Missouri state Sen. Jill Carter considers herself a “poster child” for school choice, having homeschooled her children and spent a decade advocating for parental rights before winning a Missouri Senate seat in 2022.
“I think government has ruined education,” said Carter, whose 32nd District encompasses Jasper and Newton counties, the area surrounding Joplin. “We talk about outcomes for local schools. If there was true local control, you might be able to have an argument against that. But people don’t understand that the state basically holds them hostage through accreditation and their funding.”
Despite her record, she’s now the target of oppositional mailers and radio ads — not from her Republican primary opponent, Dr. Ellen Nichols, a neurosurgeon — but from national right-wing school-choice advocates.
The American Federation for Children Inc. has sent direct mail messages and bought radio ads pushing the idea that Carter “walked away” from a vote on school choice legislation in 2024.
Although Carter voted twice to advance the legislation through the Senate, she was absent for the final vote after lawmakers unveiled a last-minute substitute she said she had not fully reviewed. The measure ultimately passed 19-10.
“It was an omnibus bill nobody had read,” Carter said. “I abstained from the vote…and to say you’re not for school choice because you don’t want to vote for one piece of legislation that turned into an omnibus bill is ridiculous, especially when I voted twice for it.”
The national school choice organization injected an issue into the race that up until now has been most notable because it represents a rematch of sorts from 2022. Carter was the only Republican primary candidate that year to unseat an incumbent, then state Sen. Bill White, and he accompanied Nichols to Jefferson City on filing day.
The race is not about revenge, Nichols said. She’s been interested in public office for a long time, she said, and she now has the opportunity to go for it.
“It’s time for me to leave medicine,” Nichols said, “and so for the first time – because I’ve been the primary breadwinner for the family – I’ve been able to have the ability to run for political office.”
However, Carter isn’t convinced.
“If it’s not revenge, then what is it?” Carter said.
Carter said she ran a grassroots campaign in 2022, and her endorsements show she’s kept her promises, particularly touting her exclusive endorsement from Missouri Right to Life.
“I’m the only candidate endorsed by the Missouri Sheriff’s Association, Missouri FOP Association, Missouri Farm Bureau and cattlemen’s association,” she said. “I have an A-plus rating with the NRA. This is a word kept, and so my community knows I’m very engaged in trying to solve problems for them.”
There are no campaign reports showing how much the American Federation for Children has spent in the 32nd District. But it is not the first time the organization has gone after Missouri Republicans before for stepping a toe out of line, as well as Republicans nationwide.
Nichols also supports expanding educational options, while arguing Missouri must continue investing in public schools.
“Public schools serve the majority of Missouri families, and they should be well-supported, transparent, and focused on teaching core subjects—not promoting radical political ideologies,” Nichols states on her campaign website.
Both Nichols and Carter support statutory bans on teaching critical race theory and diversity, equity, and inclusion in Missouri public schools. However, the mailers and Nichols criticize Carter for voting against a ban in 2023, alongside hard-right state Sen. Mike Moon.
Like the school-choice bill, Carter said it was “a process vote, not a content vote” because it was a “multi-subject bill that hadn’t been vetted.”
Although the 32nd District is overwhelmingly Republican, it also includes two of Missouri’s largest Hispanic communities — Carthage and Neosho — giving its next senator a constituency that is more diverse than many rural districts.
State Rep. Lane Roberts, who represents the Joplin area, says the district needs a senator who is not only a strong conservative but also highly accepting and accommodating to all viewpoints.
“I think it’s important for representatives to recognize that if they represent everybody, whether they agree with us or not. You can’t just ignore them,” Roberts said. “You need to take into account what they’re saying. I believe both Jill and Ellen are the kind of people who will not forget that they represent everybody.”
The two candidates share many of the same views on conservative issues. Both are cautious about data centers and artificial intelligence, and both want to see property tax reform. They both say video gaming has no place outside of casinos, though Carter’s campaign has received large donations from video gaming groups.
Carter said she’s not a proponent of gambling. She voted for legislation that would’ve asked voters to approve regulating the gaming machines in gas stations, instead of continuing to allow them to exist without any regulations.
Nichols’ campaign is largely self-funded. Of the $288,000 she raised through June 30, Nichols provided $250,000.
Carter’s campaign committee has raised $261,000 and a political action committee that supports her, Show Me Values, has raised $333,000, reports filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission show.
Nichols has spent $34,865 on television ads in the Joplin market, tracking by The Independent shows, while Carter has spent $51,990 on broadcast ads. Show Me Values has spent about $25,000 on ads, most of it on radio promotions.
The winner of the Republican primary on Aug. 4 will face Democratic candidate Imma Curl, who jumped in the race in March. Curl said she has not raised enough money to report and has largely been helping the Democratic Party campaign against the constitutional amendments regarding making the initiative petition process more restrictive and eliminating the income tax.
“Southwest Missouri probably can’t lose,” said Roberts, who isn’t endorsing in the race. “Ellen White is just a completely decent person, she will do a good job regardless because that’s her nature. Jill Carter has proven to be a pretty effective senator. I don’t know of anybody who could legitimately criticize her, so I mean it’s just a no lose for southwest Missouri.”
