So far, Rep. (and former RNC co-chair) Ann Wagner is the only Missouri Republican to even hint at challenging Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill in 2018: "She's immensely beatable," Wagner opined last year, before offering the requisite pablum about being focused on 2016 her re-election. On paper at least—as a female candidate who lives just a few miles from McCaskill in west St. Louis County and has extensive fundraising experience—Wagner ought to be the GOP establishment's dream candidate.
But this being Missouri— the same Missouri where Trump prevailed by nearly 20 points—there's no shortage of other Republicans who could run. Some, like Wagner, we've already discussed, but the National Journal's Kimberly Railey has offered up a few more potential names, including state Attorney General Josh Hawley, Rep. Sam Graves, state Treasurer Eric Schmitt, and state House Speaker Todd Richardson
Most of these candidates fall to the right of Wagner, who is already taking intra-party flak after having "un-endorsed" Trump before capitulating and ultimately saying she'd vote for him last year. (In fact, former state party chair Ed Martin tweeted a picture of a "Trump for President" poster over a "Wagner for Congress" sign, with a spray-painted red circle-and-slash symbol defacing Wagner's emblem.) So even if Wagner does run—something that, as it happens, is looking less likely as of last week—there would almost certainly be an opening for a more reliably partisan option.
Hawley in particular is especially ambitious: a Yale Law grad, he's served in his current post for just one week and likes to claim he was deeply involved in winning the Hobby Lobby case that allowed employers to refuse to provide contraceptive coverage if doing so violated the company's "sincerely held religious beliefs." (Reality: He didn't get anywhere near oral arguments before the Supreme Court and was the last attorney listed on the plaintiffs' brief.) It probably wouldn't be too far off to consider him a Show Me State version of Ohio "Treasurer" Josh Mandel.
Graves, meanwhile, has been in office since 2001 and represents a district that stretches across the entire north of the state, so he'd have a distinct geographic base from which to run in a primary. (Fun fact: Ted Cruz's 2016 campaign manager, Jeff Roe, cut his teeth as Graves' top aide.) The genial, center-right Schmitt hails from suburban St. Louis, where he served two terms in the state Senate in a seat inside the 2nd Congressional District currently represented by Wagner .
Richardson, an attorney whose father also led state House Republicans and nearly served as speaker himself, is from the state's rural southeastern corner and, like Schmitt, would be considered a mainstream conservative in Missouri Republican politics. In the past, we've also mentioned Reps. Billy Long and Vicky Hartzler as possibilities, but like this new quartet of candidates, they haven't said anything, either.