The first in a series of stories examining how events of the past shape Missouri’s political present and future.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Missouri Senate has long been where legislation is truly tested. It was in the Senate that Gov. Jay Nixon had to negotiate for a deal on the Boeing incentive package. It was in the Senate that two controversial bills on foreign law and firearms died during veto session, despite support from Republican leadership in the House.
With the legislative session fast approaching, the Senate is once again likely to become the focus of the legislative fight. For more than 50 years, Democrats held the body. But in 2001, a special election and a perfect storm of events gave the Republican Party a one seat majority.
Three seats in the Senate were vacant. Former Democratic Sen. Joe Maxwell was elected Lt. Governor and his fellow state Sen. Lacy Clay Jr., another Democrat, had just been elected to Congress. That same cycle, Sam Graves also moved from the Missouri Senate to the U.S. Congress. Republicans held the chamber 16-15. But with Democrats expected to regain both their lost seats, a tie was possible, an unprecedented problem.
“There was this perfect storm of events, and most people assumed we’d win back [Rep. Sam Graves] seat and lose the other two,” Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder said. “But we did a pretty good job of recruiting in the two races we thought we could win, and we worked our tails off all through the holidays to get ahead of it.”
Kinder was in the Senate at the time and took part in the unprecedented negotiations concerning the gubernatorial inauguration. The state constitution requires a Senate Pro Tem at the ceremony, and with no majority, the Senate had none. Democrats and Republicans negotiated just how the floor would have to be run in the weeks before the special election in late Janaury, and just what would happen if there was a tie. In the end, one Democrat and one Republican shared the office of Pro Tem for official duties, a first in the state.
Kinder was also part of Republican ground game in both elections, and said that a surprise television ad from Republican candidate John Cauthorn on Christmas day was a good barometer of the party strategy.
“We had been raising all this money early and we went on TV Christmas day to introduce the candidate to the district and I really think people remembered it and it gave him a little bump that the Democrats could never quite overcome,” Kinder said.
Cauthorn ran in the district that would ultimately decide the majority, in the 18th Senate district, long represented by Joe Maxwell, who left the seat after successfully winning the position of Lt. Governor. Cauthorn would go on to win by about 3,000 votes. With Clay and Graves both in Congress and their parties successfully retaining their state Senate seats, Cauthorn’s win gave the Republican’s a majority by a single vote, a majority they haven’t given up.
“I remember telling a particular reporter from that area that I thought we had a really good shot at winning this thing,” Cauthorn says. “And I remember him just looking back at me with a lot of skepticism. But I felt like I was supposed to be doing it, so even if I had lost, I would not have thought it was a waste of time.”
Cauthorn’s victory ushered in the new majority. The race itself helped ease some tensions between the two parties. In the weeks prior to Cauthorn’s election, no clear majority existed, forcing the Senate to adopt one of its most bi-partisan leadership efforts to date. During that time, both parties hesitated to flex too much muscle, not wanting to risk any backlash in the event they lost the majority.
“When we had a plurality we didn’t assert our numbers, we tried to be open, but the difference in going from the minority to the majority is night and day,” Kinder said. “In the minority for eight years like I was, you can vote any way you want really, but in the majority there is a lot more pressure to get certain things done, and your vote carries much more weight.”
Since the special election, the Republican majority continued to grow. Less than two years later, Republicans took the first majority in the Missouri state House of Representatives for the first time in 50 years.
As the session approaches, Republican control of the Senate has become the stronghold of the party platform. While the House appears more willing to move on Medicaid expansion, the senate remains firmly opposed. Legislation on taxes and school transfers are likely to have the strongest legs in the senate, and the fate of the 17 seats up for grabs in 2014 will determine votes for dozens of members of the body, as well as the state representatives seeking to challenge or succeed them.
Collin Reischman was the Managing Editor for The Missouri Times, and a graduate of Webster University with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.
