MISSOURI – FOX 2 is following the money pouring into one of the top races in Missouri: the Republican primary for governor.

Campaign finance records with the Missouri Ethics Commission reveal Lt. Mike Kehoe taking a massive lead in fundraising.

Political consultants say it’s fueling his rise in polls, with the money almost as important as the message.

Kehoe had trailed the front-runner, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, by 15%, 20%, or more in polls over the past year.

Our Missouri Nexstar, The Hill, and Emerson College Poll this month shows Kehoe pulling within 3% of Ashcroft, which is within the margin of error.  

Ashcroft is touting an endorsement from former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee this month.

Third-place candidate in our poll, Missouri State Senator Bill Eigel of St. Charles County, just debuted his first TV ad Tuesday. 

However, Kehoe continues to win big in the fundraising derby.

Records show his “Citizens for Kehoe” campaign committee had $1.74 million on hand for the quarter ending in March, compared to $656,000 for Ashcroft’s campaign committee and $727,000 for Eigel’s committee.

Ashcroft has a huge edge in name recognition from his father, John Ashcroft, the former Missouri Governor, U.S. Senator, and U.S. Attorney General. 

Still, we’ve found fundraising gap is even more dramatic when it comes to the political action committees (PACs) supporting the three candidates.

The Committee for Liberty PAC, which supports Ashcroft, had $1.9 million on hand at the end of the quarter, taking in less than $61,000 so far in June. Its top donors in 2024 are California real estate developer Steven Craig, August Busch III, and Ashcroft’s mother, Janet.

Believe in Life and Liberty (BILL) PAC, which supports Eigel, had a little more than $1 million on hand at the end of the quarter but has raised $445,000 this month. Its top donors this year are St. Louis pro-life activist Joan Langenberg, Trial Lawyers for Justice of Montana and the Edelman-Thompson Law Firm of Kansas City.

American Dream PAC, which supports Kehoe, dwarfs the others, with $4.5 million on hand at the end of last quarter and more than $2 million raised so far this month.

St. Louis Political Financier Rex Sinquefield has donated $1.25 million to the PAC this year.   Herzog Rail and Highway Construction of St. Joseph, Mo., has donated $1 million, and Waycrosse Inc. of Minnesota, the investment arm of agribusiness giant Cargill, has kicked in $500,000. 

Kehoe contends that his lead among small donors tells the real story.

“The fact of the matter is we’ve outraised all seven other opponents in the Republican field by three to one with Missouri dollar donors, small dollar donors (under $2,825), people who say, ‘We like Mike’s message; we think his leadership skill fits what Missouri needs right now,’” he said.

Early absentee voting, with an excuse, began Tuesday. The August 6 primary is now six weeks away.

Two candidates running for Missouri attorney general discussed a variety of topics during a forum Monday. The event was hosted by the Federalist Society.

Republican Will Scharf and Democrat Elad Gross participated in the forum; Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey did not participate.

Scharf, who is on Donald Trump’s legal team, said Missouri is failing on fighting crime. He said the state should be prosecuting more violent crime – not less.

“We have underfunded, undermanned police departments,” said Scharf. “On the prosecution front, you have far too many cases being lost, far too many cases that are never even being brought certainly the way that they should be. Plea deals are out of control and rampant. And lastly, we’re a deep red state with deep blue courts. Our bail laws are far too weak. We need much tougher rules on pretrial detention.”

Gross, who is a civil rights attorney, said reinvesting in the community will get better results, such as stable housing, and boosting job opportunities and education. They both criticized Bailey about his direction on fighting crime.

U.S. Congress is debating whether to protect invitro fertilization access to help women have children. Gross said the state and federal governments should pass these protections for reproductive rights.

“But there’s questions right now about the language to the point where we’ve got Republicans and Democrats in our state legislature talking about passing a law to protect IVF. That’s how extreme we’ve gotten in Missouri,” said Gross.

Scharf said Missouri law does not endanger IVF.

Scharf said the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education should be investigated. He said the state’s educational system should focus on parental rights and student achievement.

“I think we need to understand how this completely unaccountable bureaucracy is so comprehensively failing our students and our families all over the state, and why it’s done so for so long. We have a real problem with government accountability in Jefferson City,” said Scharf. “Deep state bureaucrats, you can call them, a lot of my supporters would, run this state in a way that has left our core governmental functions like education.”

Gross said parental rights belong to parents when it comes to education.

Louisiana has adopted a law which requires public schools there to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms. Gross said the law is unconstitutional.

“It’s a waste of the taxpayers in Louisiana’s money,” said Gross. “It’s going to be a waste of our money if it comes here. And if you want to spend that money somewhere, just because you want to put it somewhere, put it into civic education, put it into our classrooms, put it on issues that actually matter.”

Missouri Attorney General candidate Will Scharf said putting up a Ten Commandments display in classrooms is constitutional and Missouri should follow Louisiana.

The Missouri Attorney General’s Office is defending three state senators in defamation lawsuits for misidentifying a Kansas City Super Bowl parade shooter. Sens. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, Denny Hoskins, R-Warrensburg, and Nick Schroer, R-Wentzville, posted a photo of a Kansas man on social media, incorrectly stating that he is an undocumented immigrant and the mass shooter. Now, Denton Loudermill of Kansas is suing the ultra conservatives in a Kansas federal court.

Scharf disagrees on the lawsuits in more ways than one.

“The lawsuit itself is garbage. The statements in question weren’t defamatory. They don’t meet the standard for defamation under the law,” said Scharf. “That having been said, I don’t think the AGs office has any role here, and I think that the AGs office should not have intervened. The legal arguments that they’ve made for why they needed to intervene, about protecting Missouri jurisdiction or something like that, are absolute bunk.”

The Missouri Attorney General’s office argue that the senators are protected by legislative immunity because they were acting in their official capacity when they posted their comments.

Gross said state taxpayers should not pay for the legal bills in these cases.

More than 20 people were shot at the celebration and one woman was killed.

Copyright © 2024, Missourinet

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – The next phase of the Biden administration’s student loan debt relief plan has been put on ice.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree in Kansas and U.S. District Judge John Ross in Missouri both issued rulings in cases brought by the state attorneys general.

In Kansas, Judge Crabtree allowed some but not all of the proposed relief to go through. Students who borrowed $12,000 or less will have the rest of their loans forgiven if they make 10 years’ worth of payments, instead of the standard 25. But students who had larger loans cannot have their monthly payments lowered and their required payment period reduced from 25 years to 20 years.

In Missouri, Judge Ross’ order says that the U.S. Department of Education cannot forgive loan balances going forward but could lower monthly payments.

The rulings are seen as wins for Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey and Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach.

“Only Congress has the power of the purse, not the President,” Bailey said in a statement.

In a statement, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the Biden administration “will never stop fighting for students and borrowers — no matter how many roadblocks Republican elected officials and special interests put in our way.”

It is still possible that borrowers see changes in their payments, however this injunction will prevent the intended number of borrowers affected.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.