ELECTION NIGHT ENDS WELL FOR MISSOURI'S NPs

Supporters of Missouri's nurse practitioners had BIG wins at the polls yesterday evening following a contentious primary election that saw a few surprises.

Most notable for NPs was the significant victories of long time APRN supporters Eric Burlison and Nick Schroer.

Following the general election in November, Sen. Eric Burlison will almost certainly cruise to an easy victory to become Missouri's next Congressman from the 7th District, replacing current Congressman Billy Long, who ran unsuccessfully to replace Sen. Roy Blunt. Burlison has been a staunch supporter of NPs, filing multiple bills to lift restrictions on APRNs in Missouri.

A second HUGE win for Missouri NPs was the primary election victory of Rep. Nick Schroer in the 2nd Senate District. Like Burlison, Schroer has been a long time champion for our causes. Schroer's wife is a nurse practitioner, so he is acutely aware of the challenges facing Missouri NPs. In addition to filing multiple bills benefitting APRNs in the House, Schroer will now take his uncanny ability to pass bills to the upper chamber (assuming he wins the general election as he should), where he will no doubt continue advocating for NPs.

An unexpected but significant note was the loss of incumbent Sen. Bill White of Joplin. Although Sen. White had softened his hard-nose stance on NPs over the past couple of years, he still remained as a formidable obstacle to pass APRN legislation. White was upset in his Senate primary by conservative grassroots advocate Jill Carter, who will be new to elected office. While we do not yet know where Mrs. Carter stands on APRN issues, her defeat of Sen. White clears the way for progress on APRN issues.

CONGRATULATIONS to Sen. Burlison and Rep. Nick Schroer on their victories. If you feel so inclined, we encourage you to send them an email congratulating them on their wins. You can email Eric at info@ericburlisonforcongress.com and Nick at nick@nickschroer.com