The race is on for Missouri governor. Nine Republicans are running for the top spot in Missouri’s primary election.
Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, is one of the GOP candidates. He makes up four generations of military service in his family. Eigel was an aircraft maintenance officer in the U.S. Air Force.
“Working against America’s enemies comes pretty naturally to my family, and now I feel like we have this, a lot of the enemies today are here in our country. They’re in our state,” Eigel told Missourinet. “I see the biggest threat to our state as really a status quo down in Jefferson City that is more about preserving power and benefits for the special interests than the people of this state. So, I put together a campaign where I’m very much the anti-establishment candidate.”
Eigel said if he’s elected, he wants to do “big red Republican things.” His top priority would be to arrest, jail, and deport immigrants who are in the country illegally.
“I’m going to declare an invasion under Article Four of the Missouri Constitution, which will empower the Highway Patrol, every sheriff in this state, and the National Guard, if necessary, to enforce my policy of detain and deport,” he told Missourinet.
According to Eigel, Missouri is estimated to have about 70,000 immigrants who are in the country illegally. He wants to change Missouri criminal code to penalize those who come to Missouri.
“We want to make it very clear that if you are going to break the law and come into the state of Missouri, you’re not going to be welcomed here,” said Eigel.
He said he supports sending Missouri National Guard members to the southern border to help with the flow of immigrants coming to the U.S. illegally.
Another top priority on Eigel’s list is eliminating personal property taxes for all Missourians.
“Jefferson City is spending more than twice per person in this state what other big red states, like Florida and Texas and Tennessee are spending. So, we have a huge government spending problem. When we cut down the size of the government spending in the state budget, we’re going to be able to keep local areas whole with the surpluses we create when we get rid of personal property tax,” he said.
How is he going to cut down on government spending? Eigel said he would cut the state government workforce.
Eigel said he would “dismantle” the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. He criticizes the number of workers in the department, which makes up about 1,700 statewide.
“I think we can have a far more streamlined process, a far more streamlined department, and at the same time still be reporting the results that parents are going to want to see that judge whether or not children are getting the education that they deserve. And by the metrics right now, the answer to that question is no,” according to Eigel.
He said his first budget proposal would defund every federal dollar given to Missouri public education.
Eigel also said too much state funding is “being gobbled up by bureaucracy” and not enough funding is going to teachers. Does Eigel support fully funding the formula used to bankroll K-12 public education?
“Perhaps we need to make sure that the dollars that we are throwing into the education system are actually getting to where they need to go. I’m going to be for paying our teachers very well – more than what they are getting right now,” he said.
Missouri provides tax credits to allow children to attend private schools. Is there a way to ensure that private schools are meeting federal law on the individual educational needs of students with disabilities?
“If bad things are happening anywhere in the state of Missouri, we’re going to put a stop to that. But I’m less worried about what the federal government is saying. I’m more concerned about empowering parents, which is what you have with private schools. As far as the tax dollars are being spent, making sure these are going to efficient programs,” he said.
Eigel said the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is one of several state bureaucracies that needs to run more efficiently and effectively.
Fighting crime is a hot topic in the race for Missouri governor. Eigel said he has a plan to fight crime in St. Louis and Kansas City.
“We’re going to activate the Highway Patrol and triple the Highway Patrol presence along the highways leading into and out of both Kansas City and St. Louis City. The criminals are using these highways as conduits of criminal activity. It’s not only the illegal immigration movement that’s coming through, there’s the fentanyl trade. It’s the human trafficking trade. We’re going to make sure our officers are rewarded with every dime that they deserve,” he said.
In order to fight crime, Eigel wants to boost pay for Missouri troopers.
Another hot topic is one of Missouri’s leading industries – agriculture. Part of Eigel’s agriculture plan would be to stop selling Missouri farmland to foreign countries, including our allies.
“I see this as a national security issue,” said Eigel. “I’m willing to say that Missouri ought to be be owned by Missourians, or at least Americans. And when it comes to the land that we’ve lost because of some of the votes taken by my opponents, we’re going to get back every square inch of it through a Constitutional amendment that I filed this year and we are going to push as governor.”
As a U.S. military veteran, Eigel said he would boost funding to Missouri’s seven veterans homes.
“I think that veterans deserve every thank you, every blessing that our state, our country, can bestow upon them. I’d like to make sure that our veterans homes are fully funded. It’s amazing to me that we haven’t seemed to be able to fully fund our veterans homes, even though we doubled the state budget,” said Eigel.
Since 2020, Missouri has received billions of dollars in federal funds to help the state recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. A significant portion of the state budget in recent years has been due to those federal dollars coming to Missouri.
In an interview, Missourinet asked Eigel what most people don’t know about him. Eigel said he donated his bone marrow to help save a man with lymphoma.
“The odds of having a match for someone that is currently suffering from lymphoma and needs to have a bone marrow transplant, I think is about 1 out of 800 million. I got a chance to make a donation and help a gentleman I had never met, I never knew. We were able to create a lifetime relationship with this gentleman through the grace of God. I always like to say that I was lucky enough to win the lottery but it had nothing to do with money,” said Eigel.
Other Republicans running in the August primary election include Missouri Lt. Governor Mike Kehoe, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, Jeremy Gundel, Robert Olson, Darrell McClanahan III, Chris Wright, Darren Grant, and Amber Thomsen.
On the Democratic side, Missouri House Minority Leader Crystal Quade of Springfield, Eric Morrison, Sheryl Gladney, Springfield businessman Mike Hamra, and Hollis Laster.
Bill Slantz of St. Charles is running on the Libertarian ticket.
Missouri’s primary election is August 6th.
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