MOScout Daily Update: Hand Counting to Come to Missouri? - More Reaction to Tuesday - Smith on Bush, Hawley and more…
Quick Friday update…
Hoskins to Implement Hand-Counting Ballots?
KMOV reports on the election security agenda of Denny Hoskins, if he wins in November as expected. Read (and watch) it here.
“I’m also the only candidate that believes in hand counting,” said Hoskins. Hoskins is a member of the Missouri Freedom Caucus and has repeatedly said he believes the unfounded claims that Donald Trump won the 2020 election. He tells First Alert 4 over the phone that as Secretary of State he wants to ban election tabulators and have Missourians physically hand count ballots. He believes machines are more prone to make mistakes than human error. “I don’t worry about that any more than I do the election machines being hacked into and being improperly programmed,” said Hoskins.
· Aside from the fact that there’s be no more Election Night parties with hand-counting (we’ll all find out who won sometimes a week afterwards), the potential for shenanigans goes up exponentially with hand-counting.
Conspiracy Contagion?
Meanwhile, the Trumpian assertion that elections are fraudulent may be making headway in Missouri. Apparently, some far-right activists find Tuesday’s vote count suspicious. “Are Missourians expected to believe that about 72,000 legitimate MO voters requested a ballot to only vote for MO Governor and the 2 Constitutional Amendments without voting for their preferred candidates running for the highly prized and important offices of Secretary of State, Treasurer, or Attorney General?”
Oh boy.
A Sunshine request from Cyndia Haggard (the former committeewoman who pushed for vetting Republican candidates) appears to be aimed to uncover any such maleficence.
Smith on Why Bush Lost, but Hawley Won’t
Lobbyist Jeff Smith writes in the Missouri Independent about Cori Bush’s loss, and why Josh Hawley won’t share her fate. See it here.
· I’ve always thought that true political talent is rooted in dexterity: the ability to appeal to a wide variety of constituencies without significant internal contradictions…
· [Hawley’s] only concern was a potential general election fight against young, chiseled ex-Marine Lucas Kunce, who had developed a hard-edged populist message and national small-dollar fundraising base in his 2022 bid. Hawley, no dummy, quickly pivoted his focus from election denialism to a blend of economic and cultural populism calibrated to court Missouri swing voters…
· The other Missouri politician who became a polarizing figure nationally was Cori Bush. Having comfortably won a 2022 re-election bid, she took a different tack than Hawley in dealing with her political vulnerabilities. Instead of backing away from her most polarizing positions, she leaned into them…
More Reader Reaction to Election
Strong Turnout - I’ve seen a few references to Tuesday’s GOP primary being a “low turnout” election. Let’s dispel that notion. Yes, primaries attract fewer voters than generals, but as far as GOP primaries go, it appears the year’s saw the highest turnout in Missouri history. There were 697,347 votes cast in the Republican primary for Governor—the most in any August primary since at least 1998. For comparison, there were 655,675 votes cast in the 2022 GOP Senate primary, 684,251 in the 2016 GOP gubernatorial primary, and 603,260 in the 2012 GOP Senate primary.
Ashcroft’s Bootheel Woes – The reason Jay did so poorly in Bootheel could have been that when John was doing his thing of being Governor, Senator, an US AG 90 percent of Bootheel voters were democrats. They fought John and they didn’t see the name in a positive way. There are not very many old long lasting Republicans in the Bootheel.
Education Nuance - Worth pointing out that Adam Schnelting, Brad Hudson, Kurtis Gregory, Jamie Burger, and Mike Henderson all voted in favor of SB727. Joe Nicola has declared support for school choice. Voters are still supporting school choice at the ballot box. They clearly sent a message in HDs 109 and 111, where the incumbents voted against 727 and voters punished them for it.
More on Ashcroft – With Ashcroft, he could win SOS on his last name. In a competitive race for Governor, he couldn't do it on name alone. He had to be a good candidate and perform well - not great - really just be OK plus his last name. Kehoe and Eigel were better candidates who performed well in their own ways, and that was a bad field for Ashcroft.
An AG for MO? – After the November election, Missouri might just have an AG that's focused on being Missouri's AG for the first time since Koster... Hawley focused on the senate... Schmitt was focused on keeping the seat after appointment then focused on senate... Bailey focused on keeping the seat after appointment... It's been 8 years of suing school districts and the federal government.
$5K+ Contributions
American Dream PAC (pro-Kehoe) - $28,739 from Drury Southwest Inc.
Missourians for Constitutional Freedom (pro-choice IP) - $10,000 from John and Ellen Aisenbrey.
Missourians for Constitutional Freedom - $5,999 from American Civil Liberties Union, Inc. (New York, NY).
A Better Missouri Political Action Committee - $40,000 from Anheuser-Busch Cos.
Birthdays
Happy birthday to Lyndall Fraker.
Saturday: Cheryl Lynne Dozier, Gary Nodler, Jason Grill, and Mindy Mazur.
Sunday: Rep. Bruce Sassmann, and Doug Healy.
MOScout Schedule
I’m off of the weekend. Back in your in-box on Monday.