New entries double the candidates seeking GOP nomination for Missouri secretary of state

Several statewide races saw a shake-up in candidates seeking office this week, including an increasingly crowded GOP primary race for Missouri secretary of state.

Tuesday marked the final day of candidate filing for the 2024 elections, including the Aug. 6 primary and the Nov. 5 general election.

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s office announced that 580 candidates filed for federal and state offices during the state’s official filing period that opened on Feb. 27 and ended Tuesday at 5 p.m. In total, 345 Republican, 211 Democratic, and 24 Libertarian candidates filed for a variety of offices across the state.

“Thank you and congratulations to all who filed,” Ashcroft said. “It’s inspiring to see the number of people willing to give of themselves to become a part of the process. I applaud anyone willing to make that commitment to serve the people of Missouri.”

Those candidates must still be certified before appearing on the Aug. 6 primary ballot. However, due to some last minute changes in candidacy, certain races will reopen for filing from April 2 to April 5, including lieutenant governor, state representative in Districts 82, 84 and 154 and U.S. representative in Districts 2, 3, 5 and 6.

Among those switching their campaigns to run for another office was House Speaker Dean Plocher, who until Tuesday morning was a candidate for lieutenant governor. Plocher, whose final term in the House has been plagued by ethics scandals, is now running for Missouri secretary of state.

Plocher didn’t directly mention his ongoing ethics investigation in his campaign announcement, saying only that, “the liberal press can attack me all they want, but as your speaker and when I am your secretary of state, I will never stop fighting for the people of Missouri.”

He’s not the only one to opt into that race last minute. State Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, who was previously running for the 3rd District Congressional seat in the U.S. House, is also running for secretary of state. The 3rd District seat is currently held by U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, who announced he will be retiring this year.

“We need a conservative fighter who will stand up to the out of state special interests and protect Missourians from the woke ideology infecting our country and communities,” Coleman said in a post on X.

Another surprise candidate entered the race for secretary of state on Monday — Jamie Corley, the orchestrator of an abortion ballot initiative that ended in February. Corley, who has worked as a GOP Congressional staffer, framed her abortion amendment as a middle ground that would have allowed abortions to be performed until 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Yet another last minute entry to the race is Mike Carter, a Wentzville municipal judge who came in second in both the 2022 Republican primary race for Travis Fitzwater’s Missouri Senate seat and in the 2020 Republican lieutenant governor’s primary race. He also ran unsuccessfully for Bill Eigel’s Senate seat in the 2016 Republican primary, and failed to win the 2012 Republican primary for the lieutenant governor’s office.

“An attorney is in a better position to properly shape and approve initiative petitions,” Carter said in a release. “As the chief elections official of the state, I would also see that the laws of the state regulating elections are faithfully carried out. Nothing is more important to the preservation of our Republic than election integrity.”

These four new additions to the race for the Republican nomination will be competing against the four candidates who filed on Feb. 27, the first day that candidate filing opened.

These include Greene County Clerk Shane Schoeller, state Sen. Denny Hoskins of Warrensburg, state Rep. Adam Schwadron of St. Charles and political newcomer Valentina Gomez Noriega, a real estate investor who gained attention last month while burning “woke” library books with a homemade flamethrower.

More: State Sen. Caleb Rowden drops out of Missouri secretary of state race

Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden dropped out of the race on March 18, stating that he hoped to spend more time with his family in a post on X.

“My legacy in politics is secure, and I am grateful for that,” Rowden said. “The legacy I will leave through my children is just getting started, and I am even more grateful for that.”

There are three Democrats currently seeking their party’s nomination for secretary of state — State Rep. Barbara Phifer, and St. Louis residents Monique Williams and Haley Jacobson.

Carl Herman Freese of Forsistell is running as a Libertarian in the race.

Late entries to the race face criticism

Schwadron rebuked the swarm of candidates switching campaigns last minute in a post on X, saying, “Secretary of State is not a consolation prize for a failed campaign.”

Another post from Schwadron was directed at Plocher, which said, “Secretary of State is not a position for someone that books a trip to Hawaii using campaign dollars and then seeks personal reimbursement from the taxpayers. Our state is not for sale to the lowest bidder.”

Schwadron was one of a handful of Republican lawmakers, including Reps. Mazzie Boyd and Doug Richey as well as several state senators, to call for Plocher’s resignation when his actions were brought to light last year.

Plocher faces scrutiny for a variety of reasons uncovered by the Missouri Independent, including his zealous push for an expensive information management program for the Missouri House, the firing of long-time chief-of-staff Kenny Ross and his requests to be reimbursed with public funds for expenses he already paid for with campaign cash.

Other staff soon exited his office, and he has since replaced Ross with scandal-plagued former House Speaker Rod Jetton, who was the subject of a federal bribery investigation and pled guilty to a misdemeanor on allegations of violent sexual assault.

More: Dean Plocher's not the first — MO House Speakers have a history of landing in hot water

Later, reporting by the Independent found that Plocher converted an office in the Capitol into his “butler’s pantry” to store liquor, and has since orchestrated meetings with another out-of-state vendor focused on the initiative petition process.

Schwadron criticized Plocher’s entry to the race by saying, “Plocher’s abrupt retreat from lieutenant governor comes as he is polling at the bottom of the barrel.”

“He believes that switching races will give him a clean slate,” Schwadron said. “Unfortunately for him, there is nowhere for a corrupt, unethical politician to hide his record from Missouri voters in this race either.”

Schwadron’s call for Plocher to resign was met with alleged retribution from Plocher, who had been slow to advance any legislation to House committees from the lawmakers who had condemned his actions.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Surprise candidates join GOP race for Missouri secretary of state