Cruz Passes on Missouri Primary Recount April 19, 2016

(AP) – Texas Sen. Ted Cruz won’t ask for a recount of his narrow loss to businessman Donald Trump in Missouri’s presidential primary.

Cruz campaign manager Jeff Roe told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the campaign won’t request the recount. Cruz had faced an end-of-Tuesday deadline to contest the results of the March 15 primary.

Trump defeated Cruz by 1,965 votes out of more than 939,000 cast in the Republican primary – a margin of about one-fifth of a percentage point.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton defeated Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders by 1,574 votes out of more than 629,000 cast in the Democratic primary – a margin of one-quarter of a percentage point.

Sanders had said previously that he wouldn’t request a recount.

Missouri Considers Changing Primary to June March 4, 2014

(AP) – A Missouri House panel is considering whether to move the state’s primary elections to June.

Missouri now holds party primaries for Congress, the Legislature and statewide offices in even-numbered years on the Tuesday after the first Monday in August. A House bill would move the primaries to the first Tuesday after the third Monday in June.

The House Elections Committee scheduled a hearing on the proposal Tuesday and planned to vote on it immediately.

Earlier primaries would give the winners more time to compete for November’s general election. They could also cause lawmakers to campaign more aggressively during the legislative session, which runs through mid-May.

The bill is sponsored by Republican Tony Dugger, of Hartville, with House Speaker Tim Jones as a co-sponsor.

Santorum’s 2012 Missouri Primary Victory Was One of Romney’s ‘Oh Crap!’ Moments of 2012 February 6, 2013

Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire reports Missouri’s presidential decision primary/caucus system produced one of the Romney campaign ‘Oh Crap!’ moments:

“First Read asked top officials from the Obama and Romney campaigns about the “Oh, crap” moments of the 2012 presidential campaign.”

“Eric Fehrnstrom of the Romney campaign answered Gingrich winning South Carolina; Beth Myers of the Romney camp said it was Romney’s three-state loss to Santorum (on Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri); Romney strategist Stuart Stevens said it was the close primary race in Michigan; Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said it was their worry that Romney might wrap up the nomination after the New Hampshire primary.”

More:politicalwire.com/archives/2013/02/06/the_oh_crap_moments

Is Missouri’s Carnahan Legacy at an End? August 11, 2012

St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Carnahans have been on the ballot in Missouri for three generations, holding various state and federal posts for the better part of the last 68 years.
But the Democratic family’s name won’t adorn any public office next year, thanks to Rep. Russ Carnahan’s defeat Tuesday in the 1st Congressional District primary in St. Louis and Robin Carnahan’s decision not to seek re-election as Missouri’s secretary of state. Both will leave office in January.
Given the state’s increasingly Republican leanings and the thrashings the siblings have taken at the polls recently — Robin Carnahan lost the U.S. Senate race to Republican Roy Blunt in 2010 — is the family tradition nearing an end?
Though the Carnahans demur, others say the answer is yes, at least for the foreseeable future.
“It’s difficult to see how you would resurrect yourself from the back-to-back defeat of Robin Carnahan by such a sizable margin and the defeat of Russ Carnahan by an even more sizable margin,” said Terry Jones, a political science professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
Even if the Carnahans tried again, other Democratic candidates would be unlikely to defer to them and could consider it time for a new face, Jones added.
The Carnahans themselves don’t rule out a comeback.
They note that the late Gov. Mel Carnahan, father of Robin and Russ, lost races for the state Senate in 1966 and governor in 1984 before winning the lieutenant governor’s office in 1988 and the governorship in 1992.
Recalling his father’s ups and downs, Russ Carnahan, 54, said in an interview Wednesday that “if you have a commitment to giving back to your community, I think you have a long view of how you do that.”
Carnahan, who was trounced 63 percent to 34 percent by Rep. William Lacy Clay on Tuesday, also repeated what he told his supporters after the election’s results were known: “For the rest, I’ll say, ‘Stay tuned,’ ” he said.
Robin Carnahan, 51, has been mum about her plans after January. She said in an interview this week that while she opted to leave the secretary of state’s office, “I’m young and Russ is young, so I don’t count this as an absolute end.”
Their political genes came from their father; their mother, Jean Carnahan, who was appointed to the U.S. Senate after her husband was elected posthumously; and their grandfather, A.S. J. Carnahan, who served in Congress from 1945-1946 and 1949-1960.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/carnahan-public-legacy-to-end-in-january/article_a17504be-e087-55a4-a275-298b7376b803.html

Mo-2 Democratic 49-Vote Primary: ReCount Likely, Wagner Awaits August 10, 2012

St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Two Democrats seeking to run against Republican Ann Wagner to represent Missouri’s second congressional district are separated by 49 votes.
In unofficial returns from the Democratic primary, Glenn Koenen defeated Harold Whitfield by 49 votes on Tuesday. (7,893 to 7,844.)
Whitfield said on Thursday that he will request a recount after the election results are certified by Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan.
“I’d like to run against Ann Wagner,” said Whitfield, a lawyer from Kirkwood.
But unless a recount is successful, Wagner will face Koenen, of Oakville.
The district is dominated by Republicans. Neither Democratic candidate ran a major media campaign. Koenen raised just $3,600 and loaned himself $5,000 for the campaign.
By contrast, Wagner raised more than $1.9 million. She had about $525,000 in cash on hand through mid July, according to campaign finance reports. Much of that money has gone toward television ads.