Trailwatch: The week in Missouri and Kansas politics

We’re a little more than a month away before primaries in Kansas and Missouri. Campaigns are issuing charges, counter-charges, airing ads, issuing press releases, the whole mess.

How to follow it all?

Right here. Each Friday until November, we’ll summarize the week’s developments in a number of races in both states. We’ll provide links to relevant stories and other material. (Note to campaigns: make sure your comments, releases, etc. get to dhelling@kcstar.com.)

To the trail!

☆ Missouri GOP attorney general primary

A nightmarish slugfest. Confused? The Star’s Jason Hancock has the week’s round-up here, with video. John Danforth is wading into the fight, on Hawley’s side.

☆ U.S. Senate race, Missouri

Sen. Roy Blunt’s campaign tweets at Jason Kander, and he returns the fire.

If there was any doubt the Missouri U.S. Senate campaign will be aggressive, that doubt is gone.

Kander, a Democrat, announced support for a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget.

Blunt’s campaign snarked back:

Blunt scored with the building trades unions this week, attending a D.C. fundraiser organized by Jeff Aboussie, the executive secretary-treasurer of the St. Louis Building and Construction Trades Council.

Kander surely was hoping for that support.

☆ Missouri GOP governor primary

BREAKING: A well-placed GOP source says Missouri Right to Life PAC will endorse Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, Catherine Hanaway, and John Brunner next week. Eric Greitens will not get an endorsement.

A Remington Research Group poll (Jeff Roe) popped up this week, and it popped some eyeballs. In the lead? Brunner.

Bringing up the rear? Kinder. Do we buy the results? Not really. But someone is sweating.

The secretive, Kansas-based LG PAC, which is running ads against Brunner, says it isn’t connected with any other candidate. Brunner says the LG PAC ads are false and defamatory.

Brunner gave his campaign $1 million.

Greitens has a new spot in the Missouri GOP governor’s primary:

So does Hanaway. Her theme: cracking down on crime:

☆ U.S. House race, Kansas

Democrat Jay Sidie, running for the U.S. House in KS 03, takes on Rep. Kevin Yoder for the vote on no-fly, no-buy legislation, which would block weapons purchases under a “reasonable suspicion” standard.

“He ought to pay more attention to the people back home,” Sidie’s statement said. “Back in Kansas, people don’t think we ought to be arming potential members of ISIS.”

Sidie sent out a fund-raising letter based on the sit-in.

And see this, from Nathaniel McLaughlin, another Democrat in the race: “This Republican leadership will not at least allow an up or down vote on legislation to ban military style weapons on the streets of America. …

“Yet, sit-ins or prolong talks on the House floor by the Democratic party will not bring the other party to the discussion table. Only by statesman type, willing to put America first thinking, can this no compromising culture be change.”

Yoder: “Everyone agrees that known terrorists shouldn’t be able to purchase a gun. The disagreement lies with whether Congress should be able to restrict the constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans without due process. Democrats are exploiting this tragedy ...”

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver takes part in the gun-legislation sit-in.

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Carl Bearden is leading the anti-Trump, free-the-delegates movement in Missouri.

☆ Missouri Lt. Gov. primary

Mike Parson, a Republican running for lieutenant governor in Missouri, issued his first TV ad this week and claimed that as the state’s second banana, he would “cut spending, cut taxes and get the federal government off our backs.” If only lieutenant governors had that much power...

BREAKING: Rex Sinquefield is hammering Parson over lobbyist gifts.

☆ Missouri governor’s race

Missouri Rising takes a shot at Missouri Democratic governor candidate Chris Koster, asking if he’ll attend the party convention in Philadelphia. The issue cuts both ways: Blunt isn’t going to Cleveland either.

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Jay Ashcroft, running for Missouri secretary of state, hasn’t always voted. GOP opponent Will Kraus has missed a few elections as well.

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NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri was out this week with its endorsements. Among the group’s picks: Judy Baker over KC’s Pat Contreras for state treasurer in the Democratic primary and Jessica Podhola over John Rizzo in the closely watched 11th District state Senate race in eastern Jackson County.

This story was originally published June 24, 2016 at 6:43 AM.