U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-MO, came to Truman State University Sept. 10 for a 15-minute speech and 45-minute Q&A session regarding her campaign for re-election.
College Democrats of Truman State University sponsored the event, and students received emails about the event the day of. The crowd, made up of students and faculty, filled up the room, leaving some viewers standing in the back.
Chade Shorten, Truman alumna and President of the Young Democrats of Missouri, introduced McCaskill, and McCaskill spoke about the voting age gap, and how she was making a point to go to colleges in Missouri to help mend the problem. McCaskill is running for a third term in the Senate against the Republican nominee, Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley. In her speech, she compared her and her competitor’s stance on insurance policies, subsidies for higher education, climate change and the Roe v. Wade verdict.
She then opened the room to questions. McCaskill faced a challenging question on the topic of abortion, and she said while abortions should be prevented, the focus should be on free birth control and the funding behind Planned Parenthood. Many questions focused on Medicare and health care. One student questioned McCaskill’s opposition to Medicare, to which she said there were financial problems with Medicare and there needs to be more emphasis on end-of-life counseling. Another question referred to the inflated price of insulin. McCaskill said she has worked to find the source of the problem and used her work with the opioid epidemic as an example. Another question referred to the U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, and how she will vote in his approval hearing. She said she would not share her vote because she is still looking into the 40,000 documents shared with her and her colleagues hours before the hearings started.
Midterm elections are Nov. 6. With elections 52 days away, McCaskill said young people need to go out, get involved in a campaign and vote in the upcoming elections.