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On the latest episode of Politically Speaking, Missouri state Sen. Jason Bean joins St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum and Sarah Kellogg to discuss Gov. Mike Parson’s budget vetoes and the future of the Senate.

He said he expects the Senate to uphold Parson’s roughly $1 billion worth of budget cuts. Bean also said it’s likely that lawmakers will have to approve a massive supplemental budget request in the coming months.

Bean represents Missouri’s 25th District, which includes Stoddard, Dunklin, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Ripley, Oregon, Mississippi, Butler, Wayne and Carter counties. The Holcomb Republican was elected to his post in 2020.

Here’s what else Bean discussed on the program:

• While the 25th Senatorial District is now heavily Republican, Bean explained how much of southeast Missouri changed from leaning strongly Democratic.
• Navigating the Senate, which includes a GOP caucus that is often divided between Republican leadership and more conservative lawmakers. He said he’s tried to forge relationships with as many factions as possible to pass legislation, including a measure restricting how eminent domain can be used.
• Potential ballot items to legalize sports betting and abortion, both of which could come before voters in November.

Bean runs a farming operation in Holcomb in Dunklin County. His father, former state Rep. Otto Bean, was the first Republican ever to be elected to the 163rd House District – which traditionally took in portions of the Bootheel region.

In 2020, Bean jumped into a crowded GOP primary to succeed retiring state Sen. Doug Libla. He ended up winning the race against three other candidates with more than 46 percent of the vote — which was tantamount to election since he had no Democratic opponent.

Bena is squaring off against Democrat Chuck Banks in November, but is likely to return to the Senate because of the 25th District’s tilt toward the GOP.

It’s been 10 years since Michael Brown was killed and the Ferguson Uprising that followed. To honor that history, We Live Here is returning for a special season with host Chad Davis and producer Danny Wicentowski. They reflect on some of the truths that Ferguson exposed, why there still is an open wound a decade later, and how community members continue to push for a better future.

Before he became Missouri’s attorney general, Andrew Bailey served in a number of roles — including combat veteran, security guard, prosecutor and general counsel to Gov. Mike Parson.

Now, as he faces a tough Republican primary battle with St. Louis County attorney Will Scharf, Bailey is hoping that voters see his collective experience inside and outside of politics as compelling.

“I care about the state because it’s home,” Bailey said on an episode of the Politically Speaking podcast. “I got to grow up in a Missouri that enjoyed freedom, safety, prosperity. And I want my kids and your listeners’ kids and grandkids to enjoy those things as well.”

Parson appointed Bailey to his post in 2022, after Eric Schmitt was elected to the U.S. Senate. Before working for Parson, Bailey worked at the Warren County prosecutor’s office and was also the attorney for that county’s juvenile office. He said his experience in the juvenile office motivated him and his wife to become foster parents.

Bailey served as an Army officer in the Iraq War. He said being a part of that conflict gave him a unique perspective when entering Missouri’s executive branch.

“It definitely taught me the value of strong leadership, bold action and decisive action,” Bailey said. “Politicians do a lot of talking. I like to get to work, and I like to produce results. And certainly that was what was required of me on the battlefield in Iraq. And if I didn’t do my job, people were going to get hurt.”

Race against Scharf

Scharf, who appeared on Politically Speaking earlier this month, is giving Bailey a serious challenge, especially after national groups have poured millions of dollars into political action committees to boost his candidacy.

Among other things, Scharf has argued that Bailey is part of a Republican establishment that’s let conservative Missourians down. Bailey said Scharf’s contention is wrong.

“I’m clearly not part of a political pedigree or an establishment,” Bailey said. “I ended up in Jefferson City only because I started working with the Missouri Department of Corrections and Gov. Parson happened to see me and pulled me up to be on his staff. And so my dedication is to service and to serving the people of the state of Missouri.”

Bailey and his allies have derisively painted Scharf as “Wall Street Willy,” which alludes to the fact he was born in New York and comes from a wealthy family. Scharf said that line of criticism amounts to “silly season.”

