Curtis does not file as independent, ending bid for state Senate
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Only one Missourian submitted signatures to run as an independent candidate on the November ballot: Craig O’Dear.
State law requires those seeking to run as an independent candidate in Missouri to submit 10,000 signatures of registered voters on their candidate petitions. Monday was the deadline.
According to a representative from the Secretary of State’s Office, O’Dear was the only candidate to turn in a petition. The Kansas City lawyer running for U.S. Senate submitted more than 22,000 signatures.
Should the needed signatures be verified, O’Dear entering the race will up the candidates on the November ballot for U.S. Senate from four to five. The Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, and Green parties will all have a candidate on the general election ballot.
Incumbent-Sen. Claire McCaskill is seen as the likely winner of the Democratic primary with sitting Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley considered the GOP front-runner.
With the independent filing deadline now passed, it seems Rep. Courtney Allen Curtis will not be making a run for a state Senate seat in 2018
The Missouri Democratic Party blocked Curtis from the race to replace term-limited Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal because of unpaid ethics fines. He took that matter to court, where a Cole County Circuit Court Judge and the Missouri Supreme Court sided with the Democratic Party.
Curtis’ last chance of getting on the ballot for SD 14 was to file as an independent candidate. He did not do so, officially making him out of the running to be on the November ballot.
Alisha Shurr was a reporter for The Missouri Times and The Missouri Times Magazine. She joined The Missouri Times in January 2018 after working as a copy editor for her hometown newspaper in Southern Oregon. Alisha is a graduate of Kansas State University.
