Steve Kraske: After big defeat, what’s the way forward for Missouri’s GOP?

By Wednesday, when the General Assembly convened for its veto session, every lawmaker in the Capitol knew about the $500,000.

That was the $500,000 campaign donation from David Humphreys of Joplin, who pushes conservative causes. The money went to the Committee for an Accountable Government in Missouri.

Humphreys stayed mum, but word in the Capitol was the “accountability” Humphreys sought was an override of Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of right-to-work legislation.

The donation was a warning. If a Republican opposed right-to-work, the thinking was, some of that $500K would defeat you come the next election.

Anti-union right-to-work is a bedrock GOP goal. Six of Missouri’s eight border states have it. So does Michigan — the headquarters of the United Auto Workers.

And Missouri, with its overwhelming Republican supermajorities, needs it to boost business competitiveness. At least that’s the GOP view.

Insiders would describe Wednesday’s vote as the most emotional since 1999’s partial-birth abortion fight.

But on Wednesday, Republicans, and presumably Humphreys, lost. Fully 20 GOP House members opposed the override. Now, lawmakers almost surely will face another right-to-work vote next year.

On Thursday, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, a Republican himself, threw his own thunderbolts, decrying the 20 GOP representatives seen “joyously yukking it up and high-fiving” with labor reps following the vote.

Republicans won’t forget who betrayed them, the early GOP gubernatorial frontrunner said.

Gordon Kinne, GOP chair of Missouri’s 7th District, forecast that some Republican renegades will find themselves in primaries next year.

But many of those suburban Kansas City and St. Louis Republicans in the cross-hairs — like Rep. Bill Kidd of Independence — won close elections in tough districts. Challenging them in August will boost Democratic chances in November and perhaps wipe out those precious GOP supermajorities.

For Republicans, maybe the real target is the governor’s office. Win that, and you don’t have to worry about vetoes by Democratic governors. But can they beat Democrat Chris Koster in 2016? That’s looking tough.

Better figure it out, because mega-donors like Humphreys surely are frustrated. They want results now or maybe they decide to pack it in.

The path forward isn’t so clear.

This story was originally published September 18, 2015 at 8:43 AM with the headline "Steve Kraske: After big defeat, what’s the way forward for Missouri’s GOP?."