What happened in Vegas? How Missouri GOP candidates spent their money last year
Several Republicans in Missouri’s competitive U.S. Senate primary made trips to Las Vegas last fall, spending big money to promote their candidacies.
U.S. Rep. Billy Long laid out more than $17,000 to stay at the Venetian and Wynn hotels in October and November, campaign finance reports reveal.
Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens also made the city a destination, spending more than $7,000 at the Palazzo at the Venetian between October 4 and November 29.
Dylan Johnson, Greitens campaign manager, said he made the trip for the Republican Jewish Coalition’s National Leadership Meeting.
Attorney General Eric Schmitt also made the trip for the Republican Jewish Coalition’s meeting and spent $2,278 to stay at the Venetian.
Long’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Already, Long has spent more than $91,000 on the “Billy Bus,” an RV he uses to travel the state with his face printed on the side. Typically, RVs are used for an end-of-campaign barnstorm, but Long has made it a signature feature. That means he’s had to pay for maintenance and storage of the bus along the way.
Still, his expenses on the Billy Bus pale in comparison to the more than $165,000 he has spent on campaign consulting from Kellyanne Conway, an adviser to former President Donald Trump. Trump’s endorsement is coveted in the primary and Long, who has played up his connection to the former president, had a campaign ad removed from YouTube last week for spreading misinformation about the 2020 Presidential Election.
To keep up with the spending, Long lent his own campaign $250,000 in final quarter of 2021. Combined with his fundraising, Long brought in $471,092 and had $576,987 on hand heading into the election year.
Of the Republican candidates for U.S. Senate, Rep. Vicky Hartzler had the most money going into 2022, with $1.78 million. She was out-raised by both Schmitt and former Gov. Eric Greitens. But both Greitens and Schmitt have spent more than Hartzler so far.
The $470,670 Greitens collected in the final three months of 2021 are a combination of money from his U.S. Senate Campaign and his Joint Fundraising Committee called The G Team. Greitens had $290,448 on hand in his campaign account at the end of 2021, though he also had $154,042 in debt. He had $109,905 on hand with The G Team and his Missouri First PAC had $183,254 on hand.
Schmitt, too, has a PAC bolstering his fundraising. While Schmitt raised the most of the Republican candidates in 2021, with $2.44 million, he has $1.27 million heading into 2022. His PAC has another $2.42 million on hand, in part because of a $500,000 contribution from Missouri conservative mega-donor Rex Sinquefield.
Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz put $1 million of his own money into his Senate campaign and raised just $168,165 in the first few months of his Senate campaign. He has only spent about $6,000 officially, but has another $39,106 in debt from expenses for a campaign video.
Mark McCloskey, the St. Louis attorney who gained prominence for pointing a gun at Black Lives Matter protesters while they walked past his property, has continued to struggle to raise money. He raised just $88,648 in the final three months of 2021 and has $99,353 on hand. His campaign reported $47,246 in debt.
On the Democratic side, former Marine Lucas Kunce outraised all of the Republicans with $2.47 million collected in 2021. But his campaign has burned through the money at a fast clip and he has $809,411 on hand headed into 2022.
That’s far more than the rest of the Democratic field. Former Missouri state Sen. Scott Sifton raised $897,170 in 2021 and has $155,597 heading into 2022. St. Louis businessman Spencer Toder has $101,282 on hand but has $252,564 listed in debts.
Kansas 3rd District
Rep. Sharice Davids raised $858,926 in the final three months of 2021 and had $2.3 million on hand headed into 2022 in her rematch against Republican Amanda Adkins. Adkins raised $379,998 in the final quarter and has around $1 million on hand.
While Davids beat Adkins by 10 percentage points in 2020, Republicans re-drew the 3rd Congressional District, making it more competitive for Adkins by slicing out the northern part of Wyandotte County. Davids is considered part of a group of “front line” Democrats in their effort to keep their narrow majority in the House of Representatives in a year where Republicans are favored.
Traditionally, the party that controls the White House loses seats in the first election following the presidential race.
This story was originally published February 1, 2022 at 1:02 PM.