Missouri Republicans are split into two factions. Could infighting upend the 2024 session?

The top Republican in the Missouri Senate last week condemned a growing authoritarian trend within the party, saying “so-called conservatives” are trying to use the power of government “to force people to do things that they want them to do.”

“It’s an alarming thing for me — just a trend at this point,” Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden, a Columbia Republican, told reporters.

Rowden said he wasn’t talking about anybody specifically, but his remarks come as a hard-right faction of state legislators have rebranded as the Missouri Freedom Caucus and are threatening to fight GOP leaders over any bill or idea they don’t think is conservative enough.

The group, formerly called the Conservative Caucus, has grown in membership with support from the national State Freedom Caucus Network. The expected fights among Republicans could halt the GOP-controlled General Assembly from accomplishing a variety of key bills this year and potentially shift the priorities in Jefferson City further to the right.

“The time for statesmanship is over,” state Sen. Nick Schroer, a St. Charles Republican and one of the group’s members, proclaimed on the Senate floor earlier this month.

In just the first two weeks of session, the group of lawmakers have already chewed up a significant amount of floor time in the Senate and used social media to attack more moderate Republicans, including over a failed attempt by the caucus to create a new rule that would have allowed lawmakers more time to study changes to bills before they’re voted on.

The hard-right faction is chaired by state Sen. Rick Brattin from Harrisonville and includes six senators and at least four representatives. The group is expected to build on the tactics of the former Conservative Caucus, which deployed procedural maneuvers, lengthy filibusters and attacks to advance hard-right legislation.

“We ascribe to the Republican platform,” Brattin told reporters on Thursday. “And unfortunately, you know, a lot of our Republicans here don’t want to advance the Republican agenda items.”

The affiliation with the national Freedom Caucus, he said, gives his caucus better access to staff members and attorneys who can review and vet bills in Missouri. The larger group is also monitoring the caucus’ votes to make sure they “uphold the brand,” he said.

“We have a much bigger sounding board,” he said.

Lawmakers of both parties are already expecting the Freedom Caucus to engage in fights over language in the renewal of the Federal Reimbursement Allowance, which is set to expire and funds Missouri’s Medicaid system.

Lawmakers battled over the FRA in 2021, forcing lawmakers into a special session. Hard-right lawmakers had pushed to add provisions banning Medicaid coverage for forms of birth control and blocking payments to Planned Parenthood.

“I’m sure there’ll be discussions,” Rowden said when asked if he thought the renewal would be hijacked. “You can’t jeopardize $4.5 billion…We’ll do everything we can to talk to anybody who wants to be part of the conversation.”

Brattin on Thursday appeared to confirm fears about an anticipated fight, telling reporters he expected the hard-right caucus to attach anti-abortion language to the proposal in the House even as Missouri has already outlawed the procedure.

Caucus wants ‘drastic cuts’

The Freedom Caucus’ priorities this year include changes to education funding including a tax-credit program to pay for private school scholarships, making it harder to change the state constitution and “drastic cuts” to the state budget, Brattin said. Earlier this month, Brattin pushed back on the idea that his caucus was a group of “obstructionists.”

But the caucus’ tactics have caused numerous lawmakers and political observers to feel pessimistic about what the General Assembly can accomplish this year, especially with the upcoming November elections in which lawmakers are expected to use floor time to boost their campaigns.

State Sen. Lincoln Hough, a Springfield Republican, said in an interview that he completely opposes Schroer’s comment about statesmanship, arguing that statesmanship within the General Assembly is “what that building needs.”

“There’s real implications to what they’re saying and what they’re doing and the real implications have an effect on the people that we all represent back at home,” he said, adding that the Freedom Caucus has “seemed bent to the direction of obstruction.”

Hough, who chairs the Senate’s powerful budget-writing committee, said that he agreed with Rowden’s comments about authoritarianism within the Republican Party.

“There has definitely seemed to be a movement in that direction and I don’t think it’s healthy,” he said, adding that the Freedom Caucus was “absolutely” part of that movement.

Schroer, in a lengthy statement to The Star, pushed back on the idea, saying that authoritarianism was more rampant among Democrats, pointing to pandemic-related shutdowns and mask mandates. He said Republican authoritarianism “pales in comparison to Democrats like Joe Biden.”

“The Republican party has been and always will be concentrating on finding ways to bridge the gap and find solutions with all interested parties negotiating in good faith,” he said. “The same goes for the Freedom Caucus.”

Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, an Independence Democrat, told reporters that the Freedom Caucus has already “drastically changed” the way business is conducted in the Senate and shifted the General Assembly further to the right.

“I don’t believe that they feel that they should compromise ever,” he said, tying the Republican infighting to the failure of key policies, such as access to child care services. “They fight about who likes Donald Trump more or whatever the latest Republican conspiracy theory is and things like that die.”

One notable absence from the hard-right group is Republican state Sen. Mike Moon from Ash Grove, a former member of the Conservative Caucus known for his extreme and fringe views, including comments last year suggesting that children as young as 12 should be able to get married as he pushed legislation that banned gender-affirming care for minors.

Moon posted a letter on social media last week saying that he was excluded from the larger national group due to his votes against sweeping bills that he felt violated the state constitution.

Brattin on Thursday pushed back on this claim, saying that the caucus was its own entity despite being affiliated with the national group and that Moon was invited to join several times and declined.

“We love Mike,” he said. “I hope he kind of changes thought process and course and does join.”

In the first week of session earlier this month, Rowden tried to project confidence about the chamber’s work this year, saying senators had a chance to “prove a bunch of people wrong.”

But five days later, he was on social media fighting with the Freedom Caucus.