BY: EZRA BITTERMAN
The right-wing Freedom Caucus fared well in Missouri’s GOP primaries Tuesday, grabbing its first statewide nomination and displaying the reach of its message in other races.
State Sen. Denny Hoskins of Warrensburg emerged from an eight-person field to get the Republican nomination for Secretary of State.
Freedom Caucus member state Sen. Bill Eigel finished second to Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe in the race for the Republican nomination for governor, garnering 32% of the vote and placing ahead of Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, son of former U.S. Attorney General, U.S. senator and Missouri Gov. John Ashcroft.
State Sen. Rick Brattin, a founding member of the Missouri Freedom Caucus, defeated well-funded primary challenger Dan Houx by a wide margin. And candidates endorsed by the caucus won the GOP nomination in four of the five state Senate races they contested.
With crowded primary fields for a number of the statewide seats, the caucus members were able to garner 25% to 30% of the vote, enough to boost Hoskins to victory and bring Eigel within striking distance of the winner. In Missouri in recent years, winning the Republican nomination for statewide office has been the key to general election triumph.
Hard-right conservatives have been a thorny issue for Senate Republican leaders for several years. What was considered to be a gentleman’s agreement to work together in the 2021 legislative session failed to appease the conservatives, who eventually announced they were joining the Freedom Caucus for the 2024 legislative session.
The Freedom Caucus is a national organization, with members in Congress and in state legislatures across the country. The mission of the Freedom Caucus is posted on its website: “We need patriots who will serve in our state capitals to fight federal overreach and stand firm against those — in both parties — who prioritize seizing political power over representing constituents.”
In the Missouri Senate this year, the five members of the Freedom Caucus frequently separated themselves from the other 19 Republicans over legislative priorities, creating a dynamic that led to record-breaking filibusters but not major policy wins.
For example, the Freedom Caucus members refused to approve a historically large state budget. That empowered Democrats beyond their 10-seat Senate membership as Republican leaders needed their votes to pass the budget.
Nonetheless, the primary results show that the Freedom Caucus vision remains powerful among many Missouri conservative voters, even with establishment Republican headwinds.
It’s unclear how many will be in the Senate Freedom Caucus when the legislature convenes in January, but if every candidate they endorsed joined, their caucus would have five members. Jim Lembke, a former state senator who works closely with the caucus, said they will be targeting more senators to expand their presence.
“We certainly have to deal with the idea that the status quo still firmly has a grasp, with Mike Kehoe potentially being the next governor,” Lembke said. “There’s still a fight to be fought, but I think we did make great strides.”
The election cycle furthered strained an already battered relationship between the Freedom Caucus and Senate leadership. A PAC connected to incoming President Pro Tem Sen. Cindy O’Laughlin of Shelbina spent $100,000 on ads targeting Eigel.
Lembke said O’Laughlin and state Sen. Jason Bean, who’s running to be the next majority floor leader, worked to keep Freedom Caucus candidates from being elected.
A PAC that supports Bean gave $15,000 to Susan Haralson, a primary challenger to Freedom Caucus endorsed state Sen. Mike Moon, who ended up winning. Moon has not joined the caucus but frequently participates in their filibusters.
“I don’t think that (leadership’s work against Freedom Caucus candidates) will be forgotten, so there’s going to have to be, an olive branch, put out to the conservatives if leadership wants to accomplish conservative things,” Lembke said.
Neither O’Laughlin or Bean could be reached for comment.
It’s not just Senate leadership that has shown discontent with the Freedom Caucus. State Sen. Jill Carter, a Republican from Granby, announced that she was leaving the caucus earlier this year after a 41-hour filibuster yielded no results.
“Over the past few months, it has become increasingly clear that the values and priorities that some current members of the Missouri State Freedom Caucus profess to champion are not reflected in conversations, behaviors or their strategy,” Carter said on her reasoning for leaving the group in a May post on the social media platform X.
State Sen. Doug Beck, a Democrat from Afton, said he would never “go after colleagues” as O’Laughlin and Bean did in supporting primary challengers. He added that Democrats don’t even advocate for conservative colleagues to be ousted in a primary.
Beck said he thinks the Republican Party has been moving far to the right and that the Freedom Caucus isn’t ideologically far from establishment conservatives. He thinks the Freedom Caucus will cause another session of inaction next spring where Democrats have to provide the deciding votes on key bills like the budget.
This story originally appeared in the Columbia Missourian. It can be republished in print or online.