Missouri Republicans are sweeping state office contests by wide margins with incumbents Andrew Bailey and Vivek Malek joined by Denny Hoskins and Dave Wasinger.
More than 93% of the precincts were reporting as of midnight Tuesday.
Attorney general
After serving as attorney general for two years, Bailey cruised through his first election bid.
Bailey was leading with 58% of the vote as of midnight. His opponent, Democrat Elad Gross, earned 39%.
Bailey is in line to serve a full four-year term.
He was appointed by Gov. Mike Parson in 2022. He replaced Eric Schmitt, who won his U.S. Senate race the same year.
Prior to his appointment as attorney general, Bailey served as general counsel for Parson.
Bailey began his tenure in 2023 and has backed a variety of high-profile lawsuits and decisions. Bailey said those actions qualified him for his first full term.
Some of them include his legal actions against then-St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner in 2023 that he says led to her resignation.
Bailey said he intends to continue to be aggressive in going after local officials who “abused their power.”
He also created a set of rules that limited access to gender-affirming health care for transgender Missourians. Bailey’s rules affected both transgender minors and adults.
The rules were later withdrawn when the legislature passed similar laws but didn’t include adults.
He said he didn’t think it was a mistake to include adults in the rules.
Secretary of state
State Sen. Denny Hoskins looks to be Missouri’s next secretary of state.
The Warrensburg Republican led with 56% of the vote as of midnight. His opponent, Democratic state Rep. Barbara Phifer, earned 41%.
Hoskins was expected to win the race, facing an easier matchup compared to the primary. In August, Hoskins beat seven other Republicans to secure the nomination.
He said he was interested in running for secretary of state to make sure Missourians trusted state elections.
“If we don't trust the election process, we don't trust how people were elected. And so that's been the biggest thing,” Hoskins said.
An issue that set Hoskins apart from not only Phifer, but also his fellow Republican candidates, is his desire to hand count paper ballots in Missouri elections.
This past session he filed a bill that would make that switch.
“Would it require some more manpower in order for us to do that? Most certainly. But I think overall it would be safer,” Hoskins said.
Many local election officials, including the Republican and Democratic election directors for St. Louis County, disagree.
Another change Hoskins would like to see is eliminating the current no excuse absentee voting period, which has set records this year in St. Louis and St. Louis County.
“The most secure elections are in person on Election Day with voter ID and a paper ballot. So what I want to see is us try and go back to that,” Hoskins said.
Prior to running for secretary of state, Hoskins served 16 years in the legislature. He split those years between the House and the Senate. Due to term limits, he could not run again.
Hoskins is a founding member of the Missouri Freedom Caucus, which clashed frequently with Republican leadership this past session in Jefferson City.
Treasurer
Republican Missouri Treasurer Vivek Malek looks to serve a full, four-year term with 56% of the vote as of midnight Wednesday. His Democratic opponent, Mark Osmack, earned 39%.
First appointed to the position by Gov. Mike Parson in 2022, Malek has served as treasurer since January 2023. This is the first time he has been elected to the position.
Malek, who is an attorney, is the first person of color to serve in a statewide elected position. He came to the U.S. from India when he was 24.
Since his appointment, Malek has advocated for Missouri divesting some of its investments from Chinese companies. He said now is not the time to be investing in China, in part because it has become more adversarial.
“I believe we don't want to be in a situation just like it was with Russia, where all the investments in Russia basically became zero when Russia invaded Ukraine,” Malek said.
Malek has also voiced support for the state’s Educational Savings Account Program, which allows families to get funding to send their children to the school of their choice, including private schools.
The account is funded by private donors who then receive tax credits from the state.
Earlier this year he was criticized by Republicans and Democrats after placing advertisements for the state’s unclaimed property program on video gaming machines.
Malek later removed the advertisements.
Lieutenant governor
Political newcomer David Wasinger looks to be the next lieutenant governor of Missouri.
Wasinger, a Republican, was leading with 55% of the vote as of midnight. His opponent, Democratic state Rep. Richard Brown, earned 40%.
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 never held political office. His August primary victory, in which he defeated state Sen. Lincoln Hough, was considered by many an upset.
He ran as a much more conservative candidate, stating on his website that he was the “only America First candidate” seeking the position.
He said since his run for Missouri auditor in 2018, when he did not win the primary, he was approached to run for different statewide positions.
Wasinger said that he was intrigued by the lieutenant governor job and that it provided him a platform to bring change to Missouri.
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.
One of the boards Wasinger will serve on is the Missouri Housing Development Commission, which distributes low-income housing tax credits.
He said this board is “politically tricky.”
“I intend on sitting down with Auditor [Scott] Fitzpatrick and others and drilling through and make sure these tax credits are being used in the most efficient way,” he said.
