MOScout Daily Update: Clark Exits Senate 4 - Graves Rumor - New Head for MCPSC - Patterson Supports Death Penalty Ban and more…

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Clark Exits Senate 4

Press release: Chris Clark announced that he is suspending his campaign for Missouri’s 4th State Senate District following the recent passing of his mother, Rhonda Ridinger. Ridinger passed away last month after complications from a stroke…

·       Clark said the decision to suspend the campaign comes as he and his family continue to process their loss. “As many people know, grief is complicated and takes time,” Clark said. “Right now, my focus needs to be on my family. They need me, and I need them.”

What It Means

Clark’s decision to stop pursuing the Senate 4 seat gives a boost to Rep. Steve Butz as it removes the gender advantage that Gina Mitten would have had running against two men in a Democratic primary.

·       Filing closes two weeks from today

Rumorville: Graves in Question?

There’s a rumor going around that Congressman Sam Graves may not run for re-election.  It’s unconfirmed.  One source says it’s smoke without fire: “He’s still filed… I hear he will drop out every cycle and he doesn’t…”

But if true, it would represent a huge twist in the 2026 cycle.

Graves’ CD-6 is “vast, spanning from the Missouri to the Mississippi Rivers and covering more square miles than nine U.S. states… In total, all or part of 39 counties combine to form the Sixth District: Adair, Andrew, Atchison, Audrain, Buchanan, Caldwell, Carroll, Chariton, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Daviess, DeKalb, Gentry, Grundy, Harrison, Holt, Jackson, Knox, Lewis, Lincoln, Linn, Livingston, Macon, Marion, Monroe, Mercer, Nodaway, Pike, Platte, Putnam, Ralls, Randolph, Ray, Schuyler, Scotland, Shelby, Sullivan and Worth.”

·       That means the list of potential candidates, if this is true, would be plentiful including both the president pro tem of the senate, Cindy O’Laughlin, as well as the majority floor leader, Tony Luetkemeyer.

MCPSC Names New Leader

The Missouri Charter Public School Commission has a new leader.  Mark Modrcin of Webster Groves was chosen yesterday by the Commission to succeed Robbyn Wahby who left for the Walton Personal Philanthropy Group.  Modrcin has national experience in opening and operating quality charter schools.

·       The Commission, a state agency, is the only charter school authorizer in Missouri that does nothing else. Modrcin will oversee 21 schools with nearly 13,000 students.

Tea Leaves on Senate Income Tax Plan

The Senate Republican and Democrat press conference gave conflicting signals about the upcoming debate on the income tax phase-out.

·       Senate Floor Leader Tony Luetkemeyersounded optimistic… “We heard earlier from the Democratic caucus that they’ve got some consternation about [the plan], but I also heard from them they’re willing to be open and to negotiate on it and so we look forward to negotiating with them the second half of break uh to bring that meaningful tax relief  to Missourians.”

·       But Democratic Sen. Stephen Webber sounded pretty negative about the plan, calling it a ‘mega-tax’: Specifically about the new sales tax plan that the speaker is introducing… Democrats have been focused on affordability and we just think this is the wrong time to introduce a brand new mega tax on services and to add new taxes on the people of Missouri.

Other Nuggets From the Senate Presser

·       Senate Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin blamed fully funding the foundation formula as a cause of current budget woes. “Last year… there was a ton of money put into the budget for public education, far above what the governor had recommended. And that in part is a lot of the reason that we are now looking at cuts to foster care and daycare.”

·       And she reiterated her opposition to legalizing video gambling machines. “My personal opinion is it’s very detrimental to our society… these machines are in every location you go in or could be, and they’ve been shown to be very addictive particularly young men… I just think that’s detrimental for society. So I am opposed to them.”

Meanwhile, JP Speaks

House Speaker Jon Patterson, in his press conference, offered a few nuggets…

·       He supports legislation outlawing the death penalty: I think it will get voted out of committee… with the time when we come back with 8 weeks [and] with all the other things that we have to do, I don’t know that we’ll get a floor vote this year. It’s something that I believe in, but I’m not sure it’ll get a floor vote.

