Campaign overview: TV ads spark debate in national elections as August 6 approaches

ANALYSIS

With just eight days left until the August 6 primary, Missouri statewide candidates are doing everything they can to grab attention and differentiate themselves from their opponents.

That’s especially true in the campaign for governor, where three leading candidates — Mike Kehoe, Jay Ashcroft and Bill Eigel — are vying for position in a race where polls suggest many voters are undecided, or perhaps know too little about the men seeking the Republican endorsement. The GOP winner in the primary will have a heavy weight in the Nov. 5 general election in a state where Republicans hold every key statewide office.

Eigel cut through the clutter last week with an ad that was condemned as “racist,” quickly turning the campaign into a badge of honor, with press releases touting the “viral” ad that “everyone is talking about.”

As the Kansas City Star reported, Eigel’s ad, called “Translator,” includes the following:

Eigel and an unidentified Hispanic-looking man stand in front of a backdrop of an American flag, while on-screen text reads that the ad is a “message for illegal immigrants.” Eigel promises to crack down on illegal immigration, saying he’ll “throw them in jail” and “send them back to where they came from.”

The unknown man acts as an interpreter, but also shows some panache, at one point saying in Spanish, “the party’s over.” When Eigel says that migrants will be sent back, the man puts his hands on his head in annoyance. …

Kehoe said in an interview with The Star on Wednesday that he had heard from Missourians who were offended by Eigel’s ad. “Look, Senator Eigel is trying to do whatever he can to get attention and the more people that tell him that — calling it racist or whatever they call it — the more media attention he’s going to get,” Kehoe said. “So this is his way of getting his name out there in the earned media world.”

Check out the ad yourself here:

Trump divides baby with show of support

Former President Donald J. Trump said Saturday night that Missouri “has three great people running for governor — Jay Ashcroft, Mike Kehoe and Bill Eigel.” Trump announced on Truth Social, his social media platform, that he did not want to harm two candidates by endorsing just one.

“It can’t go wrong!” Trump wrote:

Other heads in the race for governor

The Missouri Independent, a nonprofit news outlet based in Jefferson City, is running a series of profiles of the leading GOP candidates for governor. Here are short excerpts — click on the headline for free access to the full story:

Mike Kehoe says he’s the only Missouri GOP gubernatorial candidate interested in governing: “Missouri residents are a little fed up with hate politics,” Kehoe told The Independent in an interview at his campaign headquarters.

“The good Lord, if He gave me anything, it was that I can work very well with people, even if they don’t agree with me,” he said. “Now, we may still not agree at the end of our conversation, but that doesn’t make them the enemy. When I look at the field, I don’t see many other people who will govern that way.”

Bill Eigel vows to cut budget, round up immigrants if elected governor of Missouri: For most of his second term in the Missouri Senate, Bill Eigel was a disruptor.

First with a homegrown Republican faction, the Conservative Caucus, and then with a state chapter of the national Freedom Caucus, Eigel led a small group willing to torpedo legislation to make their views known.

Jay Ashcroft Presents Largest Reorganization of Missouri’s Finances in State History: Jay Ashcroft was born the year his father was appointed state auditor in 1973 and spent his teenage years in the governor’s mansion. He learned that everything the family did was news when his mother got his father in trouble by calling the state librarian on Mother’s Day so his brother could finish a homework assignment.

“When I was a little kid I decided I wasn’t going to go into politics,” he said in an interview with The Independent after announcing his candidacy. “I said, ‘I’m never going to go into politics. I’m never going to be a lawyer. I’m going to have a real job.’ Famous last words.”

Attorney General of Missouri

St. Louis Public Radio: Trump’s presence matters in Missouri Republican primary for attorney general

Both Republican candidates for Missouri Attorney General have worked in the governor’s office.

Andrew Bailey was general counsel to Governor Mike Parson when the governor appointed him attorney general.

“I served with Gov. Parson for about four years, and happened to be in the right place at the right time when my predecessor Eric Schmitt was elected to the United States Senate,” Bailey said.

Bailey is being challenged in the primary by Will Scharf, who was policy director for then-Governor Eric Greitens.

This is the first time he has run for a government position.

“Friends of mine approached me about running and said they felt it was really time to shake up Jefferson City and get more conservative outsiders, instead of establishment politicians and establishment people in office,” Scharf said.

Read and listen to the full story on St. Louis Public Radio (free access).

Missouri Independent: Donors pour $4.6 million into Missouri attorney general primary for Republicans in final weeks

A trio of political action committees backing Andrew Bailey or Will Scharf in the Republican primary for Missouri attorney general raised $4.6 million in major donations this month. …

Bailey, who was appointed attorney general by Gov. Mike Parson in 2022 and is seeking a full term, is backed by Liberty and Justice PAC. It raised $1.9 million in large donations this month — checks of more than $5,000 that must be reported immediately.

The bulk of that money came from Rex and Jeanie Sinquefield, Missouri’s most prolific political donors, who have given the PAC more than $1 million in recent weeks. Another $500,000 came from the Kansas law firm Michael Ketchmark.

So far this year, Liberty and Justice PAC has received $3.5 million in major donations.

Scharf, a former assistant district attorney, is backed by two PACs: Defend Missouri and Club for Growth Action. Most of Defend Missouri’s money comes from Club for Growth Action, though it did receive a $1.1 million donation this week from the Concord Fund, an advocacy group funded by groups tied to conservative activist Leonard Leo.

Club for Growth Action raised $1.9 million this month, with $1.3 million from his federal PAC and $250,000 from Scharf’s father. Watch the full story (free access).

Missouri AG criticized by political rivals for alleged lack of action on radioactive waste: Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey emphasizes his office’s commitment to holding the federal government accountable for decades-old radioactive waste contamination in the St. Louis region.

“We are fighting for the federal government to protect Missourians from the poison that the federal government has injected into the streams and creeks of eastern Missouri,” he told The Missouri Independent.

But the two candidates seeking to unseat him say Bailey is just the latest in a long line of Missouri officials who have failed the victims left in the area since World War II.

Activists tried for months last summer to get Bailey’s help, but “they were met with a closed door,” Will Scharf, who is challenging Bailey in the August 6 Republican primary, told The Independent.

Both Scharf and Elad Gross, the Democrat running for attorney general, say Bailey could do much more. Read the full story here (free access).

Secretary of State

KC Star: Missouri GOP Candidates Fear Voting Machines. Here’s How They Would Change Elections:Several Republicans running for secretary of state are promising sweeping changes to elections and voting rights in Missouri.

Television ads hit the airwaves as GOP candidates for secretary of state try to stand out in the crowded field:
Two of the eight Republican candidates for Missouri secretary of state launched TV campaign ads this week, hoping to separate themselves from the pack in the final two weeks before the Aug. 6 primary. Jamie Corley, a longtime Republican political operative from St. Louis, was first on the air, with ads in three markets on Monday. Ads for Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher went on the air Tuesday.

David Stoeffler

David Stoeffler is the CEO of the Springfield Daily Citizen. He has more than 40 years of experience in the news industry, as a reporter, editor and news director in Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa, Arizona and Missouri. You can email him at [email protected] or call him at 417-837-3664. More from David Stoeffler