The Post-Dispatch and the League of Women Voters of Metro Ƶ present this guide to the candidates and races on the Aug. 2 ballot.
JEFFERSON CITY — Jeff Roorda, the lightning rod business manager for the Ƶ Police Officers Association, is again trying to make a political comeback in Jefferson County — this time as a Republican.
The ex-Democrat is getting help in his bid to represent the 22nd Senate District: As of last week, labor unions had directed more than $100,000 to JEFF PAC, a political action committee supporting Roorda.
To win the Aug. 2 primary, Roorda must defeat three current state lawmakers also vying for the nomination: state Reps. , who has won the backing of the Senate’s self-styled Conservative Caucus; , who feuded with the caucus during this year’s redistricting fight; and , who has trailed the other three candidates in fundraising.
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Because it’s a four-way contest, the eventual winner could secure the Republican nomination by winning far less than a majority of votes. The GOP nominee will face Democrat of Barnhart in the Nov. 8 general election, in an increasingly Republican county.
Roorda, for his part, isn’t hiding his association with organized labor, a constituency historically associated with the Democrats.
In Jefferson County, 78% of voters shot down a GOP-backed “right-to-work” law, which unions opposed, in 2018.
“I’ll be a pro-working families senator,” said Roorda, of Arnold. “These labor unions get a bad name from some folks, but all they’re really doing is joining collectively together to fight for better wages and better working conditions.”
Pat White, president of the Ƶ Labor Council, , said Roorda had never wavered in his support for labor during his eight years in the House as a Democrat.
“He had a stellar union voting record,” White said.
Roorda, 57, gained notoriety among racial injustice protesters and others during and after protests in Ferguson following the 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown Jr. there. He wore an “I am Darren Wilson” wristband at a meeting of a proposed civilian oversight board, showing solidarity with the police officer who killed Brown. He wrote “Ferghanistan: The War on Police,” which featured exclusive, sympathetic interviews with Wilson.
Ƶ Mayor Tishaura O. Jones and her predecessor, Lyda Krewson, both called on the police officers association to fire Roorda.
Roorda last won election to the House in 2012. Since then, he’s lost three elections as a Democrat in Jefferson County: in 2014 to now-outgoing state Sen. in the state Senate race, in 2016 in a race for the county council, and in the race for county executive two years later.
In that time, voters have mostly cleared Democrats from the Jefferson County Courthouse. Republican President Donald Trump won 66% of the vote in Jefferson County in 2020.
“The Democrat Party ... became more and more woke, crazy, socialist,” said James Harris, a GOP consultant working for Roorda. “Jeff probably just regrets not becoming a Republican, you know, years before.”
Union backing
The Ƶ Police Officers Association PAC, the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 655 political fund, the Missouri and Kansas Laborers PAC, and the MSCEW PAC, funded by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, have sent big checks to Roorda’s PAC, adding up to more than $50,000 as of Wednesday.
The Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council MO-KS Area PAC gave $50,000 to JEFF PAC on Wednesday, according to state ethics commission records.
But how the six-figure support from union brass translates into actual votes for Roorda from union members and supporters is unclear.
Unions “said ‘support Biden,’ but a lot of ... labor union people didn’t vote for Biden,” said Alan Leaderbrand, president of the Jefferson County Republican Club.
In a sign that labor issues remain potent in Jefferson County, Shaul, who voted for the “right-to-work” proposal, called the issue “dead.” Coleman, first elected in 2018 after the bill had already passed, said then she supported it.
Coleman, 40, of Arnold, said last week there was little appetite to debate the issue again.
Roden, 39, of Cedar Hill, voted against the labor proposal as a Republican state legislator and said his stance showed he would stand up for his constituents.
“I told union members, when I knocked on their doors, you know, that I was going to represent them like they wanted to be,” he said.
Rex money, Conservative Caucus
Another factor in the race: Rex Sinquefield, the retired financier and political megadonor.
Sinquefield on Friday gave $25,000 to Coleman’s Conservative Solutions for Missouri PAC, bringing his total investment in the race to $50,000.
Coleman’s PAC has also received $20,000 in large contributions from the 100 PAC, which is allied with the Senate’s self-styled Conservative Caucus.
The faction of Republican men repeatedly feuded with other Republicans this year, most notably when the group killed a redistricting plan for the state’s eight congressional districts that Shaul had sponsored.
“When voters look at our records, they’re going to see I’m the most conservative and the one who’s been fighting for the issues that matter the most to Jefferson Countians,” Coleman said.
Coleman downplayed any possible membership in the Conservative Caucus if she wins, but the 100 PAC on its website says all candidates it supports have promised to join the faction.
Shaul, 53, of Imperial, suggested Roorda and Coleman — as well as Roden, who is known to spar with other lawmakers on the House floor on various issues — would add to the dysfunction that had consumed the Senate.
“I’m not sure that either of the three that are my opponents can help bring people together,” Shaul said. “They’ve been divisive, and I think they would probably further divide in the Senate.”
Asked what distinguished him from the other candidates, Shaul said, “I think it’s experience, I think it’s proven leadership, proven conservatism,” contending he is the best fit for the district ideologically.
Shaul said members of the Conservative Caucus this year killed opportunities for the state “because some people decided to read books or read song lyrics on the Senate floor.”
Roorda said he’d help make the Senate work again.
“I’m very independent, but I don’t like what’s happened with the senators supported by the 100 PAC shutting down the Senate and shutting down our state,” Roorda said.
“Here’s my perspective of this race. And I don’t really consider Shane Roden a serious candidate,” Roorda said. “But I’ll add function to the state Senate, Mary Elizabeth will add dysfunction and Dan Shaul will add nothing.”
“I’ve been a much more productive and responsible legislator than either” Roorda or Coleman, Shaul said. “I don’t know how a man on an island, that can’t decide what party he’s in, is going to provide function in the Senate.”
Coleman said, “I understand there’s an inclination to hit other people when you’re running against them, but I don’t think that’s what the voters are wanting.”
Fundraising
New reports that cover the April through June fundraising quarter are due to ethics officials on Friday.
Through March, the most recent quarter for which figures were available, Shaul had reported $56,000 on hand going into the spring. His JeffCo Vision PAC in April reported limited fundraising activity.
In January, the PAC reported $76,000 on hand.
Coleman last reported $82,000 in her campaign account. Her Conservative Solutions PAC had about $15,000 through Dec. 31 and reported limited activity in April.
The PAC has since reported $95,000 in large checks: $50,000 from Sinquefield, $20,000 from the 100 PAC, and $25,000 from the Mo Coalition for Video Lottery PAC.
Roorda had nearly $140,000 on hand by April; he had loaned his campaign $130,000 at the time, records show.
Roden had less than $3,500 on hand at the end of the last fundraising quarter.
Posted at 8 a.m. Monday, July 11.