Jean Peters Baker endorses STL County prosecutor Bell’s campaign against Josh Hawley

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker on Wednesday endorsed St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell’s campaign for U.S. Senate in Missouri.

Baker, a former chair of the Missouri Democratic Party, is backing Bell for the Democratic nomination over former Marine Lucas Kunce, who ran an unsuccessful Senate campaign in 2022 and raised $1.14 million in the first three months of the year, according to the Federal Election Commission.

Bell entered the race this month for the seat currently held by Republican Sen. Josh Hawley.

“Wesley Bell is someone who is willing to work with people to solve problems, even when they don’t agree on everything, and I know he will work hard as Missouri’s next US Senator to address those challenges facing Missourians,” Baker said in a statement.

Baker’s endorsement comes less than a week after she announced that she was not running for reelection as Jackson County’s top prosecutor. She is the county’s longest serving prosecutor in modern history.

Baker has recently been involved in a dispute with Gov. Mike Parson, urging the Republican earlier this month not to pardon former KCPD detective Eric DeValkenaere, the first Kansas City police officer convicted for killing a Black man. This week, she criticized Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey for filing a brief seeking to overturn DeValkenaere’s conviction.

Bell’s entry into the race set up a hotly contested Democratic primary. But whichever candidate gets the nomination will face long odds to defeat incumbent Hawley in 2024. Democrats haven’t won a Senate race in Missouri since 2012.

In addition to Bell and Kunce, Columbia activist December Harmon is seeking the Democratic nomination.

Earlier this month, Jackson County Executive Frank White, Jr. and a slew of labor union organizations, including the Missouri AFL-CIO, endorsed Kunce. Kunce is also backed by St. Louis Board of Aldermen President Megan Green, St. Louis County Council Chair Shalonda Webb and Boone County Treasurer Jenna Redel.

State Rep. Deb Lavender, a Manchester Democrat, and ten mayors from St. Louis County endorsed Bell on Wednesday. One of those mayors is Ferguson Mayor Ella Jones, who rescinded her previous endorsement of Kunce after Bell jumped into the race.

“I am grateful for the support of these mayors, these leaders in their communities, who understand that solving real problems means working together and I appreciate their trust in me,” Bell said in a statement.

Bell’s June campaign announcement centered around his push for reform after the 2014 killing by a police officer of unarmed Black teenager Michael Brown that led to a wave of unrest in Ferguson. In 2018, he defeated Bob McCulloch, the longtime Democratic prosecutor who was criticized for his handling of the prosecution against the Ferguson police officer.

Bell grew up in North St. Louis County, a predominantly Black part of the St. Louis region that includes Ferguson.

Before becoming the county prosecutor, he served as a judge, law professor and public defender.

In 2015, Bell was elected to the Ferguson City Council where he was involved in negotiating a joint policing reform decree with the U.S. Department of Justice after the Ferguson unrest.