Democrat Senator Claire McCaskill is in a tight race with her challenger Missouri State Attorney Josh Hawley.
Missouri Candidate Races
By Samuel Ast
State Auditor
The Missouri state auditor’s race is shaping up to be much more interesting than one might believe. Currently holding the office is 36 year old Missouri native, Nicole Galloway. Galloway, a Democrat, was appointed to the position in 2015 by former Missouri governor, Jay Nixon. She is a Certified Public Accountant as well as a Certified Fraud Examiner. State’s auditors are tasked with overseeing the government’s use of taxpayer funds, and making sure that no misuse occurs. During her tenure so far, Galloway has “uncovered over $100 million in waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement,” according to her campaign website. Throughout the campaign, Galloway has made issues of transparency and political corruption central to her campaign. Galloway is a supporter of the ‘Clean Missouri’, which will appear on the ballot as Amendment 1. This amendment empowers the auditor’s office to help choose a state demographer whose duty will be to redraw legislative maps.
State Auditor Nicole Galloway is being challenged by Republican candidate Saundra McDowell.
Galloway’s Republican opponent is 38 year-old Saundra McDowell. McDowell was born in Oklahoma, and moved to Missouri roughly eight years ago. Galloway won her primary against 3 challengers by around 34,000 votes. She is an Air Force veteran, lawyer and says that she is “galvanized by President Trump’s anti-establishment and pro-conservative movement,” according to her campaign website. McDowell also opposes Amendment 1. Throughout the campaign, McDowell has come under fire for not having lived in Missouri for the 10 years required for qualification to run for statewide office.
Jackson County Executive
Democratic Jackson County Executive Frank White is defending his seat against Green party challenger Nathan Kline. White was raised in Kansas City and helped build Kauffman stadium, before moving on to play 18 seasons for the Royals. White was voted in as a legislator for the First District at Large for Jackson County in 2014. Two years later he was appointed to the position of Jackson County Executive after Mike Sanders stepped down. He was then elected to the position later the same year.
Kline is a lifelong Kansas City-area resident and a graduate of the Kansas City Art Institute. Kline believes that Democrats and Republicans are both “irredeemably corrupt.” Most of the issues highlighting the campaign include efforts to limit the power of the Executive through term limits and the elimination of veto power that the Executive currently has.
U.S. Democrat Rep. Emanuel Cleaver is facing Republican challenger Jacob Turk.
5th Congressional District
Incumbent Democratic representative, Emanuel Cleaver, is facing the Republican challenger Jacob Turk. Cleaver has represented District 5 since 2005. Cleaver serves on the House Financial Services Committee, as well as the Housing and Insurance, and Oversight and Investigations subcommittees. Cleaver has a long track record of supporting the Affordable Care Act and championing increased access to affordable health insurance and has been a vocal advocate for education, including efforts to prevent predatory student loans.
Turk, a veteran of the Marine Corps and small business owner, would like to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, and believes in keeping the American borders safe from illegal immigrantion. Turk has run, and lost, against Cleaver in both 2014 and 2016.
Missouri Senate
Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill is seeking re-election against Republican challenger, and current Missouri Attorney General, Josh Hawley. Senator McCaskill has been Missouri’s Senator since 2007. During her tenure, she has emphasized a certain pragmatism that allows her to identify as a moderate Democrat, which is a necessary title to hold in a state that voted for president Trump by around 18 points in 2016. Despite her moderate record, Senator McCaskill overwhelmingly votes with her party most of the time, including voting against Supreme Court nominees Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. McCaskill serves on the Armed Services committee in the Senate, as well as the Finance committee. Recently, she has taken on the cause of combating the opioid epidemic and pharmaceutical companies drug pricing practices. The Missouri Hospital Association calculated that overdose deaths surpassed motor vehicle fatalities in 2017.
Hawley has been Missouri’s Attorney General since January of 2017. Hawley served about 9 months in office before launching his Senate campaign. As Attorney General, Hawley made sex trafficking an item high on the agenda. Hawley believes in repealing of the Affordable Care Act and supports both the president, the 2017 tax cuts and Justice Kavanaugh. Both candidates are native Missourians. The latest polling for the race taken on October 24-25 by the Remington Research Group of likely voters has Hawley leading McCaskill by 4 points with the margin of error at 2.6%.