Missouri Press Association
Serving Missouri Newspapers Since 1867
Missouri News Network: Statehouse News for MPA Members
This report is written by Missouri School of Journalism students for publication by MPA member newspapers in print and online.
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Missouri News Network this week takes a final look at some key ballot questions facing voters next week. We also offer a story on a carpenters union offering support for training programs in Missouri and former Mizzou football coach Gary Pinkel losing his driver’s license from a DWI stop last year.
If you have thoughts or questions, contact Fred Anklam at anklamf@missouri.edu.
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How states with no income tax generate revenue
By Peter S. Pynadath, Missouri News Network
Voters have the opportunity Aug. 4 to put Missouri on track to be the 10th state without an individual income tax.
Many of the states without an income tax have to get creative in the way they generate revenue to fund state operations. From property taxes and sales taxes to communication taxes and live entertainment fees, revenue from these taxes is vital for providing essential services.
Individual income tax revenue made up 63% of the state’s general revenue in fiscal year 2025. The amendment asks voters to require the legislature to gradually reduce the individual income tax rate with the goal of eliminating it by 2032.
A yes vote will allow a broad sales tax on all goods and services to make up for the loss in revenue. This would repeal limits currently in place on such taxation. The state’s sales tax is 4.225%.
Gov. Mike Kehoe has suggested exemptions for healthcare, agriculture and real estate; the legislation passed by the House included no language for such exemptions.
The resolution’s sponsor, Rep. Bishop Davidson, R-Republic, noted the amendment that voters will consider does not mandate that the state make any changes to a sales tax. However, the Missouri budget must be balanced, so the loss in income tax revenue must be made up elsewhere.
Proponents of the resolution often compare Missouri to other states with no state income tax. Although a majority of these states rely on sales tax, their tax structures can vary drastically depending on different industries present, constitutional provisions or recent policy changes.
Here’s an overview of how the nine states without individual income tax generate state revenue:
Alaska became the first state to successfully repeal its income tax in 1980, thanks to the state’s oil boom. Almost all Alaskan oil production is on state-owned land, allowing the state to receive revenue in four different ways: production tax, property tax, royalties and corporate income tax.
According to the Resource Development Council, Alaska has made up to 90% of the state’s unrestricted general fund revenue from taxes related to oil in most years.
Roughly 30% of general fund revenue came from taxes on petroleum while 60% came from various investment returns. A majority of these investments came from Alaska’s permanent fund, which has received financial deposits used to invest in bonds, stocks and real estate.
Transfers from the fund make up a majority of investment revenues in Alaska’s unrestricted general and restricted designated general fund revenue.
Florida receives over 70% of its general revenue from sales tax with another 11% coming from corporate income tax. The state gets revenue from tourism through the Tourist Development Tax.
Nevada receives roughly 37% of its general revenue from a sales tax and use tax, including taxes on gaming fees, insurance premiums and a live entertainment tax.
The state’s base rate is 6.85%.
If Nevada were its own country, it would rank 10th in gold production, but tax revenue from natural resources only produces a small portion of revenue in taxes related to its natural resources. A state constitutional provision limits taxes on minerals.
New Hampshire phased out its individual income tax in 2025 and does not have a state sales tax either.
The state derives a little over a third of its budget from a business profits tax. New Hampshire has a meals and rooms tax, which serves as a form of tourism tax. This accounts for a little over one-tenth of its revenue.
New Hampshire makes up the remainder of its revenue from miscellaneous fees, such as its tobacco tax, Medicaid enhancement tax and its tax on real estate transfers.
South Dakota makes over 60% of its revenue from sales tax. The state has a base rate of 4.2% on general sales. The state also imposes a contractor’s excise tax, which is a 2% fee on the total cost of a construction project. This tax accounts for a little under one-tenth of the state’s budget.
Similar to Nevada, South Dakota has a strong mining industry but derives less than 1% of its revenue from its severance tax.
Tennessee makes up 60% of the state’s revenue from a general sales tax. Tennessee’s state sales tax is 7%. Tennessee employs a franchise and excise tax on corporations and businesses that contributes 16% of revenue.
In Texas, a 6.25% state sales and use tax is imposed on all retail sales, leases and rentals for most goods and certain services. The state first imposed a sales tax structure in 1961, and it provides over half of the state’s budget.
Texas fills the remainder of its budget with various taxes on motor vehicle sales, franchise taxes and taxes on the state’s natural resources.
Washington brings in about 45% of its budget from its sales and use tax. The state levies a fee of 6.5% on sales and transactions.
Washington makes almost a fifth of its budget from the state’s business and occupation tax, calculated based on the gross income of a business. The rate depends on which category of activity the business is classified as, with Washington having over 50 different classifications.
Washington also has a property tax that generates 13.4% of its revenue.
A massive reform to the state’s tax structure was approved in March when Senate Bill 6346 was signed into law: the first-ever “Millionaires Tax.” Beginning in 2028, a 9.9% income tax will be applied to taxable earnings above the $1 million standard deduction.
Wyoming makes a little under 40% of its revenue from its general and select sales tax structure.
Wyoming generates significant revenue from its mining industry. The state levies fees ranging from 1% to 6% for the various minerals and resources that are extracted.
Similar to Alaska’s permanent fund, the Permanent Wyoming Mineral Trust Fund receives revenue from its severance tax and is used by the state legislature to invest in various assets.
Investment income and severance taxes account for 47.51% of its general fund revenue, with miscellaneous revenue and tax sources filling the remainder of the budget.
