Jennifer Cassidy

Jennifer Cassidy was born in Kansas City, Kansas. She graduated from Berean Christian School. She attended Kansas University and graduated from the University of Missouri in 2026. Her career experience includes working as a business owner and healthcare professional.[1][2]

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

As a CNA, small business owner, and a proud Missourian, I will listen to the people, to provide real-life solutions for Missourians, not just promises; to serve the residents of Eastern Jackson County in the Missouri Legislature and provide for its citizens. I will preserve and protect the rights of Missourians to vote, petition the government, and take back the state from corporate greed. I have been a resident of Grain Valley for over 23 years. As a life-long Kansas Citian, I have volunteered, served, and advocated for homeless residents, senior citizens, and those with disabilities for over 40 years.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

I intend to fight the corporate takeover of this state, support jobs in healthcare and education, unions in skilled trade, and protect Social Security and Medicare in our beloved state. I will fight data centers in our agricultural lands, and in our cities.I intend to close loopholes that allow for cronyism and corruption to run rampant, while Missouri's citizens fall further into poverty, scarce healthcare options, and failing schools due to private vouchers, funding deserts, and tax cuts for only the wealthy.I stand with the citizens against data centers, mass surveillance and lack of accountability and taxes from corporations as they reap the benefits from our state while Missourians can't afford basic necessities and can't make a living wage.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am passionate about supporting senior citizens in the golden years of their lives without worrying how they can afford healthcare, groceries, or rent; I am equally passionate about supporting our disabled community in both our education system and daily living. As a mother of a disabled child, as a CNA, and a caregiver in long-term care facilities, it is the measure of a healthy civilization to take care of those less fortunate.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

League of Women Voters

Abortion Action Committee

AFL-CIO

Pipefitters 533

IBEW 124

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a wife, a mother, and a small business owner. I have been a resident of Grain Valley, Missouri for 22 years, but have lived in the Kansas City area my entire life. I am a registered Democrat, and I believe that the government should stay out of our private lives, healthcare decisions meant to only be decided between a patient and their doctor, union labor, strong public education, safer communities, common sense gun laws, and the funding of our state through fiscal management and state infrastructure and reigning in corporations, maintaining regulations on big businesses that seek to pollute our air and our waterways, encouraging tourism to our beautiful state. It is time to break the stranglehold of the supermajority in Missouri legislature that has fully intended on removing the ability to have reproductive rights, giving tax breaks to corporations, and trying to strip Missourians of voting rights that are enshrined in our constitution, and simplifying the one-to-one vote of the people.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

I place the highest priority on public education for all children in Missouri. Teachers in this state receive the lowest pay of any state in the US. Teachers are leaving the state for better pay because Republicans in the Missouri Legislature have been attempting to defund public schools and send public tax dollars to private and religious schools with little or no state accreditation, oversight, or standardized testing. Children in rural or urban areas, or with special needs will have no choice, and will go without education. Trickle down economics is a myth, and it is beyond time for those at the top to pay their fair share.I will work to restore reproductive rights to women, including reproductive choice. Missouri does not have to right to determine or override the needs of women and children under a doctor's care simply because it offends their faith. No person should make a healthcare decision for another person, unless they are the legal guardian, parent, or their medical provider. When the voters have decided that reproductive rights should be on the ballot, it is the will of the people that the Missouri legislature should preserve without attempting to remove the ability to petition to have our voices heard and attempting to do an end-run around the votes of our citizens by attempting to legislate away the right to vote.Missouri workers deserve to have protections in their jobs, and that every large corporation should pay their fair share of taxes. I believe that Missourians do not deserve to shoulder the bulk of the taxation that rich seem to avoid, and the rush to the bottom as one of the poorest states in the United States, and that corporations should pay their fair share of taxes.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

My focus as a politician is on preserving democracy an, the citizens of Missouri's right to vote and have that vote count, especially in women's reproductive rights. Supporting families, children, public safety and lowering crime, encouraging and supporting small businesses, ending puppy mills and animal cruelty, public transparency in our fiscal responsibility to taxpayers, and re-establishing trust in our government institutions.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

