Other than the race for Missouri governor, the closest statewide office contest is for attorney general, according to a SLU/YouGov poll.
The SLU/YouGov poll has incumbent Andrew Bailey leading with 51% of the likely voters surveyed. Democrat Elad Gross has 38% with 9% undecided.
Steven Rogers, director of the August poll, said like his predecessor, U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt, Bailey has been making headlines and getting attention through lawsuits he has filed over his tenure.
Bailey was appointed by Gov. Mike Parson in 2022, to fill the vacancy created when Schmitt won his Senate race the same year. Prior to his appointment as attorney general, Bailey served as general counsel for Parson.
“I've got real-life leadership and management skills that I've demonstrated, put in front of the people in this state over the past 18 months,” Bailey said.
That includes his legal actions against then-St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner in 2023.
Bailey said those decisions, including a move to oust Gardner, were the reasons she ultimately resigned.
He also said he intends to continue to be aggressive in going after local officials who “abused their power.”
“One would hope that we don't have situations where that becomes a necessity. But when it does, we're not afraid to act,” Bailey said.
Bailey made additional headlines in 2023 when he issued emergency rules that limited access to gender-affirming health care for transgender Missourians.
The rules prohibited providers from offering surgery, hormone therapy and other treatments to transgender people unless they had resolved all mental health issues, undergone at least 15 hours of therapy and displayed three documented years of gender dysphoria.
At the time, Missouri Republican lawmakers were working on legislation that would have barred transgender minors from accessing gender-affirming care like puberty blockers and hormone treatments.
Bailey filed his office’s rules before the legislature passed its bill that year. But unlike the new law, Bailey’s rules, before he withdrew them in mid-May 2023, affected both children and adults.
Bailey said he didn’t think it was a mistake to include adults in those rules.
“That was a rule that was intended to require the providers to give patients information,” Bailey said. “And since when is it a bad thing for providers to have to give health care patients additional information upon which those individuals can make individualized health care decisions?”
To become the Republican nominee, Bailey had to win a contentious primary against attorney Will Scharf.
Both candidates touted their relationships with former President Donald Trump. However, in the end, the race wasn’t close, with Bailey winning the primary with 63%.
Unlike Bailey, Gross ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination.
Gross also ran for the post in 2020, losing in the primary. He worked in the attorney general’s office as an assistant attorney general, so he said he’s seen firsthand what that office can do for people.
“I think with the right leadership there, we can do so much more for people in this state,” Gross said. “We can sue these scammers on our phones that are always out there. We can deal with violence in our communities. We can make our neighborhoods safer. We can have a real advocate for the people of Missouri in that office.”
One of the ways Gross wants to reduce the number of scam calls and texts is to strengthen the existing Consumer Protection division – including fully staffing it so the Do Not Call list can be enforced better.
He also wants to create the Missouri attorney general app. One of the functions Gross envisions for the app is for Missourians to report scammers and send that information to the office.
“We're collecting evidence as it's happening. It streamlines those prosecutions, and we can send warnings out to the public about the new scams that are out there. So I think it becomes a much more interactive way for folks to be a part of their government as well,” Gross said.
Gross also wants to create greater enforcement against puppy mills in Missouri.
In 2010, Missourians voted in favor of a statute change that added restrictions to puppy mills. But the legislature immediately changed some of the new statutes the following session.
Gross said regulation of these facilities goes through the attorney general’s office.
“We need to increase our partnerships with federal inspectors, because we've got federal inspectors and local inspectors. As you can imagine, if the legislature is hostile to this already, they don't really fund them very well, but the federal ones are funded separately from what the state is doing,” Gross said.
Concerning combating and reducing crime, Gross said there are several things the attorney general’s office can do. One of those is to have more partnerships with local prosecutors, where the attorney general’s office can lend aid. Gross said that many prosecutor’s offices are overloaded with cases and that the office should be reaching out to help.
Gross also wants to focus on illegally possessed firearms.
“The vast majority of folks, and we've got a lot of law enforcement folks who are in our state legislature as well, understand that violence, this kind of violence, is committed by a very small segment of the population and a lot of it is driven by the illegal possession of firearms,” Gross said.