Wyoming ranked ninth nationally for natural gas production and eighth in crude oil production in 2023. This allows the state to fund its entire budget reserve account just with federal mineral royalties or severance tax revenue.
State Rep. Steve Butz, D-St. Louis, argued that Missouri cannot replicate the similar success seen by other states that never had an income tax or repealed it.
“God bless Branson, but it’s not Orlando,” Butz said in a March committee hearing. “We are never going to be Texas, Texas has a huge percent of this nation’s energy in that state, and it’s just not below our ground.”
“You have to face the facts,” Butz added. “Tennessee hasn’t had an income tax; it’s not part of the way they fund their government, but their sales tax is dramatically higher.”
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Gary Pinkel's driver's license is suspended after a long fight to keep it
Missouri News Network staff
After fighting to keep his driver's license for more than a year, former University of Missouri football coach Gary Pinkel will lose it Saturday.
Missouri Courts
Pinkel filed a lawsuit last year after a DWI in Camden County led to the revocation of his license. He had been stopped July 7, 2025, near Camdenton at the Lake of the Ozarks after summoning a Missouri Highway Patrol trooper to check a blown-out tire.
According to court documents, the trooper noticed that Pinkel was slurring his speech, had abnormal pauses and stutters, and smelled of an intoxicating beverage.
Pinkel refused to submit to a chemical test that would determine his blood alcohol content. Under Missouri law, refusal of an alcohol or drug test will result in the suspension of driving privileges for one year.
Two days after the stop, Pinkel’s attorney submitted a motion to stay the revocation of his license, and Camden County Circuit Judge Michael Gilley granted the stay on July 11, 2025.
A series of hearings on the matter was scheduled for the next 11 months without resolution. In late June, Pinkel pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of driving while intoxicated with a recommended fine of $1,000 to be imposed plus related court costs.
Meanwhile, a decision in the lawsuit was still pending. A bench trial for Pinkel was set to begin Monday in Camden County, but no one appeared on his behalf, according to court records.
Gilley dismissed the petition and set the effective date to begin the suspension of Pinkel's license for Aug. 1.
The former coach also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor DWI in 2011 and was sentenced to two years of probation, court records show.
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Developers worry passing Amendment 5 could hamper historic preservation
By Justice Covert, Missouri News Network
Missouri’s tax code allows taxpayers to claim donations to social programs as individual income tax credits as a way to stimulate economic development, neighborhood assistance and job growth.
Taxpayers redeemed $592.13 million in individual income tax credits through programs in fiscal year 2025, accounting for 62% of all redemptions.
The redemptions included $6.19 million to pregnancy resource centers, $1.69 million to food banks and $2.8 million to domestic violence shelters.
Amendment 5, which is featured in Tuesday’s election, would allow lawmakers to eliminate the state’s individual income tax and expand the sales tax to any good or service to replace the lost revenue.
If the amendment passes, there would be no income tax for a person to reduce their tax burden against with a tax credit. Whether individuals would continue to support programs without the tax credit is unknown.
Rep. John Martin, R-Columbia, asserted that removing the individual income tax would put money back into Missourians’ pockets and hopes that taxpayers continue to support the programs.
“That’ll be a change, and that’ll be difficult,” Martin said. “It’s just that people will still have that income, you know, the income’s there. Hopefully, (people) will continue to give generously. So I think the overriding concept still builds that in, not as a tax credit, but money’s coming back to that person.”
An example of how Amendment 5 could impact incentives the state offers is the historic preservation tax credit, a tool developers use to cover up to 35% of the construction costs, such as materials and labor, to renovate qualified historic structures.
Developers redeemed $19.34 million in individual income tax credits for historic preservation in fiscal year 2025. That’s 20% of the total amount authorized by the state through the program.
Maureen McMillan, a historic preservation tax credit specialist, said while removing the individual income tax will give money back to developers, she worries the sales tax for construction materials could increase to replace the individual income tax revenue.
“We don’t know how much other taxes are going to go up because the revenue has to come from somewhere,” McMillan said. “So state government doesn’t run on magic. So we need revenue, and without income tax revenue they’re going to be looking at other places to balance the state budget.”
Rep. Bishop Davidson, R-Republic, who co-sponsored Amendment 5, said it wouldn’t allow for sales taxes dealing with business to business expenses, such as developers buying materials, to be increased.
“When we’re talking about consumption taxes, we’re only talking about final points of consumption,” Davidson said. “So we’re not talking about business inputs. Like that’s not part of the calculation whatsoever.”
McMillan mentioned the historic preservation tax credit is also appealing to developers because it’s sellable and transferable, but not refundable, meaning whatever’s left after covering the developer’s individual income tax liability, can be sold at a discounted rate to other taxpayers for profit.
“For many of them, they undertake the rehab, they sell the property, they may make not a whole lot on the actual sale. Some people walk from closing taking a bit of loss, but where they actually recoup their money is selling the tax credits,” McMillan said.
The market surrounding the sale of tax credits is vast since it can also be redeemed as a credit for corporate income taxes, bank taxes and other financial institutions taxes. There are similar individual income tax credits that icentivize low-income housing construction that could also be impacted.
Davidson noted that, as with any amendment, the market will change and adapt to whatever the government enacts.
“I think the market responds to government regulations pretty consistently,” Davidson said. “Would the process have to change? Yeah. We’re talking about changing the entire tax code. Is the ability for the state to incentivize chartible giving diminshed? No.”
