• MO-SoS: Election conspiracy theorists scored a win in Tuesday's eight-person Republican primary for Missouri secretary of state when state Sen. Denny Hoskins, who is a founder of the state branch of the Freedom Caucus, defeated Green County Clerk Shane Schoeller 24-17.
Hoskins celebrated his victory with a statement declaring, "[W]e have to ensure that none of the electoral fraud that took place in 2020 and stole the election from President Trump happens here." Schoeller, by contrast, declared during the campaign that it was "critically important that you work with everyone," including Democrats, when conducting elections.
Hoskins, who is the favorite to defeat Democratic state Rep. Barbara Phifer in this conservative state, has called for requiring all ballots to be counted by hand. Election experts have found this practice is less accurate than the current system of electronic tabulations, while the Kansas City Star's Jonathan Shorman says that such a switch would overwhelm local officials in Kansas City and St. Louis. Hoskins also wants to ban absentee voting for most voters and instead designate Election Day as a holiday.
Elections also aren't the only area where the nominee has spread conspiracy theories. Hoskins is one of three GOP state senators who is being sued for defamation after they shared social media posts that falsely suggested that a bystander was an "illegal immigrant" who was linked to February's fatal shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl victory parade.
Hoskins wasn't the only hardline Republican who was competing for the nomination to replace Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, who took a disappointing third place in the primary for governor. The field also included state House Speaker Dean Plocher, who is at the center of multiple scandals, and state Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, who is one of the legislature's most ardent opponents of abortion rights: The two took fourth and fifth place, respectively. That was still better, though than the sixth-place finish for homophobic troll Valentina Gomez.
• Jackson County, MO Prosecutor: Kansas City director of public safety Melesa Johnson is poised to become the first Black person to serve as prosecutor for Jackson County, a populous and reliably blue community, following her victory in Tuesday's three-way Democratic primary. Johnson outpaced prosecutor John Gromowsky, a white candidate who drew unwelcome attention in June when he talked about "Black-on-Black crime," 48-26. The balance went to attorney Stephanie Burton.
The trio was competing to replace retiring Democratic incumbent Jean Peters Baker, who was first appointed to this office in 2011. Johnson, who had the support of Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, campaigned as a supporter of what she's called "transformative justice." She explained her approach to KSHB by saying, "I have no interest in being soft on crime, but I think we need to be smart on crime. Six out of seven people sentenced to incarceration will return to the communities they came from, so why not invest in their transformation?"
Johnson also addressed her potential to make history in that same interview when she said, "It is baffling to me that in 2024, we are on the precipice of a potential first." She continued, "As it pertains to representation and electing diversity, and of course I am beyond qualified, so I am not leaning on my race as a metric to get elected, but I do feel we are at a time post-George Floyd, post-civil unrest, starting with Trayvon Martin, that we understand race does play a role in fighting crime and the criminal justice system."
• AK-AL: Politico's Ally Mutnick reports that Vote Alaska Before Party, a Democratic group funded by House Majority PAC, is spending close to $1 million in an attempt to boost an unheralded Republican perennial candidate named Gerald Heikes in the Aug. 20 top-four primary.
Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola and two prominent GOP foes, Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom and businessman Nick Begich, are poised to claim three of the spots in the instant-runoff general election. Democrats, however, seem convinced they'd benefit if that final slot goes to Heikes instead of one of the other eight minor candidates.
Because of the unusual dynamics in this race, VABP appears to have decided that its best course of action is to treat Heikes like he's already of equal stature to Dahlstrom and Begich. The group's TV ad warns that "all three could join extremists in Washington to ban abortion, ban it in all cases, no exceptions." A separate digital ad focused only on Heikes by labeling him "too conservative on abortion."
Mutnick writes that Democrats may be intervening on Heikes' behalf because they think it will help ensure that Begich is the top GOP vote-getter. Begich has pledged to end his campaign if he takes fewer votes than Dahlstrom later this month, a prospect that would delight the many Republicans he alienated before and during his two failed 2022 campaigns for this seat.
Donald Trump and House GOP leaders are doing what they can to end Begich's third effort by endorsing Dahlstrom, who says she'll keep campaigning in the general election no matter what. Heikes, for his part, tells the Anchorage Daily News that he'd also continue to run if he secures a spot in round two. The candidate declared that, after he learned that the ardently anti-abortion lieutenant governor believed in exceptions for rape and incest, "I decided I’m just going to stick this one out and see what happens."
Mutnick also notes that Peltola could benefit if a Republican like Heikes takes the fourth-place spot that might have instead gone to one of the six independent or third-party candidates. While none of them are well known, it's possible that moderate voters may prefer one of these options to Peltola and be reluctant to rank her second on their instant-runoff ballots. Heikes' supporters who share his hardline views on abortion, by contrast, might be unwilling to support Dahlstrom if he's making trouble for her in the fall.
Still, as Mutnick notes, a 12-person race like this is difficult to meddle in. It also remains to be seen if Democrats will use the remaining time to damage Dahlstrom with the base—a tactic they often employ in conventional primaries to convince Republicans to nominate a weaker candidate—or if they'll continue to only boost Heikes.
• NH-Gov: Retiring Gov. Chris Sununu on Wednesday endorsed former Sen. Kelly Ayotte ahead of the Sept. 10 Republican primary to succeed him. Ayotte was already the GOP frontrunner against former state Senate President Chuck Morse, a longtime Sununu ally who has struggled to raise money.
