Big GOP funders sending millions into Missouri’s attorney general primary
The Missouri attorney general has done just that Planned Parenthood sued and chairman Joe Biden, tried to push clinics that provide gender-affirming care to hand over their administrationand pushed a liberal prosecutor resign.
Despite these decidedly conservative moves, some prominent conservative groups from outside Missouri are spending millions ahead of the Aug. 6 primary to boost Andrew Bailey’s opponent, Will Scharf, a member of former President Donald Trump’s legal team . In the Republican Party-dominated state, the primary winner will have a huge advantage in the November general election.
The uproar highlights how important attorneys general have become as they have taken on increasingly nationalized roles, in addition to using these positions as a springboard to run for governor or the U.S. Senate. Both senators representing Missouri previously served as AG.
“It’s part of the broader universe of AGs and where we are now in terms of financing these races,” said Paul Nolette, a Marquette University political scientist who studies state attorneys general and has seen them dig into issues such as abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. “That money makes it less likely for the AGs to break with their commitment to their ideological poles and their often culture war approach to issues.”
Attorneys general are lawyers who represent the state government. AGs are appointed in some states, but elected in 43 states. Some are their state’s top criminal prosecutors; they all play an important role in consumer affairs. They have long crossed party lines to protect consumers, such as with joint lawsuits against the opioid industry and tech companies.
However, AGs have become much more partisan over the past decade, with many — like Bailey — suing the federal government over policies while the president is from the opposing party.
For example, almost every Republican AG has filed a lawsuit object to the Biden administration’s regulations which mandates that transgender students be protected under a gender equality law. A group of Democratic AGs have begun legal filings in support of the regulations.
The political operation around state AGs has also grown stronger. The Republican Association of Attorneys General, which is dedicated to electing Republican AGs, became its own entity in 2014 after splitting from a group concerned with electing Republican lawmakers and other state officials. Two years later, the Democratic Attorneys General Association of Colorado moved to Washington, D.C., and added full-time staff.
Now the groups are pouring money into the most competitive races, often in the form of independent publications that pay for attack ads.
RAGA, which normally supports GOP AG incumbents, has stayed out of the Missouri primary. However, some of the association’s largest donors support Scharf. They do this by making contributions to a Missouri branch of Club for Growth, a major funding force that focuses on helping fiscally conservative candidates and which in turn airs ads boosting Scharf and criticizing Bailey.
The group has received $1 million this year from Leonard Leo, a political funding force who co-chairs the conservative Federalist Society, and another $1 million from the Concord Fund, which is part of Leo’s extensive network. The Concord Fund, formerly known as the Judicial Crisis Network, is best known for trying to create a more conservative federal judiciary. It is usually a strong supporter of RAGA and has contributed more than $10 million to that group since 2020.
The fund backing Scharf also received $1.4 million this year from investor Paul Singer and $500,000 from the national Club for Growth.
It is not unheard of for national conservatives to try to unseat a sitting Republican AG. Two years ago, a separate arm of Club for Growth spent more than $280,000 on offensive ads old Idaho AG Lawrence Wasden in the Republican primaries. His opponent, U.S. Rep. Raul Labrador, defeated him and went on to win the general election in November.
Club for Growth PAC Chairman David McIntosh praised Scharf last year for his economic positions, such as promoting tax cuts.
Leo has not publicly explained his network’s support and his representative has not responded to interview requests.
But Scharf fits the mold of a number of lawyers associated with the Federalist Society who have risen through the ranks of the government legal system, with resumes that include elite law schools, clerkships with Republican-appointed federal judges and strong ties to the Republican Party.
He received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University, his law degree from Harvard University, clerked for two federal appeals court judges and has worked at CRC Advisors, a conservative public relations firm chaired by Leo. In addition to being one of Trump’s lawyers, he also served as an assistant U.S. attorney in St. Louis, worked on the campaign and later in the office of then-Missouri Governor Eric Greitens. A representative for Scharf said he would be available for an interview but did not respond to subsequent email, text and voicemail messages from The Associated Press.
“It amazes me that Wall Street and coastal elites would want to buy an office in Missouri for a New Yorker,” Bailey said of Scharf in an interview. He said Scharf would be the kind of candidate these financiers could have control over.
Bailey has spent almost his entire career in Missouri. The Army veteran earned his bachelor’s and law degrees from the University of Missouri, worked in the attorney general’s office and served as an assistant attorney general and state’s attorney before joining the office of Gov. Mike Parson, who eventually appointed him attorney. general.
Liberty and Justice PAC, an initiative supporting Bailey, has also made significant contributions. The largest was $500,000 from St. Louis area residents Carolyn and Mike Rayner, part of the family that owns the Cargill, Inc. agricultural company.
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Associated Press writer Richard Lardner in Washington contributed to this report.