The Kansas City Star’s endorsement in the Missouri House District 30 election | Opinion
Here is the Missouri House District 30 candidate we endorse for the general election. For more information about the Nov. 5 election, check out our Voter Guide, a collaboration between The Kansas City Star and the KC Media Collective. See all our published endorsements on our Elections Recommendations page.
Voters in Missouri’s House District 30 — in west-central Jackson County, from Lee’s Summit north along the Interstate 470 corridor — have the chance to elect a representative in November who can have a major impact on the entire region.
We urge those voters to make the right choice and elect Jon Patterson, a Republican.
Patterson is the incumbent. More importantly, he is set to become the speaker of the Missouri House in 2025, if reelected from District 30.
It’s hard to overstate how important it is for the Kansas City region to have a representative close to power in Jefferson City. In recent years, legislators from our area have held some important positions, but as minority Democrats. They had a limited ability to say “no,” but almost no ability to say “yes.”
Patterson would be different: He would be able to promote regional interests during the enormously important 2025 session. He promises to do so.
“It should be a goal of Missouri to make sure that the Chiefs and Royals stay in Missouri,” Patterson told us, as an example. “Anything I can do, I will do, to try and help.”
To be clear: The state of Missouri cannot, and will not, bear the entire burden for sports stadiums in Kansas City, or even most of it. “I don’t think it should be driven by the state,” Patterson said, which is the right position to take.
At the same time, it will take everyone’s best efforts to assemble a package that can compete with other states attempting to lure either team away. Patterson can be part of that.
Our endorsement of Patterson isn’t limited to the role he might play in representing Kansas City’s interests in the statehouse, however. As it turns out, he is the rarest of Republicans in the capital: moderate, able to work with Democrats, thoughtful.
His speakership would be a marked contrast to the parade of extremist, ethically challenged speakers of recent vintage. Importantly, we think he would slow-walk many of his party’s goofiest ideas once the legislature begins its work.
Do we agree with Patterson on every issue? No. He supports state control of the Kansas City Police Department. As House majority leader, he helped stymie minor gun legislation in the wake of the shootings at Union Station following the Chiefs’ victory parade.
“To be talking about that, as a child is recovering from gunshot wounds at Children’s, would not have been appropriate,” he said. That’s ridiculous. It was the best time to talk about gun restrictions, when the horror of Kansas City’s gun violence was visible across the globe.
These are not quibbles. Our policy differences with Patterson are real and important. But we think he is open-minded and smart enough to consider all views as House speaker. That’s what voters should ask.
Patterson’s opponent is Democrat Kevin Grover. He, too, supports keeping the sports teams in Jackson County. He backs “commonsense” gun laws. He strongly supports public education. “I believe in a woman’s right to choose,” he told us, supporting Amendment 3, also on the November ballot.
We agree with Grover’s approach. As a Democrat in the Missouri House, however, and as a freshman, his ability actually to promote those interests would be severely limited. While that isn’t his fault, it’s reality.
Kansas City is often left behind when the Missouri General Assembly convenes. The city can be out-maneuvered by rural interests, and St. Louis and Springfield. That’s largely because the region is too disinterested in statewide politics.
That can change. Jon Patterson is moderate and willing to listen. He will be in a position of incredible influence. We endorse his reelection.