KC Mayor Quinton Lucas says he will consider Senate run as Blunt announces retirement
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas is among the potential candidates weighing a run for retiring Missouri Republican Sen. Roy Blunt’s seat in 2022.
Blunt’s seat will attract a host of GOP contenders in the Republican-leaning state, but an open seat race also creates the possibility of a top tier Democratic recruit.
Lucas, the mayor of Missouri’s largest city, is the highest profile Democrat to express interest in the seat at this point. If he were to run and win, he would be the first African American to hold statewide office in Missouri.
Lucas, 36, confirmed in a statement Monday afternoon that he was keeping the door open to the possibility.
“I rise each day thinking about how I can best serve the people of Kansas City and Missouri, and I will consider over the next several weeks whether that is in a statewide position — something no African American has ever done,” he said. “Today, I remain focused on leading our City through the COVID-19 pandemic and our economic recovery.”
Lucas’ statement was in response to Blunt’s announcement, but it’s phrased in a way that could also apply to other statewide offices.
The Senate vacancy is likely to lead to other open statewide races in 2022 as several Republicans, including Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, weigh Senate runs. This could lead to other potentially competitive races.
Lucas was elected mayor in 2019 on a platform that focused on housing issues. He has made regular trips to Washington to meet with members of the congressional delegation during his year in office, stressing bipartisan cooperation across state lines in the Kansas City metro.
But after a year of grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic and after the recent chaos in Washington, Lucas has been increasingly willing to criticize the region’s Republicans in forceful terms.
He’s been an outspoken critic of Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley’s role in leading the failed effort to object to President Joe Biden’s Electoral College win. Lucas and other Black leaders in the state decried it as an attack on Black voters.
He’s also been adamant about the need for federal aid to cities, blaming congressional inaction last year for potential cuts to the Kansas City Police Department.
As Congress is now on the precipice of sending a $1.9 trillion aid package to President Joe Biden’s desk, Lucas thanked the only two members of the Missouri delegation to vote in favor of the package — Democratic Reps. Emanuel Cleaver and Cori Bush.
“Regardless, Kansas Citians and Missourians deserve representatives in the U.S. Congress who wake up each day to fight for working families throughout our state, and I thank Congressman Cleaver and Congresswoman Bush for working hard this week to ensure vital relief gets to our communities,” Lucas said.
Lucas has long been seen as a potential successor to Cleaver, a former Kansas City mayor in his ninth term in the U.S. House.
For his part, Cleaver plans remain in the House for the foreseeable future. The congressman said in a statement Monday that he has no plans run for Senate and simply wished Blunt ”a happy and well-deserved retirement.”
Any Democrat will be an underdog in the 2022 Senate race after Republicans have racked up victories in statewide races in recent elections.
Lucas could run for Senate without risking his seat as mayor, which won’t be on the ballot until 2023. But he’d likely face criticism for juggling his duties as the city’s chief executive against a campaign schedule.
The Democratic field currently consists of former state Sen. Scott Sifton, who represented the St. Louis suburbs during his decade in the Missouri General Assembly, and Kansas City activist Timothy Shepard, who is running on an anti-establishment platform and would be the first openly gay federal lawmaker in Missouri.
An open seat race will likely lure more Democratic candidates to launch campaigns.
However, some of the most prominent Democrats in the state made it clear they have no interest in joining the fray.
Former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander has resisted the pleas of Democratic activists to enter the race after a close contest with Blunt in 2016.
Kander, who now serves as president of the Veterans Community Project, a Kansas City-based nonprofit which builds houses for homeless veterans, took to Twitter Monday to reiterate he has no plans to run, regardless of Blunt’s retirement.
“My decision not to run was never about who I’d run against... Love this work, don’t want a new job,” Kander said.
Former Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, who lost her seat in 2018, posted a similar message after social media users urged her to run.
“I will never run for office again. Nope. Not gonna happen. Never. I am so happy I feel guilty sometimes,” said McCaskill, who now serves as a political analyst for MSNBC.
This story was originally published March 8, 2021 at 2:56 PM.