Bailey said he’s leveling the attack because Missouri “is home for me, this is where I’m raising my kids — whereas he showed up here with a bag full of money in order to buy a political office.”

When asked whether it was hypocritical to play up how Scharf was born outside of Missouri when he also wasn’t born in the state, Bailey replied: “No, because I grew up with Missouri values in elementary school, junior high and high school here — and then moved home here when I got out of the Army.”

A high-profile record

Since taking office, Bailey has made headlines with a slew of high-profile actions — including attempting to get a judge to remove Kim Gardner as St. Louis circuit attorney.

Gardner ended up resigning before any court action, but Bailey said his work played a role in her decision to depart.

“Clearly the circumstances indicate that she resigned because of the lawsuit and because she was about to be ordered to sit for deposition and have to turn over mountains of discovery,” he said.

Bailey said that he would continue to watch out for officials who are derelict in their duties, even if they are Republicans.

“One would hope that we don’t have situations where that becomes a necessity,” Bailey said. “But when it does, we’re not afraid to act.”

Bailey has also filed a lawsuit against New York over the prosecution of former President Donald Trump over falsifying business records. He contends that “there’s a rogue prosecutor and collusive judiciary in New York that are seeking to take President Trump off the campaign trail.”

When asked why he didn’t have confidence that Trump’s case could go through the normal appellate process in New York, Bailey said: “I’m confident the case will be overturned on appeal because it never should have been brought in the first place. But the normal appeal process for an individual defendant takes 18 to 24 months and is inadequate to redress the grievances that Missourians have in the heat of a presidential campaign.”

Other topics that Bailey discussed on the program included:

• His reaction to a U.S. Supreme Court decision that declared Missouri and several other plaintiffs didn’t have standing in a case involving the federal government’s ability to persuade social media companies to regulate or delete content.
• Whether his efforts to gather documents from the left-of-center media watchdog group Media Mattersover articles about the social media platform X would stymie efforts to go after scams on that website.
• Bailey’s response to critics who said his since-scuttled emergency rules restricting things like hormone therapy and gender transition surgery for transgender Missourians was wrong.
• How he plans to approach crime fighting and consumer protection policies if he’s elected to a full four-year term.

The winner of the Bailey-Scharf primary will face off against Democrat Elad Gross, who is running unopposed for his party’s nomination on Aug. 6.

Of the eight Republicans seeking to become Missouri’s next secretary of state, half of them entered the race at the end of the filing period.

One of those candidates, political strategist Jamie Corley, said her decision to run came after Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden dropped out.

“I looked at the candidates, and I did not see anyone who I would vote for,” Corley said.

Other Republicans seeking the nomination for secretary of state are state Sens. Mary Elizabeth Coleman and Denny Hoskins, House Speaker Dean Plocher, Greene County Clerk Shane Schoeller, state Rep. Adam Schwadron, Wentzville municipal judge Mike Carter and St. Louis resident Valentina Gomez. House Rep. Barbara Phifer is the most well-known Democrat candidate who filed.

Half of the candidates are members of the Missouri legislature. Corley believes not being a state lawmaker puts her at an advantage.

“If I was a part of the last two years of nonsense in the Missouri legislature, I would be embarrassed to ask someone for a promotion, especially Missouri voters,” Corley said.

Against making it harder to amend the constitution

Corley has been involved with the secretary of state’s office due to her filing of a proposed constitutional amendment that would have legalized abortion in Missouri with limits.

Though she withdrew her amendment because there was a competing petition that also would overturn the state’s abortion ban, the initiative petition process is one of the reasons why Corley is running.

Corley disagrees with some of her fellow Republicans who believe it should be harder to amend the constitution.

“I would make sure that people know I am a secretary of state that will respond to groups and voters who want to use their constitutional right to change statutes and change the constitution,” Corley said.

Corley was a guest on St. Louis Public Radio’s Politically Speaking. Here are some of the things she talked about on the show.

