anyone from voting.
To improve the standard of living for working folks, we have to raise the minimum wage and empower workers to fight for their interests in an economic and political system that's stacked against them.
With limited shifts, low wages, and scarce benefits, it feels almost impossible for many Americans to get their slice of the pie.
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has been an adviser to Trump, although he still very publicly couldn't land a job in the president's Cabinet, despite providing that counsel. And Kobach has a long history of making up facts to help him pass unfair voter suppression laws and push extreme anti-immigrant proposals.
You've got to tell people how it is that you've come to believe what you do.
If you've been willing to put your life on the line to do something important for your country or your state, putting your job on the line is really not a very big deal.
I think that one of the things that Democrats, in particular, need to recognize is that the way we have sometimes thought about issues as just affecting a particular group of people is not necessarily right.
Ground troops... have to be a last resort. I think they should always be a last resort.
Voter suppression anywhere hurts our democracy everywhere.
We have got to zero in on the fact that all of us, no matter where you live, want our kids' lives to be an upgrade over our own, and we would really like it if our kids could come back and live where we raised them.
In the Army, I learned how to use and respect my rifle.
When one donor can account for more than 70 percent of a candidate's money, there's obviously something wrong with the system.
I've stood in rooms in urban, rural, and suburban parts of my state and asked a room of middle class voters to raise their hands if the college debt of someone in their family is affecting their financial situation. Without exception, at least three quarters of the room will raise their hand.
In the state legislature, I supported Second Amendment rights.
We were at a kibbutz, and we were at a Shabbat service, and I opened up the prayer book, and on the first page, it said that the prayer book was in thanks to the sponsorship of this family in a temple in Kansas City. For me, it was a moment when I really kind of connected in a real serious way with my personal identity as a Jew.
I believe there should be political consequences for politicians who commit voter suppression.
I'm proud to be a Democrat, and I feel pretty strongly that the country would be better off with Democrats in charge.
Voter suppression is at the very core of the Trump re-election strategy.
Whether it's intentional or not, Trump regularly makes news for unprecedented and nonpresidential behavior.
Voters aren't asking to be pandered to and aren't asking to be tricked.
To me, serving wasn't uncommon, and my service paled in comparison to so many of my friends who had done so much more. In my world - as a citizen soldier - I was surrounded by other soldiers just doing their jobs.
Democrats fell in love with the idea that winning elections was a matter of talking to voters about the one issue we think impacts them, instead of our plan to move the country forward as a whole.
Voting in our country has never been easy, and unfortunately, it has never been guaranteed for everyone. But through the work of brave civil rights leaders, some of whom died for the cause, by the early 2000s we were at a point where most, but still not all, people who wanted to vote could do so.
I don't judge anybody who chose not to serve during Vietnam, at all. It's a different time, and I don't judge anybody for the decision they made.
As Democrats, when we try to determine who or what allowed Donald Trump to become president, we should look in the mirror.
I could work with anybody. This is why we need more veterans in Congress.
As a former Captain in the Army National Guard, I trained hundreds of soldiers to lead troops into combat.
The men and women of the American military have the courage to follow orders. They deserve a commander-in-chief with the courage to give them.
Because President Obama had an overall strategy, military and civilian leaders under his command could make reactive decisions that advanced the president's goals. In the military, we call that commander's intent: When there's a decision to be made and you don't have exact guidance at that moment, you at least know overall what your boss wants.
The president is in charge of the military so that a single individual - accountable to Americans - is responsible for its successes and failures.
When Democrats concede the idea that some voters are not our voters, we shouldn't be surprised when those voters agree.
Voters are smart. They know the difference between a Democratic Party that wants their vote and a Democratic Party that believes in making their life better. They'll forgive you for pushing a policy they don't like as long as they believe you're doing it because you genuinely believe it's what's best for the country.
