MOScout Daily Update: MRL Disses Kehoe, JP - New Nurrenbern Ad - J&J Nears $1M in Donations - Schmitt Won’t Lead NRSC - Hawley Jettin’ and more…

Situational Awareness: Election Day is in 3 weeks….  October Quarterly reports are due today at 5PM….

MRL PAC Endorsements

Missouri Right to Life’s PAC released their endorsements.  These aren’t particularly important to the general election outcomes.  Generally speaking, the partisans are already locked in, and the MRL imprimatur isn’t going to move Independents.

Still, it’s interesting to see which Republicans are still “on the outs” with the pro-life organization.  Among the statewides, there’s only one clear omission… Mike Kehoe.

One pro-lifer shrugs: It is just plain stubbornness on the part of some of those in MRL that they won't endorse Mike Kehoe. Mike will always be pro-life – with or without MRL's endorsement – but it is the stupid hostility of MRL's position which angers lots of pro-lifers.

Others snubbed: Sen. Jason Bean, the only incumbent Republican running for re-election who wasn’t endorsed, and Speaker-elect Jon Patterson.

Incumbent House Republicans not endorsed in their re-election bid: Bill Allen, John Black, Bob Bromley, Chris Brown, Tricia Byrnes, Brad Christ, Bill Falkner, Josh Hurlbert, Holly Jones, Jim Kalberloh, Jeff Knight, Chris Lonsdale, Jim Murphy, Michael O'Donnell, Cameron Parker, JP, Chad Perkins, Tara Peters, Renee Reuter, Brenda Shields, Dean Van Schoiack, and Rudy Veit.

·       ROMO (Reminder of the Obvious): All these Republican legislators are, by any reasonable definition, avowedly pro-life with staunch pro-life voting records.

First in MOScout: New Pro-Nurrenbern Ad

The latest ad from Northland Forward (the pro-Maggie Nurrenbern PAC) is 100% focused on abortion.  See it here.  Do you trust this guy (Jerry Nolte) with your private healthcare decisions?  Neither do we.  Maggie Nurrenbern believes in personal freedom she trusts women to make their own health care decisions not a bunch of politicians in Jefferson City…

·       What It Means: Suburban swing district Dems have clearly determined that the abortion issue is their strongest message this November.  The total abortion ban succinctly articulates to Independent voters that the Republican supermajority needs to be reined in.

Money Watch

·       The House Republican Campaign Committee continues to shovel money into their war-chest.  They seem to keep growing their enormous financial advantage over their Democratic counterpart.  Interesting to see MTX Group in the latest batch of checks.  That’s the vendor that Office of Childhood Director Pam Thomas said was responsible for “most of the work” on the billing snafu which engulf the childcare subsidies earlier this year.

·       J & J Ventures, a VLT company in Illinois presumably eying entry into the Missouri market if it becomes legal, has been very active this year giving nearly $1 million ($845,900) in large contributions.  And over half of that ($460,000) has been in the last month.  Almost all of it is going to PACs associated with their lobbyists: Another Viceroy PAC (Jeffrey Altmann), Paladin PAC (Andy Arnold), and Rowdy PAC (Ryan Rowden).

Schmitt Turns Down NRSC Role

Washington Examiner: Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) won’t be running to become chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee in 2026.  A senior aide confirmed to the Hill that Schmitt has no intention to run.

Hawley Private Jetting

Missouri Independent reports on Lucas Kunce using the same line of attack against Josh Hawley that Hawley used in his first Senate race against Claire McCaskill.  Read it here.

·       Hawley told Politico during the 2018 campaign about then-Sen. Claire McCaskill. “She’s totally addicted to her luxury lifestyle.”  Six years later, as Hawley seeks a second term, the attack is being turned back against him.

·       Lucas Kunce, the Democratic candidate for Senate, is pouncing on videos being circulated by his campaign of Hawley boarding a Gulfstream IV SP to hopscotch the state last week for rallies with Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker…

·       Hawley’s use of chartered jets began to increase last December, according to his most recent disclosure filed with the Federal Elections Commission in July. Hawley’s campaign spent more than $132,000 on chartered flights between mid-December and June.

PD: Edibles Poisoning Kids

Post-Dispatch reports on the rise in children being hospitalized after accidentally eating edibles, indicating the concern from Governor Mike Parson about packing is well-founded.  Read it here.

