ST. CHARLES, Mo. — The annual Lincoln Days gathering, held here over the weekend to celebrate the Republican Party, had a much different feel than when U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., started making a statewide name for himself.
In 1984, Blunt became the first Republican to be elected Missouri Secretary of State in more than half a century. Democrats still had a good grasp on power across the state back then.
"Internally, Republicans were just glad to have candidates they thought had a chance to win," Blunt, now Missouri's senior senator, said in an interview Saturday, reflecting on how the Republican Party evolved.
Today, the highest-ranking Democrat is Auditor Nicole Galloway. She's not seeking reelection. Blunt isn't either, which, apart from bashing all things President Joe Biden, set the tone for the Lincoln Days event.
While the official filing date opens Feb. 22, at least half a dozen candidates say they are running in the Aug. 2 Republican primary. So far, the crammed race has been a competition over who is the most conservative. The candidates haven't deviated much on core issues of crime, policing, abortion and immigration, but a few jabs started to come out at the St. Charles Convention Center.
Blunt said he preferred not to make an endorsement.
"I am not saying I won't be involved before it's over, but I prefer not to be," he said. "Almost everybody there has been helpful to me, and I, in the past, have been helpful to them. The primary will sort itself out."
Offering a glimpse of how they size each other up, four of the six major candidates spoke at a panel here Saturday attended by about 300 people. Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, was in the middle of the ongoing redistricting fight in Jefferson City and couldn't attend, the moderator said. Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens criticized the "establishment event" from a distance because Karl Rove was going to be there, according to Breitbart News.
"President Trump has said Rove is 'a pompous fool with bad advice and always has an agenda,'" Greitens told the conservative news outlet, calling at least some of those gathered at Lincoln Days RINOs, or Republican In Name Only. "This establishment event proves RINOs are willing to sell out their country to swamp creatures looking to make a quick buck off the movement."
While primary voters will ultimately pick the party's standard-bearer, the former president's seal of approval appears to be key.
"Who knows if he is going to endorse anyone in this race," U.S. Rep. Billy Long, R-Springfield, said in an interview. "I would love to have it, but every candidate would love to have it."
Long, an auctioneer and real estate broker, was elected to Congress in 2010 with no previous political experience. He told the crowd on Saturday that he originated the phrase "Trump train" before Trump was popular and now hopes he regains the presidency in 2024.
"Election integrity matters," Long said. "We've got to keep our guard up."
U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Harrisonville, has also served several terms in Congress.
"We've got to fire Nancy Pelosi," said Hartzler, a farmer and former teacher. "That's the reason I first ran in 2010 is because she took over the House of Representatives. She held up that gavel and she said, 'Now I speak for all women in this country.' You do not speak for me. You do not speak for conservative women, pro-life women, stay-at-homers. You have got to go."
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt stressed his record suing numerous school districts in the state when it was unpopular to do so. Then he threw out a barb, apparently directed at Long and Hartzler.
"This is not the time to send the same folks back there who have been part of the D.C. establishment, folks," Schmitt said. "Now is the time to send a proven fighter. Someone who understands the stakes."
Mark McCloskey, the personal injury attorney known for brandishing a Colt AR-15 rifle at racial justice protesters outside his Central West End home, played up that he'd never run for office.
"People that have been politicians their entire adult lives have brought us to this point in our country," he said. "Our democratic republic is about to be permanently extinguished. The time has come for people that are really willing to stand up and really fight and take on the mob. I faced the mob. I am willing to face the mob in D.C."
Once Blunt retires, U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley will be Missouri's senior senator. At Lincoln Days, he announced his endorsement of Hartzler. On Friday evening, Hawley and his wife, Erin, were keynote speakers.
"It's just great to breathe the free air and be out of Washington, D.C.," Hawley said to cheers.
Then he blasted Biden and the Democratic Party on multiple fronts.
"The Democrats may tell us that this country's character is systemically evil and crooked and bent and racist," he said. "I don't believe a word of it. Do you?"
"No," said the overwhelmingly white audience.
"This is a good country," Hawley told them. "It's a great country full of good people. And we are in the midst of a struggle for the very essence of who we are. To renew it. To make us strong again."
