JEFFERSON CITY — A national anti-abortion group is backing a state senator from Arnold in the race to become Missouri’s next secretary of state.
Republican Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, who is in a crowded field vying to replace Jay Ashcroft in the post, on Tuesday received the endorsement of the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life American Candidate Fund.
“Mary Elizabeth Coleman is one of Missouri’s foremost champions of life. With her extensive background as an attorney and a legislator, she will make an excellent secretary of state working to protect election integrity and the rights of Missourians,†Marilyn Musgrave, the fund’s vice president of government affairs, said in a statement.
Coleman, an attorney, is a former member of the House who has represented the 22nd Senate District since 2023. She has backed a number of anti-abortion proposals during her tenure and served as chairwoman of the House Children and Families Committee.
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The fund’s statement said “it is more critical than ever to have strong pro-life, pro-woman leaders like Sen. Coleman at every level defending the gains the people and their legislators have worked so hard to achieve.â€
Others in the Republican primary to be the state’s top election authority include House Speaker Dean Plocher, Greene County Clerk Shane Schoeller of Willard; state Sen. Denny Hoskins of Warrensburg; state Rep. Adam Schwadron of St. Charles; political newcomer Valentina Gomez of ºüÀêÊÓƵ; and Jamie Corley, a University City reproductive health rights activist.
As secretary of state, Ashcroft used the office to advance an anti-abortion platform as he seeks to become Missouri’s next governor.
Last year, Ashcroft wrote ballot language for a proposed ballot initiative to overturn the state’s ban on abortion that a state appeals court found to be too politically partisan.
In his wording, he described the proposal as allowing “dangerous and unregulated abortions until live birth.â€
A state appeals court that Ashcroft’s wording was politically partisan and rejected it. But, by intervening, Ashcroft was able to delay supporters from beginning the process of collecting voter signatures to put the constitutional amendment on the ballot.
Ashcroft’s office is now in the process of verifying whether supporters collected enough valid signatures to win a spot on the November ballot.
In 2022, the Missouri Supreme Court also determined that Ashcroft used an unconstitutional set of laws to derail a 2019 effort to roll back abortion restrictions. In a 5-2 decision, the judges said Ashcroft used the laws to shorten the time frame needed to collect signatures required for a ballot initiative sought by opponents of the restrictive abortion law.