Tagged: caucuses

Missouri House leaders will now attempt to get rid of the state’s presidential primary and replace it with party caucuses.  A similar move fell short in the Missouri Senate.

Some Senate Republicans tried and failed Monday night to swap out the bill to move the primary from February to March with one that would have replaced it with caucuses.  Speaker Pro-tem Shane Schoeller (R, Willard) has filed a new bill in the House that would do the same thing.

An attempt to replace Missouri’s presidential primary with statewide caucuses has failed in the State Senate, meaning the February 7th Democratic and Republican primaries will go on as scheduled.

Before the vote, some amendments were offered, including one that would have moved the primary forward to January.  None of them passed, but they reflected efforts by several Republicans to preserve the state's primary.  State Senator Eric Schmitt (R, Glendale) said that caucuses result in fewer people having a say in who they want for president.

Secretary of State Robin Carnahan (D) is criticizing legislation in the Missouri Senate that would scrap the state’s presidential primary in favor of party caucuses.

The Missouri Republican Party announced last month that it would use county-wide caucuses to select its delegates for next year’s national convention, and that the primary would be nothing more than a “beauty contest.”

The Missouri Senate has delayed debate on a bill that would move the state’s presidential primary from February to March.

The holdup involves a pending amendment that would scrap the primary altogether and return Missouri to its former status as a caucus state.