Deb Sheals, a historic preservation consultant based in Columbia, said removing the individual income tax, and effectively its credit, will harm the future of independent “mom and pop” efforts from starting projects, since they have no use for corporate income tax credits.
She mentioned developers in Columbia usually are one or two people working on multiple projects. This was the case for the Ott family who developed many historic properties, including the Paramount Building at 29 S. Ninth St, around the city using the historic preservation tax credit.
A 2012 economic impact statement provided by Sheals reviewed 26 projects that used the historic preservation tax credit in Columbia over the previous decade. It calculated the projects generated over $200 million in economic activity and produced approximately 5,000 jobs.
Sheals noted if the incentive goes away through the historic tax credit, developers may be more inclined to tear buildings down and start from scratch instead of renovating historic buildings.
“If new construction has the same overhead as old construction, then in most places, the market will go to the easy thing,” Sheals said. “Water will flow down hill. It’s not like people who are building new subdivisions will be like ‘Oh! I don’t have income tax, I’m going to start doing historical rehab.”
Sheals said it’s something developers have to fall in love with before they want to do a lot of it.
“It’s not the easiest way to make a living,” Sheals said. “I always say, ‘If you just want to get rich, you probably don’t want to work in historic rehab. But if you want to do something that makes a difference in your community and still make a return, it is awesome.’”
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Bush, Bell donations show Democratic Party's split loyalties
By Jacob Miklas, Missouri News Network
The Aug. 4 primary election rematch between Rep. Wesley Bell and former House member Cori Bush represents a festering identity crisis in the national Democratic Party — still struggling to find consistent victory in the age of Donald Trump.
The incumbent Bell and Bush, whom he unseated two years ago, are facing off in Missouri’s 1st Congressional District in one of the most closely watched congressional contests this year.
Bush, endorsed by the insurgent Democratic Socialists of America wing of the party, looks to reclaim the seat she held for two terms before being ousted in 2024. Bell defeated Bush by 5 percentage points in the Democratic primary that year and went on to a landslide general election win by more than 50 percentage points in the state’s only congressional district that tilts Democratic.
The rematch between Bell and Bush has received national attention largely because of the candidates’ differing positions on American support for Israel. Bell has been featured several times on the Youtube account for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, better known as AIPAC.
“Oftentimes what gets lost is that, yes, we support Israel, but Israel also supports us. So from our national security standpoint, Israel is a key strategic partner,” Bell said in one video posted earlier this year.
United Democracy Project, AIPAC’s super PAC, has spent more than $2.5 million to influence the election in favor of Bell. That sum is down dramatically from the $8.5 million it spent on the 2024 election between the two candidates.
Bush is endorsed by several organizations and public officials that are critical of Israel, including U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Jewish Voice for Peace, Progressive Jews of St. Louis and Track AIPAC, which describes itself as a grassroots effort to reveal and counter the influence of AIPAC.
In a joint interview with Bell on St. Louis Public Radio earlier this month, Bush stated that she would cut off all military aid to Israel as long as the country continues its war in Gaza.
“As stated by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, a genocide is happening in Gaza. … Now, funding for other things that they may need — I have no problem with that,” she said.
Bell is endorsed by U.S. Reps. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., and Hakeem Jefferies, D-N.Y. — both of whom voted against a proposal to remove $3.3 billion designated for Israel’s military funding from next year’s budget.
Despite Bush’s strong pro-union stance, Bell has the edge on union endorsements. Most notably, Bell is endorsed by the Missouri AFL-CIO and the local chapters for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
Bell has raised more than $3.5 million during the current election cycle, dwarfing Bush’s $1.3 million. According to Opensecrets, the majority of money donated to both comes from out-of-state donors.
For both candidates, this is due in part to large and small individual donations coming in through ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s digital fundraising platform. Both Bush and Bell have used ActBlue as a conduit to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Bell has received just under $1 million from individual contributions raised, bundled and forwarded to him by AIPAC.
Among the questions Democratic voters in Missouri’s 1st District will answer Tuesday is whether to follow, or buck, the national trend of Democratic Socialists of America candidates, who are having unprecedented success in Democratic congressional primary elections.
Of 18 congressional candidates affiliated with the movement who have had their primary election, six have won. Bush and six other Democratic Socialists of America candidates, including Hartzell Gray, D-Kansas City, have yet to be tested by voters this year.
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Missouri megadonor Rex Sinquefield keeps his hand in federal politics
By Jacob Miklas, Missouri News Network
WASHINGTON — Rex Sinquefield was at the U.S. Capitol last month to showcase his own St. Louis Chess Club alongside Missouri lawmakers at the Bipartisan Congressional Chess Tournament.
The event drew both Missouri senators, several of the state’s U.S. House members and even Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
But if campaign finance history is any indicator, they weren’t there just to see a checkmate — they came to see Sinquefield, one of Missouri’s most influential conservative donors for the past 15 years.
In this midterm election cycle alone, Sinquefield has contributed over $1.5 million to Republican candidates or Republican-aligned committees. The bulk of that sum comes from a $1.1 million contribution to Grow the Majority PAC, a joint fundraising committee launched by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to seed Republican House campaigns across the country.
It is the second largest contribution from any individual in Missouri this election cycle. His wife, Jeanne Sinquefield, holds the third largest contribution — a separate $1 million donation to Grow the Majority.
The largest contribution of the cycle so far came from Michael Rayner, a St. Louis-area businessman who is part of the family that owns Cargill, an international agribusiness corporation. Rayner spent $2.5 million to seed the now-terminated Save Missouri Values PAC. That money currently sits unspent in Alabama-based Fight for America PAC.
