Jill Schupp

Jill Schupp (born January 27, 1955) is a Democratic member of the Missouri Senate, representing the 24th district consisting of the western suburbs of St. Louis. Previously, Schupp represented the 88th district in the Missouri House of Representatives. On December 3, 2019, she announced she will run for Missouri's 2nd congressional district in 2020.

Schupp graduated from Parkway North High School in Creve Coeur, Missouri and the University of Missouri in Columbia. She did subsequent graduate work at University of Missouri at St. Louis, where she received a teachers certificate. After a brief stint as a teacher she worked as a small business executive for an advertisement agency.

Schupp's political career began in 2000 as a member of the Ladue School Board, where she served for six years including two terms as President. In 2007 she was elected to the Creve Coeur City Council. Schupp was an elected member of the Missouri House of Representatives from 2008 to 2014, where she served on the Joint Committee on Life Sciences, Budget Committee, Health Insurance Committee, Higher Education Committee, and the Children, Families, and Persons with Disabilities Committee.

In 2014, Schupp was elected to the Missouri Senate. After running unopposed in the democratic primary, she defeated republican Jay Ashcroft and libertarianJim Higgins with 50% of the vote against 47% and 3% respectively. After raising over $1 million for her reelection bid, she was returned to the senate 2018, defeating republican Gregory Powers. Schupp represents the 24th Senatorial District, which is located in St. Louis County and includes some or all of the following municipalities: Ballwin, Breckenridge Hills, Bridgeton, Champ, Charlack, Chesterfield, Country Life Acres, Creve Coeur, Crystal Lake Park, Frontenac, Huntleigh, Ladue, Manchester, Maryland Heights, Olivette, Overland, St. Ann, Sycamore Hills, Town and Country, Warson Woods, Westwood and Winchester.

On December 3, 2019, Schupp officially announced her campaign for the Democratic nomination to the U.S. House of Representatives against Republican incumbent Ann Wagner for Missouri's 2nd congressional district.

Veterans affairs

Schupp has proposed legislation to establishes the task force on trauma-informed care for veterans, which died in committee during the 2018 session. Schupp founded the Missouri Veterans History Project, a nonprofit organization, that has helped more than 1000 veterans to videotape their experiences for archiving at the State Historical Society of Missouri and the Library of Congress.

Mental health

Schupp has introduced legislation to require marital and family therapists to complete suicide management training as a condition of licensure. It did not pass in 2017 or 2018, while it is pending in 2019. Three Missouri chapters of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention have presented Schupp with their national State Award to recognize her leadership in suicide prevention and mental health.

Families and children

In 2018 Schupp successfully opposed representative Kathryn Swan's legislation for shared parenting that would have created a rebuttable legal presumption that children of divorcing parents would split their time equally between their mother and father, except in situations of child abuse or neglect. After passing the House 137-7, Schupp filibustered the bill in the senate so that it did not come up for a vote. Proponents of shared parenting cite scientific studies showing that children do better with shared versus sole custody and visitations, but according to an aide, Schupp doesn’t agree with the concept of shared parenting.

Foreign affairs

In 2017, Schupp introduced a senate resolution that calls on the Chinese Government to end the practice of organ harvesting from prisoners. After it died in committee, she reintroduced the resolution again in 2018, at which time it was approved by the senate but not voted on by the house. As the resolution did not pass in either of those two years, she has reintroduced the resolution in 2019.

At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, Schupp served on the following committees, councils and commissions.

• Economic Development
• Education
• Health and Pensions
• Professional Registration
• Seniors, Families and Children
• Joint Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect
• Joint Committee on Tax Policy
• Study Commission on State Tax Policy
• Missouri Assistive Technology Advisory Council
• Missouri Veterans’ Commission
• MO HealthNet Oversight Committee

State Representative

State Senate