As Missouri Gov. Mike Parson enters final year, his political legacy remains uncertain

When Gov. Mike Parson first addressed the Missouri General Assembly nearly six years ago, he urged lawmakers to look to the past and future, and honor those who leave their mark on the state.

“One hundred years ago, the governor’s mansion and the seats in this chamber were occupied by people whose names most of us don’t remember,” he told a joint session of the Missouri House and Senate in June 2018 after becoming governor following Eric Greitens’ resignation.

“And 100 years from now, long after each of us has departed from this earth, these seats will continue to exist, held by men and women whose grandparents have not even been born.”

On Wednesday, Parson will deliver his final State of the State address as he enters his final year in office. He’s likely to tout his administration’s long focus on infrastructure, such as the planned $2.8 billion expansion of I-70. He can also talk up his appointment of five statewide officeholders, more than any other Missouri governor in history.

But as Parson – a former Polk County sheriff who climbed the political ladder from state lawmaker to lieutenant governor to governor – looks to cement his place in Missouri political history in his last remaining year as governor, his legacy remains unsettled.

His legislative agenda and budget priorities, to be announced Wednesday, are under threat amid infighting among Republican lawmakers. And three of his statewide appointments — Attorney General Andrew Bailey, Treasurer Vivek Malek and Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe — are fighting to stay in office in highly-contested GOP primaries.

It’s a final chapter that could secure the legacy of a governor who began his time in the office by navigating Missouri out from under the cloud left by a disgraced predecessor. Or it could be a year that unravels it.

“I definitely think it’s going to be challenging, especially with the legislature,” said House Majority Leader Jonathan Patterson, a Lee’s Summit Republican.

“This session may not be one that a lot gets done, and the people that he’s appointed to these positions, they all are in tight races, and we’ll just have to see how those turnout.”

Still, Patterson said Parson has already built a solid legacy that isn’t necessarily dependent on 2024, painting him as someone who offered a steady hand after former Republican Gov. Eric Greitens resigned amid a slew of scandals.

“I think he’s really made the best of the hand that he was dealt,” Patterson said. “And I do think he’s got some significant legislative accomplishments that he can tout.”

Parson will outline his legislative agenda as Republican infighting in all parts of the Capitol could thwart action on most key issues. A hard-right faction of lawmakers called the Missouri Freedom Caucus have threatened to fight GOP leaders, especially in the Senate, over any bill or idea they deem not conservative enough.

The group has already effectively held hostage more than two dozen of Parson’s nominees for statewide agencies, boards and commissions as a bargaining chip with Senate leadership. The fights among Republicans could worsen in the coming weeks after Senate Republican leadership on Tuesday stripped the hard-right caucus of their committee leadership posts and parking spots.

One of the members of the hard-right faction that threatens to disrupt this year’s session is state Sen. Denny Hoskins, a Warrensburg Republican. When asked by The Star to weigh in on Parson’s legacy, Hoskins instead issued a call for Parson to rein in government spending and eliminate diversity programs.

Parson’s best chance at leaving a positive legacy this year would be by simply getting the basics of government completed on time, said Peverill Squire, a political science professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

“He certainly faces a difficult year,” Squire said. “I think he probably at this point would just be happy to get a balanced budget and maybe a couple of tax cuts and something he can ride out of office.”

Interviews with Republican lawmakers and a statement from Parson’s office signaled that Parson’s supporters believe his legacy is already secure regardless of what happens this year.

“In Governor Parson’s State of the State Address on Wednesday, Missourians will find that the Governor’s legacy is cemented,” Parson spokesperson Johnathan Shiflett said in an email. “The lasting legacy that Governor Parson has built over the previous five and a half years will continue serving Missourians long after he leaves office.”

While Parson supporters bristle at the idea that legislative inaction and the upcoming elections could diminish his legacy, the Republican governor has also made several controversial policy decisions — some that are also at risk of unraveling.

Parson in 2019 signed a law that triggered a near-total ban on abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in 2022. Missouri abortion rights supporters, arguing the unpopularity of abortion bans nationwide, have launched a campaign to overturn the ban through a statewide vote.

Parson also faced intense criticism from public health leaders over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, including his resistance to mandatory mitigation efforts. More than 22,000 Missourians died from COVID-19, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

In 2021 the Republican governor signed legislation that declared federal gun laws invalid if they don’t have a state-level equivalent. A federal judge struck down the law last year after the U.S. Department of Justice sued to overturn the measure. The decision is being appealed.

And last year, Parson signed bans on gender-affirming care for minors and transgender student athletes, two pieces of legislation aimed at the LGBTQ community that he signed during Pride Month. The laws have prompted some transgender Missourians to flee the state.

“Gov. Parson was the first governor to sign an executive order banning abortion. I disagree with that,” said Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, an Independence Democrat.

“He’s also been a part of, you know, loosening gun laws…He voted for every tax cut and signed every one that’s been on his desk if he didn’t vote for it when he was in the legislature…I don’t agree with some of those policies, and think that he was absolutely wrong in doing some of those things.”

However, Rizzo acknowledged that Parson has been “a good steward of the money that the Biden administration has pumped into the state” for infrastructure projects.

Parson touts statewide appointments

A major element of Parson’s influence hinges on the fact that he’s appointed more statewide officeholders than any other governor. When the Republican governor appointed Malek as treasurer in 2022 as the first person of color to hold statewide office in Missouri, Parson touted the moment as historic.

“With this appointment, we will have appointed individuals to statewide offices on the behalf of the people of Missouri on five separate occasions,” Parson said at the time. “This has never been done before and may never be done again.”

But the effects of that accomplishment could be ripped away in the August Republican primary election, with Malek and Bailey both facing hard-right challengers. One of his other appointees, Kehoe, also faces two right-wing challengers in his bid for governor this year.

While Parson has not admitted it publicly, his actions point to a desire to keep at least one of his appointees, Bailey, in office. The Missouri Independent reported last week that Parson in September used official letterhead to criticize the Republican Attorneys General Association for not supporting Bailey enough in his bid for a full term.

“It’s something that should not have been done in that fashion. It was clearly campaign related,” Squire said of the letter. “I don’t think anybody’s surprised that he is attached to Bailey and wants to see him win…But again, you can only go so far as governor.”

Jean Evans, a former executive director of the Missouri Republican Party, said that as politics have shifted to being more about grievances and feuds, Parson represents “old Republican politics” that focus on building relationships.

Evans said she did not think that Parson’s legacy would be impacted if voters ousted some of his statewide appointments, pointing to his administration’s infrastructure funding as well as his appointments to the Missouri Supreme Court which solidified a female majority.

Parson supporters in interviews agreed that his impact on the state has largely been seen through the state’s spending on infrastructure projects, including repairing bridges and the expansion of I-70. State Sen. Lincoln Hough, a Springfield Republican who led the push to expand the highway, said Parson’s legacy will be the investments he’s made in the state.

Hough, who has a front row seat to the Republican infighting in the Senate, said he expected Parson to encourage lawmakers to negotiate in good faith.

“I think the message is, if we want to talk about changes in policies that are brought forward, let’s have those conversations,” he said. “But let’s not devolve this institution into a hostage situation every day we walk out on that floor, because that’s not good for anyone.”

For Rizzo, the Independence Democrat, Parson has been a double-edged sword and his legacy depends on what issue a person is talking about.

“There’s a lot of things as a Democrat that I vehemently disagree with that Mike Parson has been a part of…that have been really damaging,” he said, pointing to the abortion ban and loose gun laws.

“But I also believe that he’s been a pretty steady hand… at a time when the Republican Party is pretty vitriolic.”