Rex Sinquefield also contributed $260,700 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, NRSC, across four separate transactions since 2025. Led by U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., the NRSC is devoted to electing Republicans to the U.S. Senate.
The mega-donor continued his longtime support for U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., with a $250,000 donation to Winning for America fund, a Schmitt-linked joint fundraising committee. While the senator is not up for reelection until 2028, Schmitt can spend the money on other senators’ campaigns to boost his chances at earning a leadership position within the Senate down the road.
In Schmitt’s original bid for Senate, Sinquefield sent $1 million to a PAC opposing Schmitt’s main Republican opponent, former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens. To date, Sinquefield has given $455,800 to Schmitt-linked committees.
Sinquefield, 81, donated directly to three other committees associated with specific candidates this cycle: $15,000 to U.S. Rep. Bob Onder, R-Mo., $12,000 to U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., and $2,500 to Scott.
Across all midterm congressional races in Missouri, Republican candidates have raised over $13 million — more than double their Democratic counterparts.
Sinquefield has served on the boards of the Missouri Botanical Garden, Missouri History Museum, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis Symphony and Saint Louis University beyond his presidency of the St. Louis Chess Club.
Sinquefield did not accept the Missourian’s request for an interview.
Sinquefield, now retired, established his fortune as a co-founder of Dimensional Fund Advisors — an investment firm that manages over $1 trillion in assets today.
Born in St. Louis, he spent much of his childhood at Saint Vincent Home for Children. He graduated from Bishop DuBourg High School, and attended seminary school for three years before shifting his education to philosophy and business at St. Louis University. From there, he earned a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Chicago.
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Union partners with colleges to provide programs for apprenticeship instructors
By Emma Harper, Missouri News Network
One of the largest labor unions in North America recently announced its partnership with two Missouri schools to offer associate and bachelor’s degrees for apprenticeship instructors.
The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America has 250 training centers across North America, and this partnership creates a pathway to higher education for the union’s trainers.
Fully funded by the union’s training arm, the Carpenters International Training Fund, this program will allow current instructors to work toward an associate degree at North Central Missouri College, NCMC, and then complete a bachelor’s degree at the University of Central Missouri, UCM, all while remaining in the workforce.
“This is going to have a very huge impact on our instructors,” said Brian Connearney, the technical coordinator for the Carpenters International Training Fund. “A lot of people, when they get into the trade, when they decide to become a carpenter or any other tradesperson, they do it because, you know, they don’t like going to school. Might be they struggled, you know, they had a bad experience in high school. Maybe they went, did some college, same thing — had a bad experience in college.”
The union partnered with UCM first, and a pilot course began in November 2025. They found that a 120-credit degree can be overwhelming for students coming out of the industry, who may not have seen college as part of their path, said Michelle Conrad, chair of UCM’s Department of Leadership and Career Preparation.
“For adult learners and for students of any type, but particularly for adult learners who are working full time, it’s nice to have milestones in their educational journey,” said Mitch Holder, NCMC’s dean of instruction. “So they can get those short wins, and so they can kind of again get that feeling of success as they’re completing coursework.”
Conrad reached out to Holder at NCMC to add an associate degree to the program’s offerings in December. And 53 days later, its first course began Jan. 26.
“For higher education, that’s working at lightning speed,” Holder said.
Connearney said he anticipates this partnership will support 500 instructors annually by 2027.
“We are the smallest community college in the state of Missouri, and so it will have an impact for us,” Holder said. “Just being able to increase the number of students we’re serving, again, that means extra tuition generation, which does impact our bottom line and enables us to further invest into faculty and student support positions to enable more efforts being invested in student success.”
A 2024 report from the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education projected the number of high school graduates nationwide would peak in 2025 and then see a 13% decline through 2041, falling by half a million students. This decline would shrink the number of students enrolling in college, which is being referred to as an “enrollment cliff.”
“I do think that right now there’s an enrollment cliff,” Conrad said. “With the number of high school graduates that there are for the next 10, 15 years, there’s fewer numbers of high school graduates. So, I think partnerships like this are certainly offsetting some of the lower enrollment numbers in our traditional age college students, for sure.”
The program participants are coming from a background as working professionals and instructors, and they already have industry recognized credentials. To acknowledge this background, NCMC is awarding 30 credits to participants who have achieved journeyman carpenter status, leaving them only 32 credits left to complete their Associate of Applied Science degree.
“When we come out of the field, this is like a whole new apprenticeship for them, so, you know, they actually have the hands-on skills,” Connearney said. “They know how to build the wall. They know how to build the house. They know how to do the concrete forms. What this is doing for them now is we’re giving them the skills to understand the why, ... We’re actually giving them that knowledge now, on the academic side of it, and that really, when you put those two things together, you know, we actually will have really, really, really talented instructors.”
Along with an associate degree that leads into a Bachelor of Science in Educational Studies and Training, the classes offered at both institutions are being used as part of the union certification levels for instructors as well. Participants are able to stack both higher education credentials and industry credentials.
“What this really has done is given a second chance to a lot of people with really opening the door for them,” Connearney said. “I actually had an instructor reach out to me and say, ‘Thank you, you’re actually giving me a second chance. I failed out of college, and now here I am with the second chance to actually get my degree.’”
The courses are taught in a hybrid format, with instructors from both universities flying out to the Carpenters International Training Center in Las Vegas for a few days at the beginning of each course. The rest of the instruction is delivered online to accommodate instructors across the country.
