This is good news, bad news time. The good news is that Roy Blunt, the senior senator from Missouri, has announced that he won’t be running for reelection in 2022, following the likes of Rob Portman and Pat Toomey out the door. The bad news is that he got reelected the last time at all. If you recall this particular 2016 race, Blunt was paired up against an outstanding Democrat, Jason Kander. The second worst disappointment on election night 2016, right behind Hillary, was Kander losing to Blunt, when he was leading in polls.
Good riddance, Roy Blunt. Let’s see some fresh talent in Missouri. Maybe Kander would want to run again? Here was Kander’s ad from 2016, which I simply loved.
Oh, come ON, Ursula. That “bad news” reminds me of the reaction my sister had when she walked away from a really bad wreck: “Momma’s gonna kill me!” How about instead we focus on how much easier it may have just gotten for any Dem challenger, Kander or otherwise?
Kander prefers the job he has now.
I don’t know Jason Kander but will keep an eye out for him.
If we can’t get election reform passed, the cheaters will maintain control of the Red states. That is, if we don’t have some other kind of miracle.
Before coming here and seeing this post I skimmed a bit of news and saw an article about Claire McCaskill saying she had no intention of running, with a comment from her on being guilty about how happy she is with her life now. Given all the time she’s spent as a TV pundit and plenty of pointed comments in that role that have sometimes skewered Democrats as well as Republicans (which of course have gotten most of her criticism) I can see why she’d not run. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if what happened with Neera Tanden’s nomination to OMB played a role in McCaskill’s thinking. She’s white, but the important part of that is the “she” part and while a guy might get away with being a pundit and making pointed partisan statements a woman (still) can’t. Missouri will be a tough state for any Democrat to win even in an open seat contest so I think McCaskill has made the right decision – both for her and the Party, especially as she would be having to deal with progressives (which has sometimes included me) ripping on her for being too centrist.
Given all that it’s natural to turn to Kander as someone with statewide name recognition who’s also won (albeit narrowly) statewide office – for those who don’t remember he was Sec State for MO (the youngest ever there when elected) and of course there was that campaign against Blunt in 2016. Kander would seem a perfect candidate, and while the GOP (being Donald Trump’s GOP) would surely go on the attack about Kander’s having gotten treatment for PTSD (Afghanistan Vet) and depression the political pros in the GOP who’d recommend against it (and be overruled) it would likely not only backfire but hand the election to Kander.
Alas, in that same piece I read about McCaskill there was also some writing about Kander having (just before McCaskill’s announcement) putting out notice that he too was happy doing what he was doing and that he won’t run. Like McCaskill he’s saying it’s nice to be asked, but he’s deep into working to build housing for veterans and not interested in a return to electoral politics. I hope he will reconsider. I just checked and it’s not there yet, but I have no doubt that before the end of the day or at least in the next couple of days I’ll get an email from VoteVets asking me to sign a petition to Kander urging him to reconsider his statement of earlier today – and run for the seat he almost won in 2016.
As folks who follow me know I’m not all that connected to where I grew up (just on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River) so I don’t get news out of the St. Louis media market and am therefore not up to date on MO politics. However, from what I know there are precious few Democrats with the statewide name recognition that have competed and won statewide elections back there. In fact, the only two I can think of are McCaskill and Kander. It’s not fair, but being a white guy would give Kander a better shot than McCaskill even if both were interested in running. We’re talking Missouri. And, as you illustrated with that ad Kander did a classic “Show Me state” demonstration that he’s got “good ole boy” qualities that would get the attention of a lot of the gals who have good ole boy partners.
I think Missouri has gone pretty permanently red and the seat is a tough one to flip. Thar said, in the right conditions it’s flippable and worth fighting for…in this case the right conditions probably most likely,being something like a space laser Q winning the GOP primary.