State Rep. Chuck Basye, R-Rocheport, speaks on the Missouri House floor during a May 2022 debate on an education bill (Tim Bommel/Missouri House Communications).The Republican 19th Senatorial District Committee met Sunday evening in Columbia to decide on a replacement candidate for the Boone County Senate seat.
The only problem is that they don’t have one.
“We’re working with some people behind the scenes on this but some of them need a little bit more convincing,” said Anthony Lupo, chairman of Boone County Republican Central Committee.
Former Republican state Rep. Chuck Basye of Rocheport withdrew from the race last month after receiving a cancer diagnosis.
The local GOP must have a candidate nominated and the certificate of nomination filed to the Office of the Secretary of State by May 23.
A Senate term in Missouri lasts four years. Outgoing state Rep. Cheri Toalson Reisch said the commitment can be tough.
“It’s a serious commitment of time, money, freedom, faith,” she said, “and we’re just looking for the candidate that can do that for the Republican Party.”
The committee says the lack of an opponent for former state Rep. Stephen Webber, the Democratic nominee, is also a concern in other elections. A Webber campaign official told the Missourian Sunday that they’ve raised nearly $1 million so far.
If unopposed, his PAC could provide money to help other Democratic candidates’ campaigns. Republican committee members said that the predecessor of the seat, Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden, had to raise double Webber’s contributions in 2016 . The party believes it will have to do that again to be competitive.
In 2022, the boundaries of Senate District 19 were redrawn to include only Boone County, dropping a lot of Cooper County voters who leaned Republican. Reisch recognized that the new boundaries make winning as a Republican harder, but she says that a Republican nomination is necessary because of the makeup of the Missouri Senate, where the GOP currently holds a super majority.
“Democrats won’t get anything done,” she said, “the (University of Missouri) doesn’t go to Democrats to carry legislation because they can’t get anything done.”
The primary election for the seat will be held Aug. 6.
This story originally appeared in the Columbia Missourian. It can be republished in print or online.
This story was corrected to indicate any potential candidate for the Senate seat must get nominated by the local committee.
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