"All the President's Men" by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward

"Peril" by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa

"If God Is Love, Don't Be A Jerk" by John Pavlovitz

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Fiscal transparency in campaign funds, accountability for officials who are corrupt, fairness and the ability to separate out government from religion.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

Governing, not performative politics, serving the people over their party affiliation or an individual politician, and legislating Missouri with fiscal management instead of giving tax cuts to the wealthy, preserving earned benefits such as Social Security and Medicare instead of cutting funding to these programs, treating all citizens fairly under the law and the Missouri Constitution and managing the state budget to support our elderly, veterans, financially disadvantaged and our persons with disabilities.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

The Challenger space shuttle explosion

What do you believe is the ideal relationship between the governor and state legislature?

The Governor should be the liason between the state legislature and the fiscal governing body, with line-item veto power, as well as advisory board roles.

What do you perceive to be your state's greatest challenges over the next decade?

Re-instituting and preserving women's reproductive rights, fiscal responsibility, including higher minimum wages and prevailing union wage without cutting earned benefits programs and support for veterans, elderly and disabled, overhauling our infrastructure, and supporting public education and teacher pay.

Do you believe that it’s beneficial for state legislators to have previous experience in government or politics?

It is beneficial, it is not required.

Do you believe it’s beneficial to build relationships with other legislators? Please explain your answer.

Yes, it is beneficial to establish relationships on both sides of party lines, to get an understanding of how a group of people with vastly different beliefs will need to work together for several years to actually govern.

Is there a particular legislator, past or present, whom you want to model yourself after?

Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill was my inspiration when I briefly worked on her campaign in the telephony department in 2006. She is a strong and eloquent woman, and truly cared about the people of Missouri.

Are you interested in running for a different political office (for example, the U.S. Congress or governor) in the future?

My aspirations currently do not include a lifelong political career or to use this office as a stepping stone to another office. However it is a possibility when my terms are up in this office, when the time comes, that decision will be made.

Both sitting legislators and candidates for office hear many personal stories from the residents of their district. Is there a story that you’ve heard that you found particularly touching, memorable, or impactful?

While canvassing, a lady in Grain Valley told me that she had no help for her disabled son and could not afford in home care for him, while she was recovering from her own hip replacement, and she was worried about how to make the rent payment when the government would cut her Social Security and SSI benefits for her son. She had to go back to work at age 75 and there were no jobs available that should could do and take care of her disabled son, and I asked a friend if they could give her a call and offer her volunteer services to set him up with Self-Directed Services to allow the state to keep her son at home while she worked. She made it onto the waiting list before the Missouri Legislature slashed this funding by $800M. If she had waited a week later, her son would not be eligible due to the defunding of the DMH. My heart was both warmed that she was able to hope for help, and yet broken for the thousands of Missouri residents who will not be able to receive services.

Should the legislature oversee or grant the use of emergency powers?

It depends on the situation, but I think limiting the power of the government is the direction we should be headed, not granting more power to the legislature who has not been able to get much done. Incompetency should not be rewarded.

What is the first bill you would introduce if elected?

I would like to help enshrine women's reproductive rights in the Missouri Constitution.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

AFL-CIO, Mom's Demand, Pipe Fitters 533

What committees interest you?

Ways and Means, Budget Committee (which I understand we currently do not have)

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

Governing officials should be treated under the law as citizens, without a separate tier of financial responsibility or accountability than the average Missouri citizen. Tax and campaign funding reform which include transparency should be implemented to regulate "dark money" and funding from super PAC interest groups, Sunshine requests under FOIF should not be exempted for politicians, and oversight boards or committees should be bipartisan.

Do you support or oppose changes to the current state ballot initiative process? If so, what kind of changes would you consider?

I do not support those who would decimate the petition process and dilute the voice of each voter.