Both Bailey and Gross have appeared on the Politically Speaking podcast to talk about their candidacies.
Lieutenant governor race pits newcomer vs. House member
The lieutenant governor of Missouri does more than wait to become the next governor if needed.
The officeholder serves as the president of the Senate, spending lots of time overseeing the chamber during session. The lieutenant governor also serves on a variety of the state’s boards and commissions.
However, recent history shows that the route to the governorship is a possibility, with Parson vaulting to the position after the resignation of then-Gov. Eric Greitens in 2018.
The SLU/YouGov poll has Republican Dave Wasinger leading the race for lieutenant governor with 51% of voters surveyed. Democratic state Rep. Richard Brown had 37% of the vote with 11% undecided.
Brown, of Kansas City, has served in the Missouri House the past eight years. The last four he served as the assistant minority floor leader.
Before his career in politics, he was a public school teacher for 23 years.
Brown said he decided to run for lieutenant governor because he wants to be an ambassador for the state.
“I'm running on a campaign that's designed around working with Missouri families,” Brown said. “Doing things like increasing the number of affordable housing units in the state, trying to eliminate the state tax on food and groceries. These are basic things that Missourians need.”
Brown said serving as assistant minority floor leader under Crystal Quade means he already has experience being a second in command.
If Brown wins, he would oversee a Republican-controlled Senate. He said he would be as fair-minded as possible when acting as Senate president.
“I don't play games. I do what's best for people. I'm not a politician. I'm a public servant,” Brown said.
The lieutenant governor also serves as the official elderly advocate for the state. Brown said something he would focus on in that capacity would be housing availability for seniors.
“Whether that's affordable housing, whether that's housing in elder care, or whether we're talking about your property taxes,” Brown said. “This is the issue that most senior citizens care about right now.”
Another responsibility of the office is serving on several state boards and commissions. Some of those include being an adviser to the education department on early childhood education and being vice chair of the Missouri Tourism Commission.
Brown, who already serves on the tourism board, said he would be up for the challenge of serving on all the boards and commissions that are required of the lieutenant governor.
Unlike Brown, Wasinger does not have prior political experience, and his victory in the primary was considered by some a surprise.
Wasinger ran for auditor in 2018, losing in the Republican primary.
He said since the 2018 campaign, he had been approached to run for several political positions. Lieutenant governor intrigued him because he said it provides a platform to bring change to the state.
In the Republican primary, state Sen. Lincoln Hough was seen by many as the candidate to beat. However, Wasinger, who won both St. Charles and St. Louis counties, narrowly beat Hough with 31% of the vote. Hough captured 30%.
Wasinger ran as a much more conservative candidate, stating on his website that he was the “only America First candidate” in the race.
He also positioned himself as a political outsider, saying he will “drain the swamp” of Jefferson City, echoing language from other far-right Republicans and Trump.
For Wasinger, fighting the establishment in Jefferson City would include his duties overseeing the Missouri Senate.
“The Missouri Senate has been very dysfunctional over the last few years, so I look forward to bringing a dialog to the state of Missouri, trying to advance some legislation through the state Senate, and working with and getting to know our state senators,” Wasinger said.
Prior to his candidacies, Wasinger served on the Board of Curators for the University of Missouri System. His wife, Colleen Wasinger, served on the St. Louis County Council for years.
On his preparedness to take over as governor if necessary, Wasinger points to his experience in business.
“I've led my own business for several years. If you look at the most successful governors in the country, most of them, at least in my view, have come from the private sector,” Wasinger said.
Wasinger has a personal attachment to serving as the elder advocate for Missouri. He said his mother has dealt with illness the past year and he has seen the “abysmal care” that is given in senior living facilities.
“I intend on examining that, and I will be an advocate for those seniors that are not being taken care of,” Wasinger said.
One of the boards Wasinger would serve on if elected is the Missouri Housing Development Commission, which distributes low-income housing tax credits.
“I intend on sitting down with Auditor Fitzpatrick and others and drilling through and making sure these tax credits are being used in the most efficient way,” Wasinger said.
Brown and Wasinger have been guests on the Politically Speaking podcast to talk about their candidacies.
