Former Missouri Lt. Governor Peter Kinder is running for Missouri Republican Party chairman. He has been endorsed by Governor-elect Mike Kehoe and other party leaders to head the state party.
Kinder said he would focus on party unity if he’s called to lead state Republicans.
When asked about division between more moderate elements of the party and the Freedom Caucus in Jefferson City, Kinder told KMOX Radio in St. Louis that the division has to end.
“Some of those people now are calling for purity tests,” Kinder explained. “That is, toe the line on our checklist of issues and if you don’t pass the purity test, you may not run as a Republican and you will be cast into outer darkness. I have set my face against that approach. I am opposed to purity tests.”
Kinder said those tactics only create division in the party.
“These people actually want to vet candidates for local offices, for the legislature and even for statewide offices to decide as sort of gatekeepers who is a good Republican and who isn’t,” he said. “I think that’s the way off the cliff for our party.”
Kinder said that if Republicans in the Missouri Legislature had been more unified last session, they might have passed initiative petition changes. He said that could have stopped Amendment 3, which overturned Missouri’s abortion ban.
“I don’t believe we ought to be able to amend our fundamental governing document by a vote of 50% plus 1,” he said. “It ought to be a higher threshold, just as amending the U.S. Constitution is very difficult to do.”
Kinder, of Cape Girardeau, served as Missouri’s Lt. Governor from 2005 to 2017. Prior to that, in 2001, he became the first Republican Missouri Senate President Pro Tem to serve the upper chamber in 53 years.
Term-limited Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, is also considering a run for party chair.
Missouri Democrats, meanwhile, have voted to keep former Congressman Russ Carnahan as their party chair.
KMOX Radio in St. Louis contributed this report.
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