{"id":481903,"date":"2022-08-06T20:13:24","date_gmt":"2022-08-06T17:13:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/from-teen-mom-to-missouri-state-senator\/"},"modified":"2022-08-06T20:13:24","modified_gmt":"2022-08-06T17:13:24","slug":"from-teen-mom-to-missouri-state-senator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/from-teen-mom-to-missouri-state-senator\/","title":{"rendered":"#From teen mom to Missouri State senator"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3dfc9aa6f04\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3dfc9aa6f04\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/from-teen-mom-to-missouri-state-senator\/#%E2%80%9CFrom_teen_mom_to_Missouri_State_senator%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;From teen mom to Missouri State senator&#8221;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CFrom_teen_mom_to_Missouri_State_senator%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;From teen mom to Missouri State senator&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>By the time Holly Thompson Rehder was in tenth grade, she had already called thirty different houses home \u2014 most of them structures that were either dilapidated, or in run-down mobile home parks. A fairy tale it was not; yet the Republican state senator, who shares her upbringing in her upcoming memoir, \u201cCinder Girl: Growing Up on America\u2019s Fringe\u201d (Bombardier Books) likens it to one.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCinder girl is a reference to the Drew Barrymore Cinderella movie \u2018Ever After,\u2019 in which that Cinderella \u2026 frees herself, which is exactly where my story brings you to today,\u201d Rehder, 53, told The Post.<\/p>\n<p>Rehder\u2019s life story covers the landmines of addiction, abuse, poverty and instability that marked her childhood with her mother and two sisters. It often included uprooting the family in the middle of the night, when her mother would leave a husband or a boyfriend who had become physically abusive.<\/p>\n<p>There were times the family was split up, and she found herself sleeping on the couch of a friend, or an aunt or uncle. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/rehder-teen-mom.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"Rehder gave birth to her first child Raychel at 16.\" class=\"wp-image-23327090\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/rehder-teen-mom.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/rehder-teen-mom.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/rehder-teen-mom.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Rehder gave birth to her first child Raychel at 16. Being responsible for another person inspired her to start turning her life around. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of Holly Thompson Rehder<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/rehder-marriage.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"Rehder married for the first time at age 15 (with her mom and husband).\" class=\"wp-image-23327093\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/rehder-marriage.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/rehder-marriage.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/rehder-marriage.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Rehder married for the first time at just 15 (here, with her mom and first husband). Despite her young age, she saw the marriage as a way to escape her mother\u2019s life and choices. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of Holly Thompson Rehde<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>One night, she watched her stepfather chase her half-naked mother around the mobile home park, aiming a butcher knife at her back. \u201cWhen the police finally came and arrested him, all I could think about was the fact that Mama wasn\u2019t going to press charges,\u201d said Rehder, who realized, at 14, that she needed to escape. \u201cI knew my only way out was to marry my boyfriend and leave, and I put that plan in motion.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>At age 15 in 1984, she was married. By the time she was 16, she had a child. Rehder held her daughter Raychel in the hospital room for the very first time, right after giving birth \u2014 and knew that she could not continue down the same path her mother had chosen.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/holly-thompson-rehder2.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"Holly Thompson Rehder caption goes here.\" class=\"wp-image-23327099\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/holly-thompson-rehder2.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/holly-thompson-rehder2.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/holly-thompson-rehder2.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Holly Thompson Rehder was elected to the Missouri State Senate in 2020.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Morris Boyd Photography for NY Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI realized that this is a human depending on me for everything but breath and I cannot give her the life that I\u2019ve had for the last 10 years,\u201d said Rehder. \u201cI was just determined. I didn\u2019t care how long it took me to get my GED, how many jobs I had to work, but we were getting out of that.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/rehder-sisters-dallas.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"By the time Rehder (here, with her sisters in Dallas) was in 10th grade, she had lived in more than 30 houses. \" class=\"wp-image-23327100\" width=\"618\" height=\"411\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/rehder-sisters-dallas.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1233 1236w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/rehder-sisters-dallas.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=925 927w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/rehder-sisters-dallas.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=618 618w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/rehder-sisters-dallas.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=308 309w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/rehder-sisters-dallas.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 618px) 100vw, 618px\"\/><figcaption>By the time Rehder (here, with her sisters in Dallas) was in 10th grade, she had lived in more than 30 houses. