ST. LOUIS–With the 2023 legislative session now in the rear-view mirror, expect the summer months to heat up as primary races start to develop ahead of what could be a unique 2024 political cycle.
Outside of Missouri U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley’s re-election campaign, nobody currently holding a Missouri statewide post In Missouri has ever been elected to the job they’re seeking.
Some candidates who have already been exploring statewide runs aren’t waiting much longer to dive into specific races.
State Sen. Denny Hoskins is announcing his candidacy for a statewide office on June 6 at an event near his Warrensburg home in West Central Missouri, he confirmed to Spectrum News on Friday. Hoskins has found notoriety in statewide politics because of an insistence that proposals to legalize sports betting also address the proliferation of unregulated slot machines across the state.
He’s a Certified Public Accountant, but if he were to enter the Treasurer’s race, he’d face currentTreasurer Vivek Malek, who is running with the full support of Gov. Mike Parson, and potentially House Budget Chair Cody Smith, who changed his Missouri Ethics Commission paperwork earlier this spring to target the Treasurer’s race, but has not officially announced a campaign.
Political observers believe Hoskins will get into the race for Secretary of State, where he could potentially face Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, in a primary. A Rowden fundraiser is reportedly scheduled for Thursday in Farmington. Rowden, who can't seek re-election to the Senate due to term limits and clashed with Hoskins over sports betting in the final days of this past session, could not be reached for comment. Greene County Clerk Shane Schoeller, a former State Representative and the GOP nominee for Secretary of State in 2012, has already announced his candidacy.
On the Democratic side, State Rep. Peter Merideth, D-St. Louis, confirmed to Spectrum News that he’s considering a Secretary of State run. State Rep. Alan Gray, D-Black Jack, has already filed Missouri Ethics Commission paperwork to run in the race.
House Speaker Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres, who has been eying a run for Lt. Governor publicly since February, downplayed talk of an announcement in the near future during a brief interview with Spectrum News last week when he attended Governor Parson’s announcement of Gabe Gore as the next St. Louis Circuit Attorney.
“None whatsoever…I enjoy my job. I want to be a good Speaker, looking forward to the next legislative session. I thoroughly enjoy serving the state. It’s a great honor heading the House. We had a good session. We have a lot of things yet to accomplish and I look forward to getting started again in January.”
Former Missouri GOP Chair Jean Evans, now a political consultant, tells Spectrum News Plocher has done a good job of getting support of business and grass roots interests, which can be difficult for someone in a legislative leadership role.
“It’s been a while since anybody out of House or Senate leadership has actually run for statewide office, other than Dave Schatz running for U.S. Senate. When you’re in that position, you gotta tell a lot of people no and you gotta do a lot of compromise and the compromise is not popular with the base,” Evans, a former State Representative from west St. Louis County said. “I think it’s hard sometimes to go from being in leadership and running statewide and we haven’t seen it successfully done since I don’t even know when.”
Regardless of summer announcements, there’s still plenty of time before filing starts Feb. 27 and ends March 26, 2024 and Evans sees a chance for movement on the GOP side from one race to another depending on how tides turn.
The Week Ahead in Politics
Tuesday
Gabe Gore gets sworn into as St. Louis Circuit Attorney Tuesday. He’ll likely get asked again if he’s going to run in 2024. At his introduction, he described the election question as a distraction from the work of rebuilding the office. As of this writing, the only people with Missouri Ethics Commission (MEC) filings for the Circuit Attorney’s race are the former occupant, Kim Gardner and attorney David Mueller, who previously announced he would challenge Gardner in a primary. Mueller and former St. Louis alderman Mike Gras, who was also considering a run for the office, applied for the appointment that ultimately went to Gore. Mueller has said he will continue with his campaign.
Thursday
State Rep. Sarah Unsicker, D-Shrewsbury, an announced candidate for Attorney General in 2024, will be joined by other St. Louis area Democratic House members as well as State Sen. Brian Williams, D-University City, for a recap of the legislative session.
Friday
Eureka businessman John Kiehne, the only Democrat to file MEC paperwork so far to run for Lt. Gov., is having what his twitter account described as a “virtual birthday bash” and summer kickoff Friday night.
Saturday
Missouri Democratic Party Chair Russ Carnahan and House Minority Floor Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, will start a 9-day “Road to 2024 Tour” in the city of St. Louis Saturday, followed by a St. Louis County stop Sunday. The tour will then head west to Boone, Clay, Jackson and Greene County, among other areas, before wrapping up in St. Charles County June 13.
Quade has said publicly she’s considering the race for Governor.
2028?!
We aren’t even out of 2023 yet, but it looks like 2028 is just around the corner.
Missouri U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt has been in Washington for only a few months into a six-year term, but it already looks like he’s eyeing a 2028 re-elect. Fundraising appeals have already started going out.