MOScout Daily Update: Big Day Ahead in MO Politics - House Districts PowerRankings Start - Talboy to KC Building Trades and more…

Quite A Day Ahead

8:30AM – Missouri Supreme Court hears oral arguments about Judge Chris Limbaugh’s recent Amendment 3 ruling.  The Post-Dispatch reports that SCOMO will likely turn around a decision FAST, by 5PM.

8:30 AM – State Board of Education Meeting.

Noon – Veto Session fundraisers start, and take place throughout the day and evening across Jefferson City as lobbyists hop from event to event with envelopes of checks.

2PM – House Elementary and Secondary Committee holds hearing on the childcare subsidy debacle.

5PM – The deadline for the Secretary of State to finalize the November ballot.

8PM – TVs at fundraisers will flip on as Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have their first (and maybe only?) Presidential debate.

Updated Fundraisers List

If you need a comprehensive listing of the fundraisers today (and tomorrow), find a printable/downloadable PDF here.

The fun starts at Noon today, and goes to ??? with a late night karaoke, followed by morning fundraisers on Wednesday before the legislature convenes.

MOScout PowerRankings: House Districts Most Likely to Flip

I’ve started the PowerRanking of House districts most likely to flip in the upcoming election.  These are the top five, but I’ll be adding the next five later this week to have a top ten battleground district to watch.

·       One big factor I’m watching: where partisan lean could be amplified with presidential turnout and revert accordingly.

Find the rankings here.

Talboy, Vandeven, Dameron on the Move

A number of folks making announcements on LinkedIn…

·       Former Minority Leader Mike Talboy announced, “I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Political Director at Greater KC Building & Construction Trades!” 

·       Jennifer Dameron has left the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office and is Director of External Affairs for Midwest Region for Comcast.

·       Former DESE Commissioner Margie Vandeven is now a Visiting Scholar at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

Populist Kunce in Deep Red MO

Josh Hawley and Lucas Kunce’s Ham Breakfast Staredown gets mentioned in this American Prospect article about Democrats running populist campaigns in “deep red states.”

Kunce goaded Hawley about a potential debate time: “I’ll see you on Fox News, bro, we offered you a safe space,” Kunce said. The style of public argument is a far cry from the “they go low, we go high” mentality that had characterized the Democratic Party for years.  Though most of the conversation consisted of insults and posturing, there was some substantive debate about the candidates’ positions on labor, with Kunce calling Hawley’s embrace of unions an electoral ploy. Since 2016, Hawley has made a complete 180 turn from his anti-union positions, including his support for preserving a union-busting right-to-work law in the state, which voters dismantled in 2018.

Team Player Hamra

In the large contributions (below), Together Missouri, the pro-Mike Hamra PAC, sent its remaining cash to the Senate Democrats campaign committee, Majority Forward.

·       It’s not a huge amount, but it’s a nice gesture from someone who just lost a primary.

eMailbag on A3 Ruling

Your bit on Judge Chris Limbaugh cratering to the right to further his ambitions leave out the one big right-winger to see if you want to be a federal judge during the upcoming Trump restoration – Leonard Leo, the man who built the Federalist Society and now has a fund of more than $1 Billion to continue the spread of rightist (and pro-life) judges. He vetted Donald Trump’s three Supreme Court appointees and many if not most of his federal court of appeals and district court nominees. Limbaugh’s name has pole-vaulted to the top of Leo’s list.

New Committees

·       Jacob Turner formed a committee, Committee to Elect Jacob Turner, to run for House 146.  This is where Rep. Barry Hovis will be termed.

·       Tony Lovasco formed a new committee, Citizens for Lovasco, to run for his soon-to-be old seat, House 64.

·       Lincoln Hough formed a new committee, Friends of Lincoln Hough, an exploratory committee for statewide office in 2028.

·       Mary Elizabeth Coleman formed a new committee, Friends Of Mary Elizabeth Coleman, for statewide office in 2026.

·       Holly Rehder formed a new committee, Friends of Holly Rehder, for statewide office in 2026.

·       Show Me MO Rights PAC was formed.  It’s a PAC to support Rep. Dean VanSchoiack.

Lobbyists Registrations

Amy Blunt added BlackRock.

Marcus Slade added Everytown For Gun Safety Action Fund.

$5K+ Contributions

Missourians for Constitutional Freedom - $30,000 from Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes (Overland Park, KS).

Missourians for Constitutional Freedom - $10,000 from Mario Morino (Rocky River, OH).

Majority Forward - $8,153 from Together Missouri PAC (pro-Hamra).

House Democratic Campaign Committee - $15,000 from Centene Management Company LLC.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Erika Leonard, Tom Madden, and Jill Kline.