Future turnover in Missouri Senate is a concern for veteran members

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – This year’s election could result in one of the largest turnovers in Missouri Senate history since term limits took effect more than 20 years ago, causing concern for some.

It was a tough start to the year in the Senate, with some still airing grievances about last year. Now, add in a new Republican group called the Freedom Caucus and a dozen or so senators forming their campaigns for reelection or to run for higher office. Veteran members say times are not normal in the upper chamber.

“If you’re losing the people who do remember when it was normal and when the Senate actually functioned day to day, you’re going to lose that institutional knowledge and that’s a bit of a problem,” Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, D-Independence said.

This isn’t the first session where tensions have run high among senators.

“I just want to pass IP [initiative petition] reform,” Sen. Bill Eigel,” R-Weldon Spring, who is running for governor, said earlier this year.

“You just want to be governor,” Senate Majority Leader Cindy O’Laughlin, R-Shelbina, said in response to Eigel.

With 34 members, the Senate is less than a fifth of the size of the House. This year, a group of senators, including Eigel, formed the Missouri Freedom Caucus. Earlier this year, a surprise announcement from Senate President Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, was made when he removed members of the new Freedom Caucus from their committee assignments.

Some members of the Freedom Caucus are running for higher office, such as Sen. Denny Hoskins, R-Warrensburg, who is campaigning to be Missouri’s next secretary of state; Sen. Andrew Koenig, R-Manchester, who is running for treasurer; and Eigel, who is a GOP candidate for governor. All three of them are term-limited.

“I don’t know what it will look like,” Rowden said when asked about the future of the Senate. “There’s a bunch of primaries, I think, that will determine that to some degree, but I don’t want the Senate to become the house.”

Both Rowden and Rizzo will be forced out of office due to term limits. Back in 1992, Missouri voters approved term limits, limiting lawmakers to serve eight years in the House and eight years in the Senate. In total, there are four members who are required to give up their seats later this year, including Rizzo, Rowden, Eigel, Hoskins, Koenig and Sen. Lauren Arthur, D-Kansas City.

Besides those six, Sen. Elaine Gannon, R-De Soto, is retiring, Sen. Karla Eslinger, R-Wasola, will be the next commissioner for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education; and Sen. Holly Thompson Rehder, R-Sikeston, is running to be Missouri’s next lieutenant governor.

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“I worry a lot; that’s why I fight so hard about the senate-ing or the normalcy because we have done, by and large, by this session, and really and truly the last couple of years, has not been normal,” Rizzo said.

There are also a handful of incumbents on both sides of the aisle being challenged for reelection, like Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, who is a member of the Freedom Caucus, and Sen. Mike Moon, R-Ash Grove, along with two Democrats, Sen. Barbara Washington, D-Kansas City, and Sen. Angela Mosley, D-Florissant.

This means there could be more than a dozen new members in the Senate next year.

“This is a different place, it’s different in a good way,” Rowden said. “I hope whoever is in these positions, I hope that those differences are maintained.”

Rowden originally announced he was running to be Missouri’s next secretary of state, but announced back in March he will no longer be seeking higher office, saying politics and public life look different than they did 12 years ago when he was first elected.

Rizzo said he and his wife are currently discussing some opportunities but at the moment, he doesn’t have anything concrete planned.

“I’m trying to focus on finishing this thing out and enjoying, and truly trying to enjoy what I can of my last year, probably in public service for a long time, if I ever do again,” Rizzo said.

Both senators are saying they plan to spend more time with their families after adjournment in May.

“I think we’ll walk out of this session, regardless of how it started, with a little bit of angst,” Rowden said. “I think it will end well and I think we’ll be able to look back and be proud of what we did.”

Candidate filings for federal and statewide offices closed last week. According to the secretary of state’s office, a total of 580 candidates filed. Missouri’s primary is Aug. 6.

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