·       Health officials are raising the alarm over increasing numbers of children ingesting THC — the intoxicating chemical in cannabis — since Missouri legalized the licensed use of recreational cannabis at the end of 2022…

·       Another emergency room physician at Children’s who specializes in toxicology, Dr. David Liss, joined other Washington University researchers in looking at the hospital’s drug screenings in children ages 1 month to 9 years over the course of five years. The team found that between November 2018 and May 2023, the number of screenings coming back positive for THC jumped from 1.7 out of every 1,000 tests, to 13.7, Liss said.

·       The data confirmed what he saw as he made his rounds. “We had more of these very small, sometimes 1 or 2 or 3 years old, admitted to the hospital and sometimes the ICU,” he said. “Sometimes these children take two or three days to wake up.”

New Committees

Bill Eigel formed Eigel for Missouri.  Its purpose is to run for “St. Charles County Council.”  I’m told that his interest is in the County Executive position. The current incumbent, Steve Ehlmann, has said he won’t be running for another (sixth) term in 2026.

Lobbyists Registrations

Abigail Foster added Retail Energy Advancement League.

Maureen McDonnell deleted St. Louis Realtors.

$5K+ Contributions

American Dream PAC (pro-Kehoe) - $50,000 from THF Partners LLC (Overland Park, KS).

American Dream PAC - $40,000 from Elevate Missouri.

American Dream PAC - $25,000 from Drury Southwest Inc.

American Dream PAC - $20,000 from Burns & McDonnell.

American Dream PAC - $20,000 from 9445 Gravois LLC.

American Dream PAC - $10,000 from Strategos International LLC.

American Dream PAC - $5,600 from Ryan Riley Farms.

Liberty and Justice PAC (pro-Bailey) - $10,000 from Robert Blitz.

Missourians for Constitutional Freedom (pro-choice IP) - $99,721 from The Fairness Project (Washington, DC).

Missourians for Constitutional Freedom - $6,198 from Missouri Family Health Council.

Vote "NO" on 3 - $15,000 from Deborah Schlapprizzi.

Vote "NO" on 3 - $15,000 from Nolan Ruiz.

Southwest Conservative PAC - $5,387 from Vote "NO" on 3.

Show Me Growth PAC (pro-David Gregory) - $10,000 from The Simon Law Firm, P.C.

Clay County Commonsense PAC (pro-Nolte) - $10,000 from NEMO Leadership PAC.

Northland Forward (pro-Nurrenbern) - $7,600 from Paladin PAC.

Buck Up PAC (pro-Allen) - $10,000 from Rex Sinquefield.

Missouri Alliance PAC (pro-Patterson) - $13,000 from Another Viceroy PAC.

Missouri Alliance PAC - $10,000 from Pfizer Missouri PAC (New York, NY).

Missouri Alliance PAC - $10,000 from RightPath PAC.

Missouri Alliance PAC - $6,000 from RightPath PAC.

Missouri Senate Campaign Committee - $25,000 from MOCS Action.

House Republican Campaign Committee, Inc - $50,000 from MTX Group, Inc (Frisco, TX).

House Republican Campaign Committee, Inc - $15,000 from Friends of Eric Burlison.

House Republican Campaign Committee, Inc - $10,000 from Jim Schulte for Missouri.

House Democratic Campaign Committee - $6,000 from Ian Mackey.

The Rowdy PAC - $40,000 from J & J Ventures Gaming of Missouri LLC (Effingham, IL).

The Rowdy PAC - $19,000 from J & J Ventures Gaming of Missouri LLC (Effingham, IL).

964 PAC - $20,000 from Robert Brinkmann.

Friends to Elect Connie Steinmetz - $7,000 from Connie Steinmetz.

Friends For Mike Elam - $10,000 from Lisa Baue (Daytona Beach, FL).   

21st Century St. Louis PAC - $10,000 from Ameren Services Company.

Democratic Campaign Committee of St Louis City - $10,000 from Friends Of Wesley Bell.

MoCannTrade PAC - $18,000 from Missouri AG PAC,

MoCannTrade PAC - $6,000 from Curio Holdings, LLC.

Stronger Missouri - $10,000 from David Roberts.

Citizens For Missouri Courts - $10,000 from Dowd & Dowd, P.C.

SOCO Freedom PAC - $10,000 from CDC-ELT Operations, LLC.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Chrissy Sommer, Lane Koch, and Dean Morgan.