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of Holly Thompson Rehder<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"682\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/rehder-grandmother.jpg?w=682\" alt=\"Rehder with grandma caption goes here.\" class=\"wp-image-23327101\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/rehder-grandmother.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1023 1023w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/rehder-grandmother.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=682 682w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/rehder-grandmother.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=341 341w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/rehder-grandmother.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 682px) 100vw, 682px\"\/><figcaption>Rehder with her grandmother. Holly and her mom and sisters moved often, and sometimes ended up spending the night on a relative\u2019s couch. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of Holly Thompson Rehder<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It took awhile, but Rehder eventually earned her GED. After 17 years she finished college, getting her degree from Southeast Missouri State University in mass communication. She divorced her first husband when she was 22 years old, and married her second husband, Raymond Rehder, a year and a half later. They had two children, and owned a cable installation business together. (The couple divorced in 2021, after 28 years of marriage.)<\/p>\n<p>It was her role as a small business owner navigating government red tape that led her to run for the Missouri state House in 2012. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/holly-thompson-rehder3.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"Rehder standing on a porch in front of a double door. \" class=\"wp-image-23329303\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/holly-thompson-rehder3.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/holly-thompson-rehder3.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/holly-thompson-rehder3.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>\u201cRight now, I love what I\u2019m doing,\u201d she says, reflecting on the life she\u2019s built. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Morris Boyd Photography for NY Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"682\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/holly-rehder.jpg?w=682\" alt=\"Rehder seated on the stairs\" class=\"wp-image-23329309\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/holly-rehder.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1023 1023w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/holly-rehder.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=682 682w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/holly-rehder.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=341 341w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/holly-rehder.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 682px) 100vw, 682px\"\/><figcaption>Rehder has her sights set on higher statewide office in Missouri. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Morris Boyd Photography for NY Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In 2020, she ran and won the state senate seat she currently holds. In the spring, she sponsored a bill \u2014\u00a0now tabled \u2014\u00a0dealing with the rights of sexual assault survivors. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am a sexual assault survivor,\u201d said Rehder, when introducing the bill. \u201cMy mother had gone through [this] many times, growing up, and then as an adult, and my sister also, so I\u2019m very familiar. It\u2019s very personal to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her next goal, she said, will be to run for higher statewide office in Missouri \u2014 she hasn\u2019t decided which one yet. \u201cRight now, I love what I am doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"693\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/cinder-girl.jpg?w=693\" alt=\"Cinder Girl: Growing Up on America's Fringe by Holly Thompson Rehder\" class=\"wp-image-23329336\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/cinder-girl.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1039 1039w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/cinder-girl.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=693 693w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/cinder-girl.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=346 346w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/cinder-girl.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 693px) 100vw, 693px\"\/><figcaption>Rehder\u2019s life story covers the landmines of addiction, abuse, poverty and instability that marked her childhood with her mother and two sisters.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Rehder said there is a stigma in our culture about people who grow up in abusive homes or in generational poverty. They often repeat the cycle of becoming teenage parents.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI never gave up on myself, I never gave up on the idea that I had to pull myself out of the downward direction my life was going. I want other women in these situations to know you are not alone and you can make it out,\u201d says Rehder. \u201cThere are truly forgotten people out there in our country \u2014 [people] living in despair who we overlook in culture, policy and in politics. I know because I was one of them for a very long time.\u201d\n                        <\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/08\/06\/holly-rehder-memoir-from-teen-mom-to-missouri-state-senator\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;From teen mom to Missouri State senator&#8221; By the time Holly Thompson Rehder was in tenth grade, she had already called thirty different houses home \u2014 most of them structures that were either dilapidated, or in run-down mobile home parks. A fairy tale it was not; yet the Republican state senator, who shares her upbringing&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":481904,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/HollyRehder.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[132087,71152,67208,71513],"class_list":["post-481903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-8-6-22","tag-domestic-violence","tag-poverty","tag-senators"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}