Election Results in Missouri (Unions Rule)

First off, the right-to-work referendum didn’t just fail; it went down in flames. voters nixed right-to-work by 67.5 percent to 32.5 percent. Unions rules, righties drool.

Right-to-work was an issue dearly beloved by departed Gov. Eric Greitens and the right-wing extremist state  legislature, which passed a right-to-work law in February 2017. But unions gathered signatures and got a referendum on the ballot challenging the law, blocking it from going into effect. The referendum originally was going to be on the November ballot, but the legislature put it on the midterm ballot in hopes that a lower turnout would keep right to work alive.  But the voters said no, big time, and the right-to-work law is now dead.

The legislature had said that they will next try to pass a constitutional amendment putting right-to-work in the state constitution, but that would have to be ratified by voters also. I wonder if they’ll bother now.

As expected, Sen. Clair McCaskill won her primary (by 82 percent of the vote) and will be challenged in November by Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley (who won by 58 percent of his vote, but he had more challengers).

The more interesting results were in St. Louis. Robert McCulloch, who had been St. Louis County prosecutor for 28 years, lost the Democratic primary to Wesley Bell, a Ferguson City Council member who ran on criminal justice reform. Bell will be unopposed in November, so this is effectively a general election win.

McColloch had earned noteriety for his “handling” of the Michael Brown killing in Ferguson in 2014. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

This was the first time McCulloch had faced a challenger since the Ferguson protests that erupted over the killing of Michael Brown by a Ferguson police officer in August 2014. Protesters criticized his office for its handling of the grand jury inquiry into the killing of Brown. The grand jury brought no charges against Officer Darren Wilson.

McCulloch, 67, of Kirkwood, faced challengers in just three prior primary and general races. …

… Political observers gave Bell little chance, saying that McCulloch’s 28 years in office and fundraising advantage made it nearly impossible for Bell to win.

“I’m in total disbelief,” St. Louis University political science professor Ken Warren said late Tuesday. Warren had predicted McCulloch would cruise to an eighth straight term, given his tenure.

“Obviously Ferguson defined this election,” Warren said. “Bell made his name through Ferguson, and (McCulloch) tarnished his name through his handling of Ferguson.”

And I’m pleased to say the vote wasn’t even that close; Bell won 56.6 percent to 43.4 percent.

Ferguson Council Member Wesley Bell, who will be St. Louis County’s next prosecutor.

The Riverfront Times:

There are plenty of people who are tired of McCulloch. Critics say his decision to conduct the investigation into Michael Brown’s fatal shooting using the grand jury was intentionally designed to produce a no-bill. McCulloch, 66, has also thrown the book at protesters, including those arrested as part of the recent demonstrations following the Jason Stockley “not guilty” verdict in St. Louis. Then there’s this: In his 27-year career in public office, McCulloch has never prosecuted an officer-involved shooting to the point of an actual indictment.

St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger won a close primary challenge. This was an interesting race because the challenger, retired businessman Mark Mantovani, ran a slick and well-funded campaign in which he talked about jobs jobs jobs. Stenger’s ads tied Mantovani to Eric Greitens and Donald Trump; Stenger also framed himself as a defender of unions and an opponent of right-to-work. So an appeal to union support and flat-out partisanship carried the day.

9 thoughts on “Election Results in Missouri (Unions Rule)

  1. Congratulations to Wesley Bell! smiley 

    We need more prosecutors and DAs who understand the racial injustice of our present system. 

    And let's hear it for the failure of the so-called right to work legislation. Our country has faced socio-economic problems similar to the ones we face now. Unions may be in decline, but the labor movement was part of what saved us in the past. Solidarity!

    BTW, if anybody wants to make bumper stickers saying,

    The right to work means the right to a job

    Be my guest. 🙂

  2. Come on, Rosenstein hasn't flipped. It's just that Trump finally realizes that Rosenstein is here to stay, so he's trying to get all palsy-walsy.

  3. Rosenstein probably feels the need to take a shower after any encounter with Trump. Rosenstein's idol in jurisprudence is Robert H. Jackson, so  I'm sure that after rubbing up against an undisciplined slimebucket  criminal/con man like Trump, Rosenstein wants to wash the stench of that experience down the drain.

    I guess it's what he has to put up with as part of his job, unpleasant as it is.

    Kinda reminds me of the old joke about Pete the pimple sucker where it ends with the punch line… " You know, it's people like you that make this job disgusting"

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  4. Trump would try to have us convinced that he, Putin, Jong-Un, Rosenstein and all the gang are best buds having brewskis together at Mar-a-Lago.  At least until he says they’re all enemies again. 

    Maybe show-me folks have learned that kleptocrats working together, while preaching to workers they need to be independently personally responsible is BS, and it only works better for everybody when it’s the other way around?

  5. Unions are the answer to the greed and deprivations of the corporate class.  Hopefully democrats will stop shying away from full-throated support of unions going forward.

    Bell's win is another clue to dems: there is support for justice as it concerns non-whites, and they need not be timid about that for fear of scaring off white voters who'll never support them.  But all white voters are not marching lockstep with that MAGA mindset.

    Lastly, republicans have become the status quo, and generally more people on both sides are starting to wake up, thanks to the recent tax bill and what the Trump/GOP did on health care, to the fact that that they're not getting much for that.

  6. Hmm…

    Maybe there really will be a blue wave this year!

    Not to rain my (our) own parade, but we need to remember that the RepubliKKKLAN's have minions like Klobach working hard to stop anyone who's darker than "Tanned Honky" on the color swatch to vote.  Oh, and is an 'outie,' and not an 'inie.' 

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