8 Comments
User's avatar
⭠ Return to thread
Donna in MO's avatar

I went to our county's caucus in MO on Saturday. I am in one of the only 3 blue counties in the state, so halfway expected a big Haley contingent to show up, especially since our state so far does not require party registration (so D's vote for weak R's in the primary), but we are working on that. Trump had 558 votes to Haley's 65. Friends in adjacent red counties reported even larger margins of victory. Interestingly, the Haley voters were nearly all congregated together, and I didn't recognize a single one of them, which I suppose is not remarkable in a county with over 700K people, but I did know or recognize about half of the Trump crowd.

Expand full comment
SocialismAlwaysFails's avatar

I'll concur with another datapoint, but in an affulent Michigan county semi-recently turned blue.

For a congressional district that encompasses of most of that county, the open primary last week ended up 61%-34% (Trump over Haley). But at the GOP state convention, where it was only GOP precinct delegates voting, it was 118-3 (aka 97.5% Trump). This pattern actually played out in all 13 CDs earning DT all 39 delegates available.

Expand full comment
Donna in MO's avatar

Our state convention is not until May 4 but expect similar results. My hubby is a sales rep and covers half the state. Says most of his territory the Trump signs never came down, and they are multiplying. Our county actually has 2 election boards - Kansas City and then Jackson County for the rest. KC is solid blue and eastern Jack is purplish red, but KC's overwhelming blue majority cancels Eastern Jack in nearly every election, even though Eastern Jack turnout is always higher (56% vs 38% in 2022)

Expand full comment
Julie Ann B's avatar

Donna, I was at our county’s GOP caucus (Cass) on Sat. and you had to declare your party and show voter ID and drivers license to get in. It was a landslide and Trump won on the first vote. There were 12 Haley supporters and well over 650+ Trump supporters! One Haley supporter defected to President Trump after the first round. Then we voted on amendments to the 2024 MO.GOP draft platform and the amendments are amazing, including amendments having to do with health care freedom, spending and debt, educating our children and election integrity. It was a wonderful uplifting day!

Expand full comment
Donna in MO's avatar

Ours as well! We had lots of great amendments and speeches for (and against for a couple of them). I had never been to a caucus and had no idea what to expect, but really enjoyed it even though I was STARVING - as I got there at 8:30 and I didn't leave until almost 2:00. Ended at ~1:15 but I am a gabber. I had been warned to bring a snack, but left my bag of trail mix at home.

Yes you had to declare your party but for the overall voter base, party registration is still optional, I worked the primary in 2022, and we had to ask each voter which party ballot they wanted, regardless of what they were registered as or if they had even declared a party affiliation. (the option to affiliate was just added by the legislature in the 2022 session but didn't go into effect until after the 2022 elections.) Asking people if they wanted to declare a party when they voted started with the April 2023 elections (in my area anyway). Rep Dan Stacy has been fighting a multi-year battle to pass closed primaries, where you have to vote the party you are registered as, but it has failed to pass year after year. Not sure of the reason, other than the theory some have that there are some fake R's who like it this way? That, and the Senate fails to get much of anything done these past several years.

Expand full comment
Julie Ann B's avatar

Senator Rick Brattin is amazing but there are a lot of RINOS in the MO. senate AND in the MO.House of Representatives, including my representative, Sherry Gallick. For anyone from MO. reading this comment, Diane Diehl, Jeff Farnan, Mike Haffner and Dave Hinman are RINOS too.

Expand full comment
Donna in MO's avatar

Add Mary Elizabeth Coleman to that list. She has her eye on running for Congress and led the effort to kill the landfill bill last session and looks like the monied class is working to defeat it again this session. (big PAC contributions to the climbers who are raising war chests for future runs) If you are not familiar, there is an effort to put a landfill in just north of the Cass/Jackson line. Homes/schools/churches and Longview Lake are all close by. Haffner has been a huge advocate for the bill that would enable surrounding municipalities to 'kill the fill' Current law says 'one half mile' but new legislation would make it one mile, allowing Lee's Summit, Grandview and Raymore to shut this down. There is a small patch of land along 150 where there are land acquisition efforts that is KCMO and while Mayor Q is playing dumb, he is not fighting it either. The proposed site is JUST under the half mile requirement. This has actually been a bipartisan fight. A woman who is a huge lib and a thorn in our side in local elections is big in this fight as her neighborhood is adjacent to this site. Proof politics does sometimes make for strange bedfellows.

Expand full comment
Julie Ann B's avatar

I hope other Missourians will weigh in and we can spread the word through our C&C group!

Expand full comment
ErrorError