Andrew Bailey, Will Scharf face off in Republican primary for MO Attorney General

There is only one contested primary in the Missouri Attorney General race. Andrew Bailey is campaigning to win his first election and remain in the role he was appointed to fill by Gov. Mike Parson.

Bailey took office in January 2023 after Eric Schmitt was elected to represent Missouri in the U.S. Senate.

In the Aug. 6 primary, incumbent Bailey faces Republican challenger Will Scharf, an attorney and former federal prosecutor.

The winner of that contest will face Democrat Elad Gross, a civil rights attorney, and Libertarian Ryan Munro, an attorney, in November.

Both supporters of former President Donald Trump, Bailey and Scharf — who has worked as one of Trump's personal attorneys — have broadly focused on similar issues: Immigration, abortion rights, gender-affirming care, violent crime and education.

As the state's 44th Attorney General, Bailey has actively engaged in "culture war" issues and taken a conservative stance on issues involving children, teenagers and students in K-12 and higher education. A sampling include:

• Actively opposing efforts, including changes to Title IX, to allow transgender females to participate in female sports or access female locker rooms;

• In an effort to halt gender-affirming care for juveniles, Bailey sought records from Planned Parenthood, launched an investigation into a St. Louis health care center, and sought an emergency rule to temporarily block the use of puberty blockers and the prescription of hormones;

• Launching an investigation into a Hazelwood school district's diversity, equity and inclusion programs after a student was assaulted by another student;

• Filing an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of College of the Ozarks as it fought a ban backed by President Joe Biden against housing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity;

• Repeatedly challenging efforts by the Biden administration to cancel student loan debt, arguing that Missouri's student loan servicing company, MOHELA, was an arm of state government;

• Taking over a lawsuit against Springfield Public Schools originally filed by Schmitt over a 2021 Sunshine Law request into diversity, equity and inclusion training that alleged the use of critical race theory. The trial is set to start in late November.

The News-Leader made multiple requests to interview Bailey over a three-week period but he was not made available.

Bailey earned his juris doctor from the University of Missouri School of Law. He was general counsel for the Missouri Department of Corrections, worked for the governor's office under Parson, and was assistant Attorney General before his appointment.

As a member of the U.S. Army, he served in Iraq and was awarded numerous medals including two Bronze Star Medals.

Scharf, a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, was a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri. He also worked as a personal attorney for Trump.

"The key contrast in this race is really Jefferson City versus grassroots conservatives all across the state of Missouri," Scharf said. "I think people are deeply dissatisfied with the government that they've been getting from our elected leaders."

In an interview, Scharf said Bailey's efforts to safeguard students and public education did not go far enough.

"I think Schmitt was far more successful and had a far more proactive agenda on education issues than Bailey. When you look at, for example, the critical race theory lawsuit that Eric Schmitt filed against Springfield Public Schools," Scarf said.

"Schmitt was hyper-aggressive about bringing and prosecuting that lawsuit. Bailey's team have just let it sit there."

If elected, Scharf said he prefers the "more proactive education agenda" approach employed by Schmitt.

"I want to launch an investigation into our state department of education, into DESE. I think we have a real problem where our state education establishment is comprehensively failing to properly education Missouri's young people," he said.

Scharf said the education system needs to be "focused on the rights of parents" and alleged DESE is "advancing a leftist political agenda."

"We have this sense that superintendents, that school administrators should be the ones in charge, whereas I believe that parents really need to be in the driver's seat," he said.

More: Missouri attorney general candidates share their goals if elected this year

Who else is running?

There are four candidates running for Missouri Attorney General. The Republican primary candidates are Andrew Bailey and Will Scharf. The Democratic primary candidate, Elad Gross, and Libertarian candidate Ryan Munro are both running unopposed in August.

Want to know more?

A look at the campaign websites for candidates in the Missouri Attorney General race:

• Andrew Bailey, Republican: baileymo.com

• Will Scharf, Republican: votescharf.com

• Elad Gross, Democrat: eladgross.org

• Ryan Munro, Libertarian: None found.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Missouri attorney general race: Andrew Bailey, Will Scharf face off