Will Scharf says Missouri needs a political ‘outsider’ for attorney general

Two Republicans are running for Missouri Attorney General in the August primary election.

One is Will Scharf, a St. Louis-based attorney. He’s part of former president Donald Trump’s legal team that successfully argued the presidential immunity case before the US Supreme Court. Scharf’s campaign ads refer to him as being “Trump’s attorney,” but Missourinet asked him if he could effectively run for attorney general while working for the ex-president.

“I don’t really sleep very much, but I think we’ve been very successful at campaigning for attorney general, despite my heavy legal responsibilities,” he said. “We’ve driven about 47,000 miles now. We’ve been all over the state. We have yard signs and 4x8s going up in every corner of the state.”

Scharf lists overturning the Jefferson City “establishment” as one of his top priorities for attorney general.

“It’s a state Capitol that’s essentially controlled by a very narrow set of lobbyists and political insiders and special interests, and we the people are left wanting because they, the insiders, have a very different agenda than we have,” he said. “I think the Attorney General’s Office can serve a really important role as sort of the guardian of the rights of Missourians.”

He includes the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) as being part of the “establishment” that needs to be dealt with. He said the state agency has been “an abysmal failure” at educating Missouri’s K-12 students.

“Less than one in four Missouri eighth graders are proficient in math and reading,” Scharf said. “Their priority seems to be principally around infecting our schools with radical woke leftism. I think we’ve seen that from our State Board of Education. We’ve seen that from DESE. I think that needs to end.”

Missourinet is seeking a response from DESE to Scharf’s comments.

Scharf also worked as policy director for former Gov. Eric Greitens and briefly worked for the US Attorney’s office in St. Louis. He’s hoping to meet Andrew Bailey, who was appointed attorney general by Gov. Mike Parson in January of 2023.

Bailey has made headlines for filing lawsuits over national issues, including suing the state of New York for prosecuting former President Trump for falsifying business records. While Scharf has heavily criticized Bailey’s record as attorney general, he agrees with the practice of suing other states if he feels it’s necessary.

“Well, I think if another state is doing things that affect the rights of Missourians, there’s absolutely room for the Missouri Attorney General’s Office to take action there,” he said.

The winner of the Republican primary will face St. Louis-based attorney Elad Gross, who’s running unopposed in the Democratic primary for attorney general. Another St. Louis attorney, Ryan Munro, is the Libertarian Party’s nominee for attorney general.

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