Holly Thompson Rehder is an American politician. A

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, she was a member of the

Missouri House of Representatives The Missouri House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 163 members, representing districts with an average size of 37,000 residents. House members are elected for two-year terms during general elections ...

from 2013 to 2020, elected from the 148th district (parts of Scott and Mississippi counties). She had been a member of the

Missouri Senate The Missouri Senate is the upper chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 34 members, representing districts with an average population of 174,000. Its members serve four-year terms, with half the seats being up for election every two yea ...

from the 27th district since January 2021, having been elected to that body in the November 2020 election.

Business career and education

Rehder received her

GED The General Educational Development (GED) tests are a group of four subject tests which, when passed, provide certification that the test taker has United States or Canadian high school-level academic skills. It is an alternative to the US high ...

, then attended the

Southeast Missouri State University Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) is a public university in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. In addition to the main campus, the university has four regional campuses offering full degree programs and a secondary campus housing the Holland Col ...

. She did not initially complete her degree, dropping out to work full-time instead. After 17 years, she received a Bachelor's in mass communication and a double minor in Political Science and Communications for Legal Professionals (debate). Rehder and her former husband, Ray, founded Integrity Communications, a cable telecommunications installation and construction contractor, in 2004.

Political career

Rehder spent eight years in the

holding the seat for the 148th District.Kurt Erickson
Missouri senator lists house outside her district as her residence
''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' (June 5, 2021). In the state House, Rehder sponsored a

right-to-work law In the context of labor law in the United States, the term "right-to-work laws" refers to state laws that prohibit union security agreements between employers and labor unions which require employees who are not union members to contribute to ...

, which was opposed by

organized labor A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and Employee ben ...

. She also sponsored legislation to legalize

needle-exchange program A needle and syringe programme (NSP), also known as needle exchange program (NEP), is a social service that allows Injection (medicine), injecting drug users (IDUs) to obtain clean and unused hypodermic needles and associated paraphernalia at l ...

s as a way to prevent the spread of

hepatitis C Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) that primarily affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. During the initial infection people often have mild or no symptoms. Occasionally a fever, dark urine, a ...

and

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

and to encourage intravenous drug users to seek treatment. Since taking office in 2013, Rehder campaigned for legislation to establish a state database to track prescriptions for addictive drugs such as

opioid Opioids are substances that act on opioid receptors to produce morphine-like effects. Medically they are primarily used for pain relief, including anesthesia. Other medical uses include suppression of diarrhea, replacement therapy for opioid us ...

s.Summer Ballentine
Missouri to become final state to adopt medication database
Associated Press (June 7, 2021).Summer Ballentine
Missouri Senate passes prescription drug monitoring program
Associated Press (April 13, 2017).Summer Ballentine
Missouri opioid tracking bill still faces roadblocks
Associated Press (February 17, 2020). The proposal was endorsed by Governor

Mike Parson Michael Lynn Parson (born September 17, 1955) is an American politician serving as the 57th governor of Missouri since 2018. A member of the Republican Party, Parson served in the Missouri House of Representatives from 2005 to 2011 and in the ...

, but faced resistance from some legislators who cited privacy concerns, and failed to advance in several legislative sessions. In supporting the proposal, Rehder cited the experience of her daughter, who had become addicted to painkillers at age 17 after receiving a prescription following a finger injury. Missouri was the only state without such a monitoring database until Rehder's bill passed in 2021. Due to Missouri's

term limits A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potenti ...

law, she was ineligible to run for another state House term in 2020, so instead she ran for the Missouri Senate, District 27 to replace state Senator

Wayne Wallingford Wayne Wallingford (born July 11, 1946) is an American politician who previously served as a member of the Missouri House of Representatives from the 147th district. He previously served as a member of the Missouri Senate from 2013 to 2021. Care ...

. She won the Republican

primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

in August 2020 by a narrow margin of 141 votes, defeating

Kathryn Swan Kathryn Swan (born November 9, 1950) is an American politician. She is a Republican member of the Missouri House of Representatives, having served since 2013. Because of term limits, she is not eligible to run for reelection in 2020, and she wil ...

; Rehder received 16,839 votes (50.2%) to Swan's 16,698 votes (49.8%). She was easily elected in the heavily Republican district in the 2020 general election, receiving with 63,644 votes (76.9%), defeating Democratic nominee Donnie Owens, who earned 19,135 votes (23.1%). The 27th Senate district covers a geographically large region in southeast Missouri, specifically the counties of

Bollinger Bollinger () is a French Champagne house, a producer of sparkling wines from the Champagne region. They produce several labels of Champagne under the Bollinger name, including the vintage ''Vieilles Vignes Françaises, Grande Année'' and ''R.D. ...

Cape Girardeau Cape Girardeau ( , french: Cap-Girardeau ; colloquially referred to as "Cape") is a city in Cape Girardeau and Scott Counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. At the 2020 census, the population was 39,540. The city is one of two principal citie ...

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

Perry Perry, also known as pear cider, is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, traditionally the perry pear. It has been common for centuries in England, particularly in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire. It is also made ...

, Scott, and Wayne.Rehder officially announces campaign for state Senate
''Sikeston Standard-Democrat'' (September 9, 2021). Rehder praised

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

and in 2019 pledged to promote "the Trump Agenda" in Southeast Missouri. She supports

anti-abortion laws Abortion laws vary widely among countries and territories, and have changed over time. Such laws range from abortion being freely available on request, to regulation or restrictions of various kinds, to outright prohibition in all circumstances ...

. In 2021, Rehder sponsored a measure to declare January 12 "

Rush Limbaugh Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American conservative political commentator who was the host of '' The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nationally syndicated on AM and FM r ...

Day" in Missouri to commemorate recently deceased

conservative talk radio Conservative talk radio is a talk radio format in the United States and other countries devoted to expressing conservative viewpoints of issues, as opposed to progressive talk radio. The definition of conservative talk is generally broad enough ...

host and provocateur. Amid the

COVID-19 pandemic in Missouri The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached the U.S. state of Missouri in March 2020. A university student who had recently been to Italy, was the first index case for COVID-19 in Missouri. She was treated at Mercy Hospital St. Louis. As ...

, Rehder was one of five Republican state senators who called on Governor Parson to call a

special session In a legislature, a special session (also extraordinary session) is a period when the body convenes outside of the normal legislative session. This most frequently occurs in order to complete unfinished tasks for the year (often delayed by confli ...

to pass legislation to ban employer mandates for employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19, including mandates by both public entities and private businesses.Galen Bacharier
Missouri Republican senators push to ban vaccine mandates among private businesses
''Springfield News-Leader'' (August 11, 2021).

Electoral history

Personal life

Rehder was married to Raymond Rehder; they divorced after 29 years of marriage.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rehder, Holly 1969 births 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians Living people Republican Party members of the Missouri House of Representatives Republican Party Missouri state senators Women state legislators in Missouri