Saturday, July 7, 2018

Twenty-One (or More) Candidates Seek to Unseat McCaskill

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Missouri will hold it's primary election one month from today.   The top position at play is that of the U.S. Senate seat currently being held by Missouri's senior senator, Claire McCaskill.  In addition to McCaskill who would like to be retained in office, the Democratic Party has fielded six other candidates who wish to do their bit to usher McCaskill into retirement.   The Republican Party will have eleven potential senators on its ballot, the Libertarians have three, and their is one declared candidate running on the Independent ticket as well as one very big name who is apparently considering running as an Independent.

All-in-all, Missourians going to the polls next month will have a good selection of senate candidates from which to choose.

McCaskill, a former denizen of Jefferson City, must have camped out at the Missouri Secretary of State's office on the night before filing opened, because she managed to get her name at the top of the Democratic list.  Other Democrats on the ballot will include Angelica Earl (a former ACA counselor who supports single-payer health care and openly refuses donations from the fossil fuel industry), David Faust, Travis Gonzalez, John Hogan, Leonard Steinman II, and Carla Wright.

McCaskill is easily favored to win the Democratic primary, although, as I like to point out to our state Democratic Committee, she has not won it yet and is not yet the official Democratic candidate - and they should damn well quit acting like she is!  The primary is the official method of choosing the candidate, and the state committee should remain neutral and impartial until after Missourians make their wishes known through the August balloting.

(Interestingly, being an incumbent is not sacrosanct, even to McCaskill herself.  In 2004 she challenged incumbent Missouri Governor Bob Holden in the Democratic primary and defeated him - only to lose the office to Roy Blunt's son, Matty, that November.)

State Attorney General Josh Hawley who has held his statewide office less than two years, is the heavy favorite to win the Republican primary.   Unlike McCaskill, Hawley apparently did not sleep in the hallway outside of the Secretary of State's office, and his name will appear second on the Republican primary ballot.  First place honors go to Brian Hagg.  Other GOP senator wannabes include Bradley Krembs, Tony Monetti, Kristi Nichols, Ken Patterson, Austin Petersen, Peter Pfeiffer, Fred Ryman, Christine Smith, and Courtland Sykes.

The Libertarians have fielded Japheth Campbell, Don Donald, and Dennis Lagares to seek the Senate nomination on their ballot.

Kansas City attorney Chris O'Dear is seeking the position as an Independent, and also toying with the notion of running as an Independent is Eric Greitens, the disgraced former governor of Missouri who was forced from office last month.  At this stage in the collapse of his political career, Greitens would probably have a negligible effect on the race, but any votes that he did receive would likely be at the expense of the state Republicans' other golden boy, Josh Hawley.

The good news is that there is a lot of variety in senate choices for Missouri - at least during the primary.  Yes, the field will be narrowed considerably by November - undoubtedly to McCaskill and Hawley - as well as one Libertarian and an Independent - but for August at least there is still a sense that anyone can prevail.

Pa Rock never misses an election - and he will definitely be voting in Missouri's August primary!

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