Jill Carter The roots of Carter’s legislative agenda can be traced to her upbringing. Raised in poverty in a New Mexico trailer park, she said she was largely on her own by age 12 while her truck-driver parents were away for work.
After moving to Granby, she stayed behind at 16 when her family relocated again so she could finish high school and work her way through college. She married her high school sweetheart, and now has five children and two grandchildren.
“I was born very poor,” she said. “When I was a teenager, we didn’t have electricity…so I know what it means to not know how to connect to the system. You don’t always know how to turn your life around and how to change things.”
That’s why one of her biggest legislative priorities, if she wins, is connecting Missourians in need with community resources. This spring, Carter nearly got legislation passed that would’ve directed the state to build a case management system for residents in need.
Carter’s proposal would create a statewide referral system connecting families with churches, charities and nonprofit organizations that can provide essentials such as food, beds and other emergency assistance. She said the idea was modeled after a Florida system that helps prevent children from entering foster care because of poverty rather than abuse.
The bill died when Carter was unable to get Senate agreement on House changes to the legislation.
“I don’t think we have a resource problem,” she said, “I think we have a connectivity problem.”
Education remains Carter’s signature issue. She has sponsored a bill called the Educational Freedom Act that would fundamentally change how Missouri measures school performance by allowing districts to seek accreditation through nationally recognized organizations, like those used by private schools, instead of relying solely on state standards.
The statewide standardized test, the Missouri Assessment Program, would only be used to meet federal requirements.
“Why doesn’t that rural community have the flexibility to meet the needs of those students and teach the kind of education that makes them competitive?” she said. “What I’m fighting for is for my local school to have the same flexibility you’re willing to give to a private school, but using taxpayer dollars.”
Veterans are another top priority, she said, pointing to passing legislation to stop taxing survivor benefits.
In her role as majority whip, Carter said she has proved she can bring unity to the severed party. This was the first session since she arrived, she said, that they made it to the constitutional deadline. In previous years, infighting led to the legislative session ending early.
“As part of leadership, I was pulling senators off the floor and asking if they had any concerns with the bills that were coming up on the floor,” she said. “The goal is to alleviate the concerns that we have and we’re able to work more as a caucus.”
Ellen Nichols Nichols spent more than three decades making life-and-death decisions as a neurosurgeon. She says that experience — not politics — prepared her for the Missouri Senate.
Nichols grew up in Olathe, Kansas, just across the stateline near Kansas City. Her mother was a teacher, and her father was a newspaper editor. She and her brothers attended public school.
“They encouraged hard work and encouraged us to do well in school, which we all pretty much did,” she said. “It was a great childhood and a great place to grow up.”
Nichols married her childhood sweetheart, former state Sen. Bill White, shortly after high school. After completing her neurosurgery residency at the University of Chicago Hospitals, they set down roots in Joplin in 1992.
She has four children, two of whom joined their family through foster care and adoption, and four grandchildren. If elected, one of her top issues would be supporting foster and adoptive parents.
Nichols has served her community in some of its most critical moments, including as president of the medical staff at Freeman Health System during the devastating 2011 Joplin tornado.
Through the various executive roles on the Missouri State Medical Association, she said she has advocated for “responsible healthcare policy, decreased bureaucracy, and tort reform to reduce costs and protect patients.”
Expanding affordable, accessible healthcare is among Nichols’ top priorities.
“I think we need to improve price transparency,” Nichols aid. “I actually think that everyone should pay the same amount for procedures and tests, and should know what they’re paying for ahead of time.”
Nichols said prior authorization requirements consume hours of physicians’ time while delaying patient care, and she wants Missouri to revive legislation reforming the process.
“Prior authorization process is horrendous for both patients and for any healthcare providers having to deal with it,” she said.
Nichols said restoring Missouri’s abortion restrictions if Amendment 3 on the November ballot is approved would be her top legislative priority.
“There were years and years of effort that got us to the point where we were four years ago,” she said, “and now we’ve lost a huge amount of ground.”
Nichols said she supports economic development but wants lawmakers to carefully examine the potential effects of large data centers on nearby neighborhoods, natural resources and public health.
“I think that we need to be very cautious how we proceed and make sure that we’re doing the right thing for the community,” Nichols said, regarding the data centers. “I’m not against economic development or technology. I think that’s great, but we just need to make sure we’re not having an adverse impact on our community, especially residential areas.”
Nichols pointed to lawsuits nationwide alleging that increased health problems, including hearing problems, due to the centers.
“There may be increased toxins related to generator use,” she said, “and then, of course, there’s our natural resources… We have to be able to gather all the information we need to make measured decisions that protect our population.”
She believes her 33 years listening to patients putting a plan into action to correct the problem has given her a road map to being a senator.
“I think that’s what we need to do in the Senate,” she said. “Same process: evaluate the information, formulate a plan, and then put that plan into action, and hopefully correct the problems.”
The race ultimately presents Republican primary voters with two conservatives who agree on many of the party’s priorities but argue their life experiences best prepare them for Jefferson City — Carter as a legislator who built influence inside the Capitol, and Nichols as a physician accustomed to making high-stakes decisions in the operating room.
Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com.
