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Sept. 3, 2024 |  By: Annelise Hanshaw - Missouri Independent

GOP incumbents faced opposition from ‘school choice’ PACs in Missouri legislative primaries

jeff farnan

By Annelise Hanshaw - Missouri Independent

The mailers started showing up in Rep. Jeff Farnan’s district months before the Aug. 6 primary, labeling the Republican from Stanberry a tool of teacher’s unions with an agenda of “open borders” and “higher taxes.”

By the time voters went to the polls, the Missouri chapter of the American Federation for Children had spent $90,000 trying to unseat Farnan, who was first elected to the Missouri House in 2022. The reason for the group’s ire: He’d publicly opposed a bill that would expand the state’s tax-credit scholarship program, MOScholars, which moves state funds to private schools.

“They just kind of hinted around the fact that I didn’t believe in school choice,” he said of the mailers. “That is what some of the ads alluded to.”

In the end, the spending had little effect on the primary, and Farnan prevailed with 77% of the vote.

Other GOP incumbents who had opposed the MOScholars bill weren’t so lucky. AFC also prioritized bringing down Reps. Kyle Marquart and Gary Bonacker, who lost their primaries.

In all, American Federation for Children and other groups that support public funds for private education spent a combined $560,000 in legislative primaries this year, bolstering candidates that affirm charter schools and state-funded private-school scholarships and sending out negative ads against opponents statewide.

Quality Schools Coalition, a Kansas City-based nonprofit that advocates for charter schools and other educational options, invested in Republican primaries with no incumbents and two Democratic races with candidates currently in the state legislature. In all, the group spent over $100,000 in campaign ads during the primary.

That compares to $23,400 in ads from the Missouri chapter of the National Education Association, the state’s largest teacher union. Missouri NEA also spent nearly $76,000 in contributions to campaigns.

Mark Jones, communications director for Missouri NEA, called the ads from opposing groups an attempt to “demonize” teachers.

“It is certainly not a surprise that those who want to privatize education first want to attack educators because educators are the most trusted people most parents know in their community,” he said.

The organization puts together an annual resolution with policy positions. There isn’t a mention of “open borders,” but Missouri NEA does advocate for education access regardless of immigration status.

A board elected by Missouri NEA members directs its campaign efforts, he said. Candidates are chosen through a screening process, including voting history — such as the MOScholars bill.

“What you will see during the course of the entire election is that educators are going to hold folks who do not support public education accountable, and we’re going to continue to do that,” Jones said.

Jean Evans, the Missouri lead for the American Federation for Children, said her organization stopped its spending in opposition to Farnan a couple weeks before Election Day after polling made it clear he was going to win easily.

The American Federation for Children’s Missouri political action committee spent about $460,000 during the primary. Evans said there will be continued investment as the general election approaches.

“When you find a good candidate, and there’s a clear contrast from the incumbent, which was what we saw in those races… that’s really what it was about, and letting the voters know,” Evans said.

Bonacker, a House Springs Republican who lost his race after facing AFC’s attack ads, felt like voters lost sight of who he is seeing ads with “open borders” and “higher taxes” in bold.

“I was warned (about the ads). I thought I could weather it,” Bonacker said. “I can’t believe people who know me could fall prey to the constant barrage of misinformation that convinces them otherwise.”

He voted against the MOScholars bill, feeling like the legislation would only hurt his local school district, in which he serves on the board of education. He also didn’t think the state could fund the bill, which will cost nearly $470 million when fully implemented.

On Aug. 6, he lost to newcomer Cecelie Williams, who garnered 59.2% of the vote. Williams ran with messaging that she supported “school choice” in a brief list of issues displayed in her social media posts.

She told The Independent that, while campaigning door to door, about a quarter of people knew about the issue.

“School choice did play a good portion in my election, especially with my opponent being against school choice,” she said. “Once the word got out that he didn’t support school choice, I think that had an influence on it.”

Bonacker also voted against bills in the 2023 legislative session that, now law, place restrictions on transgender athletes and bar transgender youth from accessing gender-affirming care.

He said the votes weren’t a sign of supporting transgender youth but instead rooted in his views of limited government.

“The government doesn’t need to be in that business, in family medical decisions, doesn’t matter what the subject matter is,” he said.

Williams said his voting history seemed like he was “voting like a liberal.” Bonacker’s voting record shows him voting in line with fellow Republicans more than double the amount he shares with Democratic representatives.

Both AFC and Quality Schools Coalition, which generally spent on different races, pumped money into the Democratic primary in Senate District 13 in St. Louis County. 

State Rep. Chantelle Nickson-Clark, who voted for the bill expanding MoScholars, challenged incumbent Sen. Angela Mosley, who voted against the bill. In total, the groups spent almost $32,000 supporting Nickson-Clark and almost $27,000 opposing Mosley.

Missouri NEA spent nearly $17,000 opposing Nickson-Clark.

Mosley won the primary, with 56.7% of the vote.

Quality Schools Coalition spent about $28,000 supporting state Rep. Marlene Terry, a Democrat from St. Louis, who said she changed her mind and voted in favor of the MOScholars expansion and explained her decision-making process in an op-ed in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

In July, Missouri NEA spent about $7,000 on mailers opposing Terry. She won her primary with 64.4% of the vote.

Quality Schools Coalition President and CEO Dean Johnson, who was unavailable for an interview, said in a statement that he would like to see additional “education reform.”

“Quality Schools Coalition was proud to support candidates in the August elections who we believe share these values,” he said. “Depending on outcomes in the general election, it appears that the Missouri House will have a larger number of education reformers than ever before, while support for education reform in the Missouri Senate will remain largely unchanged.”