RELEASE: Springfield Residents Sound Alarm on Rep. Stinnett Pushing National Agenda
For Immediate Release
Thursday, May 21, 2026
CONTACT: Craig Phelps, craig@progressmo.org
SPRINGFIELD, MO — Residents, parents, educators, healthcare advocates, and community members of the Springfield area gathered for a virtual press conference speaking out against Melanie Stinnett and what critics describe as her support for a national political agenda that is increasing economic pressure on working families while overriding the will of Missouri voters.
Click here for the full video from the press conference.
Ginger Witty, a retired Monett School District teacher, spoke about Melanie Stinnett’s vote to overturn voter-approved paid sick leave protections and what it means for working Missourians living paycheck to paycheck. (Video | Transcript)
”My biggest concern with Representative Stinnett was her vote to overturn the will of the people when she voted to overturn paid sick leave.
”Missourians agreed that workers need a living wage and the ability to earn sick leave so they voted yes. However, Representative Stinnett and her Republican supermajority colleagues voted to overturn paid sick leave. It seems a little rich that legislators would vote to overturn paid sick leave since legislators are automatically given however many sick days they need. They might not get their per diem if they are gone a lot of days, but they know that their basic monthly paycheck is secure and it will be the same whether they can make it to work or not.”
Roman Moody, a working-class retail employee and volunteer with Missouri Jobs with Justice and the Immigrant Justice Collaborative, criticized Melanie Stinnett for what he described as the hypocrisy of supporting the rollback of voter-approved paid sick leave protections despite frequently highlighting her healthcare background. (Video | Transcript)
“When I found out that Melanie Stinnett, someone who points to her healthcare background as a core part of her identity as a leader, voted to overturn the paid sick leave protections Missouri voters already approved, I had a hard time wrapping my head around it.
”Voters passed that. People here said this matters to us. And Stinnett helped roll it back anyway.
”If you get sick, you should be able to stay home. You should not have to choose between taking care of yourself and keeping the lights on or groceries in the house. That should not be the calculation. But that is exactly the pressure Melanie Stinnett’s record puts on working families in Springfield.”
Chris Cook, a Springfield therapist, healthcare worker, and workers’ rights advocate, spoke about what he described as the hypocrisy of Melanie Stinnett campaigning on her healthcare background while supporting legislation that rolled back voter-approved paid sick leave protections for working Missourians. (Video | Transcript)
”Representative Stinnett is also a health care worker. She’s a speech language pathologist. She has a clinic in Springfield, and she now chairs the House Health and Mental Health Committee. She knows and understands this world and understands this world. She knows what it means when someone can’t afford to miss a day of work, when health care costs are too high.
”You know, she talks about that background constantly. She has experience with that, and she’s done good work in that space. But it makes her voting record a lot harder to swallow.
”And she told us she was for the voters. She was for workers rights. Now, I can tell you, I voted for proposition eight when I was in her district. And I think I and many other folks are pretty tired of feeling like politicians look us in the eye, tell us what we want to hear, and then run back to Jefferson City and do the opposite.
”Missouri voters passed prop A with a nearly 58% majority, including 57% in her district. The legislature reversed it and signed that reversal, surrounded by lobbyists, simultaneously cutting taxes on the most wealthy Missourians.”
Rep. Melanie Stinnett has voted for legislation set to increase economic pressure on Springfield-area families while failing to deliver meaningful solutions on rising costs, healthcare, and public education. Stinnett supported efforts to overturn voter-approved paid sick leave, reopen the fight over abortion rights after Missouri voters restored reproductive freedom, and advance proposals that could raise taxes on everyday necessities while benefiting the wealthiest Missourians. She also backed policies tied to rising utility costs, threats to healthcare access, and public school budgets that failed to keep pace with inflation and rising classroom costs.
Click here for the full video from the press conference.
###