The agreement was made for five years with the opportunity for renewal, which Conrad said is likely. UCM is already planning expansion of the program through graduate level education with its Master of Science in Career and Technical Education and Education Specialist in Professional Leadership: Adult, Career and Technical Education programs.
The United Brotherhood of Carpenters has offered train-the-trainer programs through its training fund for years, but this partnership was the first of its kind for the union.
“They’re an international organization and, you know, they went looking nationwide for a provider and selected schools in Missouri,” Conrad said. “I think that it’s a great partnership opportunity for UCM, but then also North Central being so willing to jump in and support it.”
Though the union represents 500,000 skilled workers in the U.S. and Canada, the trades at large are seeing an upcoming gap in workers. A report from the U.S. Department of Education found that by 2030 there could be 2.1 million skilled-trade jobs that go unfilled, leading to economic losses of up to $1 trillion each year.
Conrad said this gap is due to a lack of workers going into the trade, but that programs dedicated to helping train the next generation, such as this partnership, will be part of the solution.
“As these apprenticeship instructors are more skilled through their college coursework, they are going to be able to have better retention among their apprenticeship carpenters, which then leads to more effective carpenters within their trade,” Holder said. “That results in contractors able to have the workforce that they need to complete jobs on time and within budget, so that there’s not delays.”
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Rep. Emanuel Cleaver 'never panicked' over redrawn district
By Kaleb Anderson, Missouri News Network
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver says he isn’t worried about the gerrymandered congressional map that threatens to end his long career in Congress.
“I have never panicked over the decision to have a mid-decade redistricting,” Cleaver said in an interview outside his office in the Rayburn Building.
But Cleaver’s chances of reelection have been greatly diminished after he was targeted by Missouri Republicans as part of a national redistricting effort to reduce Democratic representation in Congress spurred by President Donald Trump.
Cleaver, who will turn 82 a week before Election Day, has represented the 5th District for more than two decades. But the new 5th District is a dissected version of the existing one, and the incorporation of several traditionally Republican counties has made his road to reelection much more difficult.
The former Kansas City mayor says he’s frustrated with the redrawn map but is ready to fight for reelection.
“I have been frustrated because I think that’s doing some enormous damage to the body politic and creating more hostility,” Cleaver said. “The worst part is that it tells voters there are people who will do just about anything to win.”
“But it is a process that we have to go through, so I’m ready to go through that process,” he said.
Republicans approved the new map last fall. In response, opponents collected signatures to put a statewide referendum on the ballot that would have allowed voters to decide which map the state should use.
Secretary of State Denny Hoskins has waited months to certify the signatures, with a final decision expected Aug. 3, the day before the primary in which Cleaver is unopposed. Six Republicans are vying Aug. 4 for the Republican nomination and the chance to unseat Cleaver.
Despite legal efforts to halt use of the new maps because of the referendum, the Missouri Supreme Court decided the gathering of the signatures isn’t enough to disqualify the new map.
Even if Hoskins certifies that enough signatures have been gathered to force the new map to put up for a referendum this year, it more than likely won’t take place until the Nov. 3 general election.
The new 5th District reaches from Kansas City to northern Boone County and to areas southwest and south of Boone County. The new map divides Cleaver’s old district three ways, with the new 5th District encompassing the areas of Kansas City east of Troost Avenue.
In Kansas City, Troost Avenue has a long and divisive racial history. It has long been regarded as the dividing line between the city’s African American communities and the city’s white neighborhoods.
Under the new map, the majority-Black neighborhoods east of Troost will be drawn into the predominantly white rural areas between Kansas City and Columbia.
There is a path for Cleaver to win, but the new map presents a huge challenge.
“You would really need a really, really dramatically high turnout for Democrats in proportion to Republicans,” said Erin Covey of the Cook Political Report, which provides nonpartisan analysis of elections nationwide.
Covey noted that “going into this midterm cycle, Democratic enthusiasm is a lot higher.”
Covey said that if Cleaver has enough money and can define his Republican challenger as “too conservative” for the district, that improves his chances.
“But it’s still going to be a very tough race, and he’s going to be the underdog no matter what,” she said.
As of June 30, Cleaver’s campaign has raised almost $1.3 million.
Cleaver isn’t alone in thinking he has a shot at winning.
“Rather than prioritizing what Missourians need — lower costs, better economic opportunities and safer communities — Jefferson City Republicans spent the past year working to disenfranchise Black and brown voters in a desperate attempt to cling to power,” said Lindsay Riley, spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
“This scheme will backfire in November when Missourians show out en masse to reelect proven fighter and public servant Emanuel Cleaver and hold Republicans accountable up and down the ballot accountable for their blatant power grab,” Riley said.
The new district encompasses more rural counties in the state, but Cleaver does not see that as a particular disadvantage given his background. He grew up in a shack with his parents and three sisters.
“I was born in a place called Waxahachie, Texas. It had 12,000 people. I grew up picking cotton, hauling hay, feeding chickens, slopping the hogs, and at the same time I have an urban orientation because I’ve lived in Kansas City since I left college,” Cleaver said.
“I have something that most people don’t have, and that is I have the history of being familiar with what goes on in a rural community,” he said.
Cleaver said he hopes the residents of the new district who are not as familiar with him and his work in Congress will give him a fair shake.
“Prejudice means prejudging someone, and I don’t mind people judging me. Don’t prejudge me to assume what’s not true,” Cleaver said.
