KANSAS CITY, Mo.—With the filing period for Missouri’s Aug. 6 primary election set to open in less than two weeks, the race for lieutenant governor saw some more upheaval Friday night as State Sen. Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, told Spectrum News he’s about to join the field. 

Hough, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, was elected to his second Senate term in 2022 and cannot run again due to term limits.

“Politics is about timing and being the most advantageous you can be for the people you represent, and I’ve been fortunate to represent Southwest Missouri for the last several years, and now, we’re in a spot where we can just jump into this statewide thing, and it’s exciting, and it’s good and the team’s coming together, so I like it,” Hough said in an interview Friday night at the Missouri Republican Party’s annual Lincoln Days event at the Airport Hilton in Kansas City.

Hough joins a Republican primary field that includes House Speaker Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres; State Sen. Holly Rehder; Franklin County Clerk Tim Baker and Paul Berry III, a former candidate for St. Louis County executive and Congress.

Former State Sen. Bob Onder, R-Lake St. Louis, left the field to run for the 3rd Congressional District seat after Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer announced his retirement from Congress.

A Remington Research Group poll conducted last month for Missouri Scout showed Rehder in the lead at 18% with more than 50% undecided.

“I’ve said several times I don’t run reactionary campaigns. We run campaigns on our record and what we’re going to do for Missouri, so polls are fine and they are what they are, but no, they don’t have an effect on me,” he said. 

Hough played a key role in the Senate’s move last year to take Gov. Mike Parson’s proposal to add a lane of traffic on parts of Interstate 70 and instead make it statewide from Wentzville to Blue Springs. 

This year, he’s tasked with guiding the passage of the Federal Reimbursement Allowance, or FRA, a collection of taxes on hospitals, nursing homes, pharmacies and ambulances and other providers that support Medicaid recipients.

Members of Missouri’s Freedom Caucus in the Senate are pushing, as they did in 2021, for amendments to the FRA to ban payments to Planned Parenthood.  

Failure to pass the FRA could lead to a $4 billion hole in the state’s budget, leaders from both parties have said. 

The field of Democrats in the race includes Assistant Minority Floor Leader Richard Brown, D-Kansas City, and Anastasia Syes, of St. Louis County.

Filing for the August primary starts Feb. 27 and runs until March 26.