Cleaver backs Busch Valentine in Democratic primary for U.S. Senate as Greitens leads GOP
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver endorsed Trudy Busch Valentine in the Democratic Primary for U.S. Senate Thursday, tossing his political weight behind a St. Louis-based heir to the Anheuser-Busch beer fortune.
“Trudy shares the Missouri values which we need representing us in the U.S. Senate,” Cleaver said in a press release. “She will be a partner I will work with to benefit our state.”
Cleaver’s endorsement comes at a time when Missourians are still tuning into the Democratic primary – a recent poll showed that 63 percent of Democrats remained undecided in the race. The first African American mayor of Kansas City and the state’s senior Democrat in Congress, Cleaver’s support could be a boost to Busch Valentine in the Kansas City area, where she’s less known than in St. Louis.
With former Gov. Eric Greitens leading the Republican primary field, some Democrats see a chance to win a race in a state that has transitioned from a national bellwether to reliably conservative. They see Greitens’ baggage — he resigned from office amid sexual assault and blackmail allegations and was recently accused of domestic violence by his ex-wife— as a major liability that will force Republicans to cross the aisle for a Democrat.
Busch Valentine entered the race in March, right before the candidate filing deadline. In the early days of her campaign, she’s positioned herself as a moderate who is tired of a divisive national political scene.
Cleaver takes pride in his bipartisan bona fides — he meets with the Republican members of the Missouri Congressional delegation once a month and was able to lean on his relationship with Republicans in order to avoid being gerrymandered out of his congressional seat.
The Kansas City congressman met with Busch Valentine for the first time for coffee in April. He’s backing her over retired Marine Lucas Kunce, who entered the race in March of 2021 and has run a populist campaign geared at winning over voters who are disenchanted with Washington, D.C.
Cleaver was part of a list of 20 Democrats who said they would back Busch Valentine. The list included former Gov. Bob Holden, former Rep. Dick Gephardt and several Kansas City area state legislators. Kunce has been endorsed by veterans-focused national Democratic groups like VoteVets and a handful of local officials.
Busch Valentine’s campaign has leaned heavily on her nursing background — she worked briefly at Massachusetts General Hospital, spent three years working with abused and neglected children and has volunteered at Mercy Hospital —and she has spoken often of her son, who died from an opioid overdose in August 2020.
Still, she supports eliminating the filibuster to pass gun control legislation, protect abortion rights and enact federal legislation to address voting rights.
She has faced early criticism for her participation in the Veiled Prophet Ball, which is hosted by an organization that had a long history of excluding minorities, and because the farm her family owns has repeatedly hosted an NRA conference.
Busch Valentine wrote on Twitter that she stepped in to prevent the conference from being hosted at her family farm this year after she was made aware of its existence.
This story was originally published June 2, 2022 at 10:46 AM.