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Republican challengers line up in red-leaning 5th District
By Kennedy Voss, Missouri News Network
Due to partisan gerrymandering last year by the Missouri General Assembly, the congressional district for those living in northern Boone County looks quite different from the last time they went to the ballot box.
“Republicans did a very effective job at gerrymandering the 5th District in Missouri,” said Erin Covey, House editor at the Cook Political Report, an independent, nonpartisan newsletter that analyzes American political trends.
Six Republicans are looking to challenge longtime Democrat incumbent U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City.
The 5th District used to be centered around Kansas City, representing about half of Jackson County. The new district still contains parts of Jackson County, but now sprawls over 150 miles to contain parts of Boone and Cole counties, swallowing up major parts of what used to be the 3rd and 4th Districts.
Historically, in a midterm election, the president’s party loses favor and congressional seats. Against that backdrop, the GOP’s razor-thin margin in the House of Representatives seemed deeply concerning to President Donald Trump.
Trump encouraged Missouri and several other states to take part in an unusual mid-decade redrawing of the congressional maps.
“We have the seat rated solid Republican,” Covey said. “It would take a really massive blue wave for Democrats to win the seat at this point.”
The six Republican candidates for the 5th District seat appear on the Aug. 4 primary ballot:
Brad Patty
Patty, 45, is an Army veteran and holds a master’s degree in business administration from Liberty University. He is the only candidate living within the newly redrawn 5th District.
Members of Congress are not required to reside in their district, although almost all do.
Patty said his campaign has three priorities: pro-life policies, affordability and accountability.
During an interview with the Missourian, he voiced positions ranging from advocating for a constitutional amendment to outlaw abortion nationwide to eliminating income tax on both the state and federal levels.
He said that Missouri was off to a good start with the proposal to eliminate the state income tax, but that he did not agree with the amendment’s proposal of raising the sales tax.
“Only a politician can say that, ‘Hey, I’m going to reduce taxes, but on the back end, I’m going to increase taxes,’” Patty said. “Well, nothing’s changed except who pays for it.”
Patty is on the Fayette City Council. This is his first run for Congress.
Brett Hueffmeier
Hueffmeier, 46, holds a law degree from Saint Louis University. If elected, he said he would focus on restoring rural hospitals.
“No. 1 (priority) is reopening rural hospitals because that’s something that I think can be feasibly done,” Hueffmeier said.
He said he aims to take a two-pronged approach, starting with expanding options for veterans so they can use their Medicare benefits at any private hospital instead of traveling long distances to seek care at a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital.
He said a large number of veterans live in rural areas and need to travel to a major city to visit a VA hospital. VA clinics dotted throughout the state do not offer the wide variety of services that the hospitals do, he said.
Hueffmeier said he favors overturning a federal law that bans new physician-owned hospitals from participating in Medicare. That law was intended to limit physician self-referrals in the program.
“I think that these are things that are concrete approaches that really benefit the whole country and kind of fix a problem that has resulted from some of the lack of funding recently,” he said.
He acknowledged that his goals may be lofty and hard to achieve for a freshman congressman. He said he plans to buy a house within the 5th District if elected.
This is Hueffmeier’s first time running for office.
Taylor Burks
Burks, 40, is a graduate of Truman State University. He holds two master’s degrees earned while in the Navy and is a commander in the Navy Reserves.
He was appointed by Gov. Eric Greitens in 2017 as Boone County clerk, where he served for a little over a year. Since then, he has held a number of other titles, including director of Missouri’s Division of Labor Standards.
Burks is leading his Republican opponents in overall fundraising. He has raised over $1.1 million, and $900,000 of the funds comes from a loan he made to his campaign.
If elected, Burks said he hopes to focus on national security, election integrity and agriculture and seeks a seat on the House Agriculture Committee.
“Missouri does not have a member of Congress serving on the Agriculture Committee,” Burks said. “Growing up on a cattle farm, being able to be a voice for the rural parts of the district, that’s an important aspect.”
Burks lives in Boone County, about five miles outside of the new district, but said he would move to the district if elected.
Burks ran for Congress unsuccessfully in the 4th District in 2022.
Rick Brattin
Brattin, 46, served as a U.S. Marine for six years, and later founded a construction business. He served in the Missouri House for four terms, and has been a state senator since 2020.
Brattin served as Cass County auditor between his legislative roles and said he believes that his time in government gives him an advantage over his opponents.
“I know how to navigate the system to be effective,” Brattin said. “The objectionable goals that I campaign on, I’ve delivered on, versus hopes and dreams and a bunch of maybes and question marks from the other candidates.”
If elected, Brattin said he would stand strong on issues of immigration and judicial reform. Last year, as a state senator, he butted heads with the Missouri Supreme Court after it declared one of his bills unconstitutional.
Brattin took to social media to attack the court.
Brattin ran unsuccessfully for Missouri’s 4th District in 2022.
Berton A. Knox
Knox, 70, is a graduate of the Navy nuclear power program and a retired chief engineer from the Merchant Marines, where he served for 23 years. He filed as a candidate for the 5th District before the new map became law. He ran unsuccessfully for the seat in 2014 and 2016.
Because of the redrawn maps, he now lives outside the district.
Knox said that the gerrymandering made him “sort of feel like a carpet-bagger,” prompting him to campaign less than he originally set out to do. Knox does not have a campaign website or any social media pages promoting his run.
“They changed the district and since I didn’t live in the district, I sort of didn’t pursue it that heavily any longer,” he
said. Knox said that if elected, he would focus on issues like voter integrity and maintaining social security.
