ST. LOUIS — Trudy Busch Valentine mingled with voters at a St. Louis diner on Wednesday morning, just hours after securing Missouri’s Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.
She leaned over booths, spoke on her top issues and reflected on what is sure to be a hard campaign ahead.
Valentine, a retired nurse and heir to the Busch beer brewing fortune, won Tuesday with 43% of the vote, five points ahead of her closest opponent, Marine veteran Lucas Kunce.
She now faces the prospect of flipping the seat held by Republican Roy Blunt, who is retiring, in an increasingly solid Republican state. Donald Trump won Missouri by a 15.4-point margin in 2020.
She will face Republican Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and lawyer John Wood, who is running as an independent, in the general election.
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Valentine spent the morning after her primary win both meeting voters and speaking to reporters at Chris’ Pancake & Dining in south St. Louis.
In her comments to media, Valentine focused on why voters should choose her over Schmitt: “Because Eric Schmitt is extreme. Because I’m a Democrat. I’m for quality and affordable health care. I’m for lowering inflation and the cost of basic needs and I am for a woman’s right to choose. Those are three big things we are going on.”
She added she believes that today both democracy and voting rights are in jeopardy. She criticized Wood for his anti-abortion rights stance.
Valentine said she hopes to move past divisive issues in the primary, including drawing criticism from many within the Democratic party in July for saying that transgender children should wait until they are 18 to undergo gender reassignment procedures.
“I think we have to unite because we are better as an inclusive country with all of our differences,” she said. “Everyone should be respected for their authentic selves and that’s what I’ll always be behind. That’s why I’m a nurse.”
Valentine said reproductive rights are going to be “a big, big thing in this election.”
“I absolutely am for the right to choose and always will be, always have been,” she said.
Valentine called her opponent Schmitt “extremist” in his support of Missouri’s trigger law that banned abortions in the state automatically after Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court in June.
Valentine also spent time in Chris’, a crowded Lindenwood Park spot, meeting voters.
One diner who recognized her was 94-year-old Parthenia Jennings who sat with family members Wednesday morning.
“Will you still be a nurse?” asked Jennings, who worked in health care for years at the former Homer G. Phillips hospital.
“Once a nurse, always a nurse,” Valentine responded.
Shortly after the candidate moved on to other tables, Jennings said she saw the election on TV last night and liked that Valentine had a nursing background, but asked if she won.
“Oh good,” she said nodding her head after hearing the result. “Hope she stays a nurse.”
Camden Suber, 7, called Valentine over to his table as he decided whether to order French toast. He asked her what politicians do and told her he was thinking of becoming president one day.
“I always wanted to help the world and I wanted to know if that’s what they do,” he said.
Valentine told him that was what she aimed to do.