JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri Right to Life is putting its weight behind David Wasinger in the race for lieutenant governor, in what the ºüÀêÊÓƵ County attorney’s campaign is calling a snub to three Republican lawmakers also running.
Wasinger, who came in second in a four-way GOP primary for state auditor in 2018, said in a statement he was honored and humbled to win the “exclusive†endorsement of the anti-abortion group.
“Now more than ever we need pro-life warriors who are unafraid to defend our values and call out the insiders and the swamp,†Wasinger said.
The husband of former ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Councilwoman Colleen Wasinger, David Wasinger has been an active contributor to Republican campaigns, including a $200 check to current House Speaker Dean Plocher in 2018, and a $2,825 check to Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft in June.
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In backing Wasinger, passed on endorsing Plocher, R-Des Peres, Sen. Holly Rehder, R-Sikeston, and Sen. Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, who are also seeking the GOP nomination in the lieutenant governor’s race. All three voted for Missouri’s current law that only allows abortions in medical emergencies.
“My 100% pro-life record speaks for itself!†Rehder said in a text message.
Missouri Right to Life has allied itself with a breakaway faction of hard-right Senate Republicans in major fights.
In 2022, for example, the organization unsuccessfully pushed for eliminating a Democratic-leaning congressional seat in Kansas City to send another Republican to Congress. Republican leaders wanted to maintain the status quo of six Republican-leaning seats and two Democratic ones.
Missouri Right to Life has attempted to tie renewal of a major medical provider tax to the defunding of Planned Parenthood, a plan that Senate Republicans in committee criticized in January.
That mirrored in a fight the last time the Federal Reimbursement Allowance was up for renewal, in 2021.
“David Wasinger is the Lieutenant Governor that Missouri needs to passionately and proactively lead for life to protect Missourians at every age and stage of development,†Missouri Right to Life said in a statement.
Paul Berry III of Maryland Heights and Franklin County Clerk Tim Baker are also running for lieutenant governor as Republicans. State Rep. Richard Brown, D-Kansas City, is the only Democrat running.
Last year, Missouri Right to Life endorsed Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft over Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe and state Sen. Bill Eigel in the Republican race for governor.
The endorsement came as Ashcroft defended ballot summaries his office authored for possible initiative petitions to overturn Missouri’s near-total abortion ban this year.
Courts rebuffed Ashcroft’s summaries, and the campaign Missourians for Constitutional Freedom is collecting signatures to place the question on the ballot later this year.
Lawmakers, meanwhile, are pushing for a ballot question of their own to raise the bar needed for passage of citizen-led constitutional amendments. If voters go along with the change, that could make it more difficult to enshrine the abortion rights protections in the state constitution.