• Why she filed an initiative petition that would have overturned Missouri’s abortion ban and why her opposition to the state’s abortion ban is in step with what some other Missouri Republicans believe.
• Her qualifications for the position, which includes her past experiences registering businesses.
• Missouri’s early voting period, including why she doesn’t want to change it.
• Current Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s rules on libraries and why Corley said she would have handled that situation differently.

Corley is a Missouri native and a University City resident. She is the executive director of the Missouri Woman and Family Research Fund, which is an organization centered on women’s health care and is, according to its website, “dedicated to protecting women’s healthcare access in Missouri and restoring rational, compassionate reproductive laws statewide.”

Corley previously lived in Washington, D.C., working for three members of Congress performing media duties. She also lived in San Francisco, where she worked at a think tank at Stanford.

Over the past few months, Missouri attorney general hopeful Will Scharf became a familiar face on national news for his legal advocacy for former President Donald Trump.

Now, over the next few weeks, the St. Louis County attorney is hoping to make the case to GOP primary voters that he should replace Attorney General Andrew Bailey.

“I never really thought this was something that I would do,” Scharf said on an episode of the Politically Speaking podcast. “Friends of mine approached me about running and said that they thought it was really time to shake up Jefferson City and get more conservative outsiders, as opposed to establishment politicians and establishment people, in the office.”

Scharf was former Gov. Eric Greitens’ policy director and a former assistant U.S. attorney. Most recently, Scharf joined Trump’s appellate team and was one of several attorneys who argued the case before the U.S. Supreme Court concerning presidential immunity. The court ruled 6-3on Monday that presidents have immunity for official acts but not unofficial — and sent an election interference case back to a lower court to sort out.

“If a president walks out onto the street and shoots a man dead, he doesn’t have immunity for that,” Scharf said before the high court’s decision. “We’re not talking about private conduct. But for a president’s official acts in office, we believe that a failure by the court to recognize a broad doctrine of immunity would cripple the presidency.”

An expensive race

Since entering the race, political action committees backing Scharf have raised substantial amounts of money from people like Leonard Leo — who has played a major role in shaping the federal judiciary under GOP presidents.

Scharf said he’s “backed by big national conservative groups that are as sick and tired with Jefferson City as Missouri Republican primary voters are.”

“I haven’t heard a single person say that they think Jefferson City is doing a great job. I think Andrew Bailey is a creature of the Jefferson City establishment,” Scharf said. “And to me, that’s the core contrast in this race: continuity in Jefferson City or a break from that.”

Gov. Mike Parson appointed Bailey as attorney general after Eric Schmitt was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2022. Since taking over, Bailey has made headlines on a number of fronts — including pursuing an effort to oust Kim Gardner as circuit attorney and putting forward emergency rulesto substantially restrict hormone therapy and gender transition surgery.

Scharf said Bailey hasn’t done an effective job of litigating on behalf of the state, pointing to a recent loss at the U.S. Supreme Court over the interplay between the federal government and social media companies.

Bailey’s allies have painted Scharf as “Wall Street Willy,” a reference to Scharf being born in New York and coming from a wealthy family. Scharf dismissed those attacks as part of “silly season.”

“This place is my home. I’m proud to be an adoptive Missourian. I can’t really imagine living anywhere else,” Scharf said. 

Video gaming

If elected, Scharf said he would take a more discerning look at video gaming devices that are found in gas stations or fraternal halls all over the state.

“I think the situation that we have right now is that there are tens of thousands of illegal slot machines that are being allowed to operate that are, I believe, depriving the State of Missouri of significant revenue,” Scharf said. “I think it’s just a crazy situation. And it goes to show how when politically powerful constituencies are at work, the laws of Missouri are not being evenly enforced.”

Low-income housing tax credits

Scharf said that he would be in favor of elected officials being taken off the Missouri Housing Development Commission, which is responsible for doling out low-income housing tax credits.

The attorney general is a member of that commission along with the governor, the lieutenant governor and treasurer.

“I’d much rather see a professional staff and people who are experienced in housing and construction and finance making decisions based on what’s best for Missouri, as opposed to what’s best for their political constituencies or, frankly, their donors,” he said.