MOScout Daily Update: McCreery's First Ad - Mantovani-Page Rematch - Day of Fundraisers - Long and Gay Marriage and more...
First in MOScout: McCreery on the Air
Rep. Tracy McCreery’s campaign has released their first TV ad. See it here. A source says it’ll be in rotation in both cable and broadcast.
Script: Most families want the same thing. Great schools, good jobs, and a fair chance to get ahead. As someone who has a reputation for working with members so of both parties. I stand with those families. Against special interests and subsidies for billionaire stadium owners. I stand with funding teachers, police officers, firefighters, nurses, and with parents. And I stand with women and their right to choose.
In the State Senate, you’ll always know where I stand - with you.
· The ad touts her “reputation for working with members so of both parties.”
· And gives a shout-out to reproductive rights as central campaign plank.
A Day of Fundraisers
I count 19 fundraisers scheduled for today around Jefferson City. Find my comprehensive list of Veto Session fundraisers here. Feel to download, share, print out etc.
If you’re interested in meeting the incoming House freshmen, the two places where House candidates will gathered in large numbers…
· 6 – 8PM House Democratic Campaign Committee (House Dems) – Bones, 210 Commercial Ave.
· 7:30 – 9PM Speaker-elect Dean Plocher, Reps. Bennie Cook and Mike Haffner, and all the Republican House candidates – Missouri Realtors Association, 100 East High Street.
Mantovani-Page Rematch
Republicans chose Mark Mantovani to be their nominee for St. Louis County Executive. Mantovani has run for the position twice before – before times as a Democrat! It’s the latest twist in crazy election cycle for the race. First, Rep. Shamed Dogan was upset in the primary by an unknown Katherine Pinner. Then Pinner waffled between running and dropping out for weeks, until she finally decided not to run. Now Republicans nominate a Democrat.
November will be a rematch of sorts between Mantovani and incumbent Sam Page. In 2020, Mantovani placed second in the Democratic primary, losing to Page 38%-29% (Jake Zimmerman was third with 24%).
What would lead the Republican committee to choose a Democrat? Perhaps they came to the same conclusion of the MOScouter I quoted two weeks ago: “You might want to keep an eye on Mark Mantovani as the GOP replacement candidate for St. Louis County Executive. He has high name ID from two previous runs, can self-fund, and has the ability to pull Democratic votes which is going to be required for anyone running on the GOP side to win that race.”
· Mantovani put in about $1.5 million of his own money in his first run (against Steve Stenger). We’ll see if he drops that kind of money in again with only two months until the election…
But
The real question Team Mantovani faces is: has St Louis County too far gone too far blue to be competitive for someone with an R behind their name (even a Democrat)? It sure looks like it to me. Joe Biden beat Donald Trump by 24 points in 2020 (61%-37%), and the off-presidential cycle was just as bad for GOP. Two years earlier, Claire McCaskill beat Josh Hawley by 26 points in 2018 (62%-36%).
Smith on Primary Follies
From caring about Twitter to expecting a viral video, former Sen. Jeff Smith writes about the silliest things he heard from candidates last election. Read it here.
· The launch video did not, as it turns out, go viral. Nor did it raise $11 million dollars.
Gay Marriage: The Politics Vs The Personal
Springfield News-Leader’s Andrew Sullender writes about the Congressman Billy Long attending a family friend’s same-sex marriage ceremony. Read it here.
· Standing before the two brides, Billy Long turned to his wife and told her he needed to leave. Then the U.S. Representative walked out of the same-sex wedding shower his family was co-hosting. That's how Ellen Neville-Verdugo remembers the day meant to celebrate her and her wife's engagement… a few days later, he invited Neville-Verdugo and her fiancée to lunch where she thought he meant to apologize. But instead Long explained he had left the shower for their benefit — to save them from the "embarrassment" of having pictures with him.
· Growing up as family friends with the Longs, she is around the same age as Billy Long's daughters and spent a good deal of time with the family as a child. "They're very, very sweet," she said of Long's wife and children. In her mind, the congressman and his family are "two very separate entities."
· On Oct. 13 in 2018, Long attended the wedding without incident. And that is a secret Neville-Verdugo kept until last month when Billy Long voted against her right to be married to her wife.
House Friends of UK Caucus Reacts to QEII Death
I didn’t even know that there was a House “Friends of the UK” Caucus. And yet the press release hit my in-box. Rep. Derek Grier is the chair of the caucus, by the way.
Members of Missouri’s Friends of the U.K. Caucus have expressed their condolences to the British royal family and people following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. The letter highlights the late Queen’s contributions to her nation and the world. It draws special attention to her cultivation of the “special relationship” between Britain and America. A delegation of Caucus members plan to attend an official thanksgiving service in memory of Elizabeth later this month at St. James Cathedral in Chicago…
$5K+ Contributions
Mo Coalition for Video Lottery PAC - $20,000 from J&J Ventures Gaming of Missouri, LLC.
Uniting Missouri PAC (pro-Parson) - $10,000 from Warrenton Oil Company.
Majority Forward (Senate Dems) – $60,000 from Schupp for Senate.
WPG PAC - $6,500 from Summit Natural Gas.
Missouri American Water Company Employees Political Action Committee - $10,000 from Goodwin Brothers.
Page PAC - $10,000 from McBride & Son Management LLC.
Lobbyist Registrations
Rodney Boyd, Kate Casas, Brian Grace, and Kelvin Simmons added American Association of International Healthcare Recruitment.
Jeffrey Altmann deleted CBD Kratom.
Dave Berry deleted Mackinac Center for Public Policy, and Exemplar Public Affairs LLC.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Congresswoman Ann Wagner, and Sam Lee.