Despite one of the largest dark money drops in this year’s primary cycle — and the history of Missouri Senate races — state Sen. Bill Eigel emerged victorious in his quest for re-election.
Eigel defeated St. Charles attorney Eric Wulff with more than 71 percent of the vote with all precincts reporting Tuesday evening.
Ahead of the primary, conservative groups rallied behind Eigel after tensions escalated with accusations of falsehoods, discrepant mailers, and dark money interventions beginning to pepper the race. About half a dozen mailers, paid for by a group called Voters for Good Government, circulated in the district accusing Eigel, a leader in the Conservative Caucus, of supporting tax increases, the “defund the police” movement, and Planned Parenthood, among other things.
Voters for Good Government received a nearly $400,000 donation from Americans for Limited Government, a conservative nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., in July.
William Hardin, treasurer of Voters for Good Government, said he had known Wulff for more than 20 years and decided to back Eigel’s challengers after hearing that others in the district had grown “dissatisfied” with Eigel.
“I think that Eric Wulff is in danger of going down as one of the most dishonest candidates for public office in St. Charles County’s modern history,” Eigel previously said. “It’s incredibly unfortunate that he has spread more lies about me than he has taken policy positions on things that matter to St. Charles County residents.”
Wulff jumped into the race on the final day of filing. He’s a partner at Burke, Wulff, Crosby, Luber, and Briscoe and practices both family and business law. He is also a former prosecutor and judge and sits on the Missouri Bar board of governors.
Eigel entered the primary day with more than $55, 000 cash on hand while his PAC, Believe in Life and Liberty (BILL) had more than $279,000 in the bank. Wulff had about $3,400 in the bank, and Voters for Good Government had more than $63,000 cash on hand.
Eigel is set to face Democrat Richard Orr in November. Orr has more than $6,600 cash on hand.
Kaitlyn Schallhorn was the editor in chief of The Missouri Times from 2020-2022. She joined the newspaper in early 2019 after working as a reporter for Fox News in New York City.
Throughout her career, Kaitlyn has covered political campaigns across the U.S., including the 2016 presidential election, and humanitarian aid efforts in Africa and the Middle East.
She is a native of Missouri who studied journalism at Winthrop University in South Carolina. She is also an alumna of the National Journalism Center in Washington, D.C.
Contact Kaitlyn at kaitlyn@themissouritimes.com.