Micah Beebe
Beebe, 42, holds a bachelor’s degree from Southwest Baptist University. He is a commercial real estate broker who has worked in Missouri and Texas and hails from the Kansas City area.
Beebe said he is focused on affordability, complaining that Americans suffered from high inflation rates during the Biden administration. He said that he especially noted higher home prices and said inflation affected his business.
“Because I work in real estate, when interest rates shot up the way they did, the economy went really downhill,” Beebe said. “Investors held back, they weren’t doing deals, they weren’t buying property.”
He said that this was due to actors in the federal government not fully understanding how their policies “impact the people on Main Street,” and pointed to the Biden administration’s increase in spending. He said that the Trump administration had made good progress in lowering inflation, but that the economy would be one of his top priorities if elected.
Beebe unsuccessfully ran for Congress in Texas’ 26th District in 2016. He was a resident of the 5th District, but due to gerrymandering, now resides just a few blocks outside of it. He said he would consider moving within the bounds of the district if elected.
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Missouri could eliminate state income tax if Amendment 5 passes
By Justice Covert, Missouri News Network
On Aug. 4, voters will decide if they want to require the Missouri General Assembly to eliminate the state individual income tax.
Amendment 5, a proposed revision to the Missouri Constitution, would allow lawmakers to expand the sales tax on any good or service to make up for the lost revenue.
Supporters of the amendment, including Gov. Mike Kehoe, say it will help attract businesses to the state, create jobs and modernize Missouri’s tax code.
Opponents worry passing Amendment 5 will harm low- to middle-income households and instead offer more tax relief to wealthier residents.
Here are some common questions related to Amendment 5:
How much income tax revenue would lawmakers have to replace?
Individual income tax revenue accounted for 68% of the state’s general tax revenue in fiscal year 2025, totaling $9.17 billion.
Meanwhile, the state collected $3.22 billion in sales and use tax revenue, which made up nearly 24% of the general tax revenue.
To fill the gap left by eliminating the individual income tax, the Missouri General Assembly would be allowed five years to increase the sales tax base and expand it to any good or service.
Lawmakers would also be allowed to enact any legislation over time that lowers the top individual income tax rate through general revenue triggers.
Does Amendment 5 exempt any good or service from taxation?
The amendment opens the door for any good or service to be taxed in order to lower and eventually remove the individual income tax.
Kehoe said during his 2026 State of the State address that he’d like tax exemptions placed on services related to agriculture, real estate and healthcare, but no exemptions exist in the amendment’s language.
Opponents of Amendment 5 have criticized the amendment for its lack of detail.
State Rep. Rudy Veit, R-Wardsville, one of the nine House Republicans who voted against Amendment 5 being placed on the ballot, noted that the preference of services that shouldn’t be taxed can change from session to session.
“There’s no clear delineation of what we’re going to tax,” Veit said. “They said the other day that we’re not going to tax real estate, healthcare or agriculture, well that’s this session. Our session changes every year; there’s nothing in the constitution that protects us from changing those in the future.”
State Rep. John Martin, R-Columbia, a supporter of Amendment 5, said it is important for constitutional amendments to not be too specific because of how permanent they are.
“It’s not actually in the amendment that says we’re going to tax A, B, C, D, E, because it’s not wise to put that type of language in a constitution,” Martin said.
He said, as an example, if Amendment 5 passes and the legislature decides to tax a service, such as car repairs, they can change it later. But if the constitution lists certain specific services to be taxed, the state would have to amend the constitution to change it.
The Missouri Budget Project, a nonprofit that works to educate the public on tax policy and the state’s budget, calculated the base sales tax would need to increase from the current 4.225% to 10.7% to replace the individual income tax revenue, but that’s only if the sales tax wasn’t expanded to services.
Jessica Ann, a policy analyst with the Missouri Budget Project, said it is harder to project what the impact would be without knowing the specific services the state plans to tax.
“The fact that we can’t even do estimates about how this could impact people because there are too few details is a pretty terrifying thing,” Ann said. “Because that means if we can’t do it, that means the state can’t do it.”
Martin, a member of the House Budget Committee and subcommittee on appropriations for education, said he was unaware of any preferred strategy for how the sales tax would be expanded if Amendment 5 were approved.
Rep. Bishop Davidson, R-Republic, a co-sponsor of Amendment 5, said the state’s income tax is inflating the cost of every good and service in Missouri including necessities.
“I think we should eliminate the income tax and replace it with a fairer and more transparent sales tax, and I think we should exempt necessities,” Davidson said. “I think healthcare, groceries, agriculture and real estate are necessities.”
What constitutional provisions does Amendment 5 override?
Passing Amendment 5 would overrule a 2016 amendment voters approved by 56% that prohibits lawmakers from placing a sales tax on any services that were not taxed on or before Jan. 1, 2015.
Opponents of Amendment 5 have argued it would also override the Hancock Amendment, a 1980 provision that voters approved to prohibit the state from increasing taxes through a ratio between total state revenues and the personal income of Missouri taxpayers.
Davidson said it does not go against the Hancock Amendment, noting it falls in line with the 1996 adjustment that allowed the legislature a roughly $100 million revenue cap to increase taxes.
“It doesn’t say rate increases have to be approved by voters, it says new revenue rate increases have to be approved by voters,” Davidson said of the Hancock Amendment. “Currently, the legislature is able to raise sales tax rates as long as they reduce income tax rates, and they have a revenue limit of about $100 million.”
Davidson added that since Amendment 5 would require the expansion of the state’s sales tax base to be revenue neutral by lowering the individual income tax, it aligns with previous constitutional provisions.
