Republicans in central Missouri have a plan for the 3rd Congressional District seat 鈥 and it doesn鈥檛 include splitting the region鈥檚 vote to make victory easier for a 狐狸视频-area candidate.
Former state Sen. Kurt Schaefer of Columbia announced Wednesday he would seek the GOP nomination to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-St. Elizabeth.
So on Thursday, former Boone County Clerk Taylor Burks announced he would not be entering the GOP race, as he had declared just last week.
In a statement, Burks said he would not file for the office, a move that will theoretically tilt central Missouri voters toward Schaefer.
鈥淲ith the chances of success for either of us nearly impossible while both of us are in the race, I have decided to suspend my campaign for Congress,鈥 he said.
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Burks moves means that two local candidates 鈥 state Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman of Arnold and former state Sen. Bob Onder of Lake 狐狸视频 鈥 could end up splitting votes from the 狐狸视频 section of the district.
The seat became a hot commodity in January when eight-term incumbent Luetkemeyer announced he would not run for reelection. He is from St. Elizabeth, which is about 15 miles east of Osage Beach in Miller County.
The heavily Republican district covers 16 counties and reaches from the Mississippi River to the Lake of the Ozarks. It takes in a substantial portion of the Columbia/Boone County area, as well as parts of Jefferson and St. Charles counties.
Schaefer served in the Missouri Senate from 2009 to 2017 and has worked as a lawyer and lobbyist since leaving the Legislature.
Truck driver Brandon Wilkinson of Fenton also has filed for the GOP primary in August.
Two candidates who lost to Bethany Mann in the 2022 Democratic primary have announced their intentions to seek the office again: Jon聽Karlen of St. Charles and Andrew Daly of Fulton.