Two of the leading Republican candidates for governor of Missouri, during a debate that aired Thursday, rejected the idea of public funding to keep Kansas City bosses in the state and considered releasing the first Kansas City police officer convicted of killing a man. black man.
They also hugged Christian nationalism.
Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and Senator Bill Eigel faced off in an hour-long TV debate taped Wednesday that aired Thursday night on St. Louis station KSDK. Alongside Ashcroft and Eigel there was an empty podium for Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, who did not attend, citing a scheduling conflict.
The two Republicans, who are trying to court right-wing voters, have traded barbs on a wide range of topics, from their bosses to abortion rights and immigration ahead of the Aug. 6 primary election.
Like Kansas try an aggressive plan to attract Chiefs and Royalty across state lines, both Ashcroft and Eigel firmly rejected the idea of using any public funds to respond.
Your answers could be critical to the state’s goal of keeping teams as Governors. Mike Parson – who leaves his position in January – promised to develop a plan to maintain the teams in the coming months.
Ashcroft, who has served as secretary of state since 2017, suggested that taxpayer subsidies don’t work for businesses and sports teams. He pointed to a number of professional sports teams that have left St. Louis in recent years.
“I don’t believe the government should be reaching into its pockets for money to give to billionaire team owners,” Ashcroft said. “Taking your money… is not the government’s job and it won’t happen on my watch.”
Eigel, a far-right senator from Weldon Spring who has developed a confrontational reputation in the General Assembly, expressed confidence that the Chiefs and Royals would remain in Missouri without public funding.
“They will make the right decision, but they will not make that decision as a result of a taxpayer bailout of billionaires,” he said. “Is $18 for a hot dog not enough money for these billionaire owners? I think it is.”
Kansas’ effort to lure the teams comes after Jackson County voters in April rejected a stadium tax that would have effectively guaranteed the teams would remain in Missouri after their 25-year leases expire in January 2031.
Top Missouri lawmakers recently held a series of meetings with representatives from both teams, and Parson met with local leaders in the Kansas City area. Although Parson and lawmakers have cited the importance of keeping teamsno concrete plans emerged.
Freeing DeValkenaere
Both candidates have expressed a willingness to pardon Eric DeValkenaere, the Kansas City Police Department’s first white officer convicted of killing a black man. Eigel went the furthest of the two, openly promising to free him.
The case of DeValkenaere, who is serving a six-year sentence for fatally shooting 26-year-old Cameron Lamb in 2019, has long simmered in the public eye, especially in the Kansas City area.
“I want the family, who I’m sure are listening here tonight, to know that in my first week in office, I’m going to backtrack on pardoning Eric DeValkenaere and we’re going to bring him home to his family,” Eigel said.
DeValkenaere’s supporters mounted a public campaign for his pardon. Parson has also openly considered the possibility of clemency, but has not yet announced a decision on whether to commute his sentence.
The former police detective’s case has been something of a cause célèbre for Republicans who have tried to frame his conviction as political. However, several courts upheld his 2021 conviction, and any commutation of his sentence is almost certain to provoke an explosive reaction in Kansas City.
Eigel initially sidestepped the question of what message a pardon would send to the black community by trying to change the subject to illegal immigration. When pressed, he said he was “not aware of any part of the state of Missouri that doesn’t want to support police officers in their work.”
Ashcroft was not asked directly about DeValkenaere during the debate, but he referenced the case in response to another question. He seemed to try to frame the case as political.
“We will work to ensure that if there is a prosecutor with a vendetta, the officers receive fair treatment and can change locations – perhaps to Cole County – so that we never see what happened in Kansas City previously to an individual, so I know, all he did was follow his training and now he’s been in prison for six years.”
Ashcroft previously told The Star he was “committed to a detailed review of Eric DeValkenaere’s conviction and consideration of a pardon.”
Christian nationalism
Both Ashcroft and Eigel said they would call themselves Christian nationalists, echoing Senator Josh Hawley’s embrace of the idea that American politics and culture are, and should be, rooted in the Christian faith.
When initially asked during a yes or no portion of the debate whether they would describe themselves as Christian nationalists, neither candidate raised their hand.
Ashcroft demanded that the moderators provide a definition of the phrase, saying, “I’m a Christian and I believe in this country.”
Later in the debate, a moderator provided a definition of the phrase and asked whether the two candidates would call themselves as such. The definition, from Christianity Today, stated that Christian nationalism “is the belief that the American nation is defined by Christianity and that the government should take active steps to keep it that way.”
“Yes,” said Eigel.
“We were founded as a Christian nation and we want to maintain these guiding principles. Yes,” said Ashcroft.
The blunt responses came after Hawley openly embraced the idea while speaking at the National Conservatism Conference earlier this month, saying: “Some will say I am advocating Christian nationalism. So I do. My question is: is there any other type worth having?”
Republicans at the national level have attempted to recast Christian nationalism, a typically fringe idea, as more mainstream.
However, researchers have found that people who are open to Christian nationalism often have antidemocratic instincts, are open to efforts to limit voting access and view certain people as more authentically American, according to the study. previous reports.
This story includes reporting from The Star’s Daniel Desrochers and Jonathan Shorman.