“No one seems to actually have read anything about how our constitutional processes work, and it’s actually incredible,” Davidson said.
How do opponents and supporters think passing Amendment 5 would affect Missouri taxpayers?
Martin sees passing Amendment 5 as putting money back in the pockets of consumers, allowing Missouri taxpayers to choose where they spend money instead of government officials.
Being a business owner, Martin also said the amendment would support his workers, who would stop seeing money taken out of their paychecks.
“When people’s paychecks are bigger, and they choose where that money’s going to be spent, it moves the economy,” Martin said.
“We want to keep our best talent right here and encourage companies to come here,” he added. “I mean, some of the really high tax states, the New Yorks, the Californias, things like that, people are leaving.”
Davidson said the average Missouri taxpayer can expect to have between $2,704 to $2,872 more after adjustments each year if Amendment 5 were to pass, according to the Council of Economic Advisers.
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy has come out against the amendment, releasing an analysis that found the middle 20% of the state’s income bracket, which are households that make from $49,100 to $79,700, would pay an average of $535 more per year in overall taxes if Amendment 5 passed.
Veit said he’s heard concerns from his constituents that run small businesses that the amendment wouldn’t offer support to service industries as owners could have to start filing taxes they never had to before.
“It’s hard on rural farmers, it’s hard on small businesses,” Veit said. “They’ve got to do a whole other bookkeeping section in their books if they have to start charging (sales taxes) for their services.”
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Voters would face higher bar for citizen-led initiatives with Amendment 4
By Carlotta Angiolillo, Missouri News Network
With the Aug. 4 election approaching, some Columbia residents are expressing concerns about Amendment 4, which would change Missouri’s citizen-led initiative process if passed.
As it stands now, a simple majority of voters must approve a ballot measure for a citizen-led initiative to pass. The changes proposed in Amendment 4 would mean a majority of voters in each of the state’s eight congressional districts would need to say “yes” to a measure for it to pass.
Paul Harper, who is a member of the Boone County Democrats Central Committee, said he believes opposition to Amendment 4 is a nonpartisan issue.
“I’ve seen some ‘Yes on 4’ signs out there, but I haven’t actually talked to anybody who thought this was a good thing — and that includes both Republicans and Democrats,” Harper said.
He said the amendment would take power away from people all over the state, regardless of if they live in an urban, suburban or rural area. Harper said the amendment is a “pure power grab.”
“It’s a way for the legislature to consolidate power in Jefferson City and take power away from the citizens,” he added.
Harper also called the amendment “short-sighted” because although Republicans have more power in state government right now, that could change in the future.
Tony Lupo, a former chair of the Boone County Republican Party, said he thinks Amendment 4 might be “too high of a bar” but prefers the proposed change over a simple majority.
“It’s way too easy to pass something,” Lupo said. “We’ve had a couple of issues in the last few years that have passed by just bare, slim majorities, and some of these things aren’t the most well-written pieces of law to amend our constitution.”
Lupo said he would have liked to see a proposal more similar to the process of amending the U.S. Constitution, which requires three quarters of the state legislatures to ratify an amendment. Still, he is leaning toward voting in favor of Amendment 4.
State Rep. Ed Lewis, R-Moberly, sponsored Amendment 4. He said he thinks there should be “broad consensus” to change the state constitution.
“There hasn’t been broad consensus in the last six initiative petitions that have been approved by Missouri voters,” Lewis said. “There’s only been consensus along Interstate 70.”
Lewis said he “absolutely” thought about making the amendment require the approval of five, six or seven congressional districts instead of the proposed eight out of eight.
But he said anything less than eight would potentially mean districts with more Republican voters could make changes to the constitution without approval from districts with more Democratic voters. With the way the amendment is written, he said, both liberals and conservatives would need to reach out to all Missourians to get enough votes for their policies.
“If you’re changing the constitution, I think there should be a high bar, and it should require broad consensus, not just out-of-state money and the counties touching I-70 dictating for the rest of the state what’s going to be in their constitution,” Lewis said.
LiUNA Local 955 representative Andrew Hutchinson said getting a citizen-led initiative on the ballot and then passed is already a “massive amount” of work.
“It’s not easy at all, and I think all you have to do is look and see at how many petitions get filed and how many actually make it to certification, and then that’s just the signatures to make it on the ballot,” Hutchinson said. “That doesn’t even count the work to pass it.”
He said the organization has fought to pass various amendments in the past, including raising the minimum wage and Medicaid expansion.
Members of LiUNA have been door knocking to spread awareness about the potential effects of Amendment 4. Hutchinson said the response they’ve seen is “overwhelmingly” against the amendment, no matter which side of the aisle the person they’re speaking with is on.
Hutchinson also pointed out that LiUNA and the Mid-Missouri Board of Realtors may not always agree on every issue, but they came to the same conclusion on Amendment 4. In early July, members of the Missouri Association of Realtors gathered to speak out against Amendment 4.
“I think when it comes down to it, people know how the initiative petition process works, and they like the ability to vote directly on policy ideas that their fellow citizens went, collected signatures and put it on the ballot,” Hutchinson said.
Lewis said he thinks citizen-led initiatives will still be able to be approved if the changes from Amendment 4 are implemented. He is adamant that people all across Missouri should be in agreement before changes are made to the state constitution.
“If people agree with it, it’ll pass,” Lewis said. “If broad swaths of people around the state don’t agree with it, it shouldn’t pass.”