·       He’s not itching to regulate data centers. I’m not sure that we need legislation. That’s something we can look at in the future… it’s just I think data and streaming and all those things are pretty important to people’s lives and there’s going to just be more data centers and so I don't think Missouri should miss out on that but should be smart about the way we implement it.

Bracing for Flat Ed Dollars

Columbia Tribune reports that the Columbia Public Schools “are bracing” for the financial impact of the next state budget.

·       That was the message CPS Chief Financial Officer Heather McArthur had for the school board at its meeting March 9 when providing a financial update…

·       While a comparatively smaller portion of the district's budget comes from state funding, it still is significant enough for the district to start looking at economizing now. About 30% of the district budget is through the state's foundation formula.

·       The proposal out of the state has flat foundation formula funding for fiscal year 2027 compared to fiscal year 2026. It also reduces transportation funding to match what was provided for fiscal year 2025 expenditures and puts more money toward school voucher programs. That last piece means even less money going to public schools. There also are bills aiming to reform property taxes that could impact the district.

Bracing for Long-Horned Tick

KQTV reports on concern about the Asian Long-Horned Tick which “latches onto cattle.”

While some farmers across Northwest Missouri have not experienced this disease in their cattle, they are taking the necessary precautions to avoid the disease… Reports have said the disease has been found in 60 counties in Missouri.

New IP Filed

Brad Ketcher filed an initiative petition to repeal the sales tax exemptions on data centers.  See it here.  Obviously, this is a symbolic move as the deadline for signatures is far too close for it to be viable.

New Candidate Filing

Senate 16 – Virginia Staabs (D)

House 62 – Liz Davenport (D)

$5K+ Contributions

Republican Central Committee of St Louis County - $12,000 from Martin Bennet.

We Are Missouri - $19,100 from Missouri AFL-CIO.

Rural Missouri Values PAC - $10,000 from NEMO Leadership PAC.

Together KC - $25,000 from H&R Block.

Quad County Emergency Services PAC - $19,499 from St Charles County Paramedic Association.

Republican Accountability Project PAC - $150,000 from Missouri Promise Inc.

Together KC - $25,000 from Kansas City Regional Association of Realtors (Leawood, KS).

House Republican Campaign Committee, Inc - $25,000 from First Principles PAC.

NextGen North PAC - $200,000 from Nick Conforti.

Citizens for State Parks Soil and Water - $10,000 from Missouri Parks Association.

McGee For Jackson County - $50,000 from STL Democratic Coalition.

Quad County Emergency Services PAC - $5,590 from Florissant Professional Firefighters.

Bayer US LLC Missouri PAC - $10,000 from Bayer US LLC Employee Political Action Committee (BAYERPAC).

Hagedorn for Missouri - $44,875 from Ryan Hagedorn.

Citizens for Jason Johnson - $10,000 from Loren Cook.

Lobbyist Registrations

Nathan Nickolaus added Village of Kingdom City.

Aaron Baker, Fred Barnes, and Holly Rehder added Missouri Future, LLC.

Paul Mouton added Discovery Center of Springfield.

Korb Maxwell added Platform Ventures; and deleted Aparium Hotel Group.

Nathan Wakefield added The Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon); and deleted Missouri State Employees' Retirement System.

Susan Henderson Moore and Cara Alexander deleted Transystems, and TreanorHL.

Dave Berry added International Legal Finance Association.

John Cronin added LPL Financial.

Chad Ennis added Honest Elections Project Action.

Bradley Pryor added Lombardo Homes of St Louis LLC, Blu Onx STL LLC, and HISF LLC.

Sara Rutherford deleted QuikTrip Corporation.

Angie Schulte deleted Associated Landlords Advocating Responsible Modifications (ALARM).

John Arthur Young deleted Fountain Lakes Commerce Center North CID.

Sharon Geuea Jones deleted Dream Corps.

John DeStefano deleted IGT.

Happy Birthday

Happy birthdays to Joe Maxwell, Pat Rowe Kerr, Earl Simms, Tom Self, Todd Smith, Patrick Lynn, and Mark Osmack.