What you need to know: Missouri Lieutenant Governor race

By Don Bradley

The race for lieutenant governor in Missouri is between Republican David Wasinger, a Hannibal native seeking his first elective office, and Democrat Richard Brown, currently a state representative from Kansas City. Recent history says the winner may someday sit in the governor’s chair.

That’s how the current governor got his job. Mike Parson was lieutenant governor until the then-governor resigned amid scandal in 2018 and Parson moved into the top job.

Democrat candidate Richard Brown, who is term limited from another House term, has a hill to climb. But he’s had his climbing shoes on all summer. He describes himself as a moderate Democrat and thinks voters recognize and like his willingness to work across party lines on legislation.

On Saturday at a Missouri Day parade in Trenton, Mo., Brown said, “I’m a retired school teacher who took his passion to Jefferson City and I’m the best candidate for this job.”

Wasinger, whose fat campaign chest has dwarfed Brown’s from the get-go, said he will win because voters want to make Missouri great again. “They want the conservative values I’ve been talking about,” he said.

Also on the ballot are Green Party candidate Danielle Elliott and Libertarian Ken Iverson.

David Wasinger

Wasinger grew up in Hannibal, Mo., and his first job was delivering newspapers. After undergrad at the University of Missouri, he got his law degree at Vanderbilt University.

He joined a small law firm in Bentwood, Mo., which later became Wasinger Daming.

Wasinger touts himself as a political outsider, but that’s partly because he lost a race which would have put him on the inside. In 2018, Wasinger made a run at the state auditor job. He lost in the Republican primary.

In this year’s August primary, Wasinger barely got by a strong list of candidates which included state senators Lincoln Hough and Holly Rehder.

Wasinger squeezed by Hough by one percentage point. Rehder finished a strong third.

To fit with the times, Wasinger calls himself an “American First” politician and closely aligns himself with Donald Trump.

From his campaign website: “Dave has stood with President Donald Trump from Day One and will be unyielding in his commitment to limiting government, cutting bureaucracy, defending the rights of the unborn, upholding the Second Amendment, and safeguarding Missouri values from the encroachment of big government and the DC liberals.”

On the stump, Wasinger talks often of the need to “drain the swamp.”

He says that every state is a border state because of the Biden Administration’s handling of the southern border.

“I will work tirelessly to protect our communities from dangers brought by open borders,” he said.

He talks about violent crime in the big cities of St. Louis and Kansas City and thinks more veterans should be recruited to work in law enforcement.

He also says businesses should offer discounts to military veterans.

He opposes abortion rights and says he will defend life “from conception to natural death.”

Richard Brown

Brown, 61, was born at Fort Riley, Kan. His father was in the Army and met his mother during the occupation of Japan following World War II.

He grew up in Kansas City. He is Black and the neighborhood was Black, but he said that’s when he first learned about racism because his mother is Asian.

He graduated from what is now the University of Central Missouri and later taught public school for 23 years in the urban core.

After leaving teaching, Brown ran for a Missouri House seat in 2016, won, and has since been reelected three times. He has never lost a race and currently serves as the assistant minority floor leader.

He strongly opposes any move to reduce the state’s corporate tax rate. He says it’s already one of the lowest in the nation and further cuts would jeopardize the state’s ability to adequately provide early childhood and senior services.

“We have to fix property taxes for seniors,” he said. “They get this huge bill they have to pay right after Christmas. Maybe we could do a one-year exemption for someone recently widowed. Not only did they lose their mate, they lost their income.”

When a major media outlet endorsed Brown, it mentioned his understanding of public pensions and their effect on retirement income.

For education, he likes the idea of a fifth year for high school students. Not everyone. But for students who want to learn a trade, Brown suggests public school districts could provide a year of vocational training.

When asked about Missouri’s proposed Amendment 3 to restore abortion rights after the General Assembly voted in June 2022 to ban nearly all abortions, Brown said: “People know where I stand on abortion. I was in the room when that vote came and I heard the screams.

“Now it’s up to the people.”

Brown spoke emotionally on the House floor last year about a bill that would allow conceal and carry of guns on public transportation. The proposal came not long after a teenage boy was shot in the head after knocking on a door in the Northland in April 2023.

“The nation is looking at Missouri,” Brown said. “They’re looking at that boy in North Kansas City and then we go and pass something like this?”