Rene Vance was born into a military family. She enlisted in the USAF in 1978, during which time women were just entering into new non-traditional jobs. As an Aerospace Ground Equipment Mechanic, her training ranged from jet engines, hydraulics, electronics, and more. After several assignments, she requested and served as a technical instructor for three and a half years. Immediately transitioning from active duty, she served a year in the USAF reserves and medically retired from the Florida Air National Guard in 1992 after serving almost 18 years. Her diversified civilian portfolio ranges from fast food employee, long-distance telephone operator, bookkeeper, maintenance supervisor at a lumber yard, farmhand, school bus driver, substitute teacher, correctional officer, retail sales, and store management. She moved from Florida to Sedalia in 2016. She is a board member of the Sedalia Senior Center, a PAR driver, a volunteer driver for meals to homebound seniors, and the Silver Hair Representative for Pettis County. Her son Brian is currently serving in the Navy in Florida and her daughter Krystal and two grandsons are in Tennessee.
Elect Rene Vance for Missouri State Representative
A Voice For
Missouri
Meet Rene
Prioritizing The Issues You Care About
Every Missouri child should have access to free, quality public education regardless of their zip code. As your representative, I will work to strengthen our public schools and fully fund our commitment to our kids.
I will support universal early childhood education, because investing in our kids from an early age is the best way for us to invest in our future. I will also support investment in higher education and workforce training, to ensure all Missourians have the opportunity to gain the skills to compete in our economy.
A strong economy is one that works for everyone. As your state rep, I’ll fight for those who truly build up our economy—our workers—for the wages, benefits, and protections they deserve. I’ll support investments in educational opportunities to support a 21st century workforce.
I’ll work for policies that support local businesses who provide good jobs in our state and keep our economy growing. And I’ll work to bring new businesses here that want to capitalize on our skilled Missouri workforce and quality of life. But I’ll always put workers’ interests before the special interests of large corporations.
Central to the role of government is to fairly enforce the law, and to provide protection for its people. I will support our law enforcement officers in their difficult jobs, while also demanding accountability when they overreach.
I will support tough sentences for violent criminals, while also seeking ways to reduce our prison population and reintegrate folks into society after they have served their time. I’ll also support drug treatment courts and diversion programs that find alternative ways to punish and rehabilitate non-violent criminals without simply throwing them in prison.
No matter where you live in Missouri, the root causes of crime are the same: a lack of educational and work opportunities, along with drug addiction and poverty. Addressing these basic issues must always be central in any conversation about crime.
Our prescription drug epidemic tragically touches too many families in every community across Missouri. Tracking the frequency of prescriptions filled for these addictive drugs would allow for a chance to intervene with high risk users and save lives.
One critical tool our state can deploy to combat the misuse of opioids is the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP). Missouri remains the only state in the entire country without a statewide PDMP, and I will support efforts to finally pass this legislation for our citizens.
Agriculture is the backbone of Missouri, and at the heart are our family farms—where many of us call home. But recent environmental concerns were brought to the forefront when a prospective landfill developer came to call. Without citizens standing up for the environment, trash could be shipped in from neighboring states and piled up as high as possible without local oversight. Our air, water and land would rapidly experience the devastating consequences. Trash is an ongoing problem that will not go away, but our farmers require good clean land and water sources that aren't contaminated.
As your state rep, I’ll continue to advocate for the state of Missouri to protect our environment , allowing our farmers to concentrate on what they do best, work their land.
Government works best when it is closer to the people it serves. I respect the fabric of our local communities and trust them to know best when it comes to overcoming the challenges they face.
In Missouri, we have seen many decisions influenced by special interests, circumventing the will of local communities on local issues by preempting local ordinances with state law or by diluting local opposition to matters by including state-wide votes.
I believe in the saying “show me your budget, and I’ll show you your values.” Our state’s budget serves as a moral contract with our citizens. Every year, it is up to the state government to allocate the tax dollars you pay to maintain and improve our quality of living.
But while our schools are underfunded, our health care costs are on the rise while our taxes increase, and we’re borrowing money to pay for our crumbling roads and bridges, corporations in Missouri are receiving tax cuts and incentive packages.
We simply should not be handing out money to corporations hoping that prosperity will trickle down. As your state rep, I will be a careful steward of your tax dollars in Jefferson City.
I believe you and your family are the economic drivers of our state. Our budget should reflect that by investing in the things that will improve you and your family’s life, rather than lining the pockets of big businesses.
Every person should have the autonomy to make decisions about their body and their life. Republicans have passed extreme abortion bans in recent years, limiting access to abortion even in cases of rape, incest, or medical need.
Mothers die from childbirth in Missouri in numbers far greater than the rest of the industrialized world, and instead of promoting health care, Missouri legislators have placed burdensome restrictions on it.
Republicans have gone so far as to pass legislation that costs hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to defend against Constitutional challenges, while at the same time blaming budget shortfalls for lack of funding for essential items like school transportation.
As your state rep, I will stand with women for the right to make the best decisions about their health care for their own lives.
Faith in government and the political process is the cornerstone of a functioning democracy. As your state rep, I’ll fight to shine a light on those who conceal their donors and influence our politics with dark money.
Over the years, Republicans have eroded the barrier between special interests and politics. In 2018, Missourians overwhelmingly voted in favor of Amendment 1, known as CLEAN MO. It capped contributions and limited the way money could move in and out of campaign coffers.
Special interests have continued to find loopholes around these laws, pushing ‘dark money’ further into the political process. At the same time, Republicans are advocating for the repeal of Amendment 2.
Ultimately, this campaign isn’t about me. This is your campaign and I want you to be proud of it and the coalition we build along the way. That’s why I’ll provide you easy access to the sources of our campaign money.
Every year for the past two decades, the Missouri Non-Discrimination Act (MONA) has been filed, only to be blocked by Republicans. MONA would allow basic protections to our LGBTQ community by adding sexual orientation and gender identity to Missouri’s Human Rights Act.
Missourians should not have to fear losing their jobs or being denied housing for who they love—discrimination that is currently completely legal in our state.
Meanwhile, Republicans in recent years have also passed legislation that makes it easier for employers, landlords or businesses to discriminate based on race, age, religion or gender—more so than in any other state.
As your state rep, I will work for a Missouri that welcomes people regardless of race, religion, gender, age or sexual orientation, and protects all people from discrimination.