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May 5, 2024 |  By: Rudi Keller - Missouri Independent

Petition drive succeeds in placing new party on Missouri’s November ballot

election

By Rudi Keller - Missouri Independent

A new political party will appear on Missouri’s ballot this year, the brainchild of a candidate hoping to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley in November.

Jared Young, an attorney and businessman from Webb City, last year announced he would run as an independent candidate in the Senate race. In April, he decided to instead submit signatures to create a new political organization, the Better Party, and invited other candidates to join it.

Under Missouri law, an independent statewide candidate must submit 10,000 signatures from registered voters to the Secretary of State’s office. That is the same number required to form a new political party.

Young submitted signatures on April 19, and of 21,587 signatures checked, 10,696 were valid, Madison Walker, spokesman for the office, wrote in an email. The results were certified on Wednesday.

Along with Young, the Better Party has nominated Blake Ashby of Ferguson as its candidate for the 1st Congressional District seat currently held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Cori Bush.

Those are the only two candidates the party will field this year. Candidate filings had to be submitted with the petitions, Walker wrote.

Young is campaigning as an alternative to politicians out-of-touch with voters.

“Both parties have become overly obsessed with holding onto or regaining power at all costs,” Young wrote on Facebook after the signatures were confirmed. “In their current form, they no longer represent the hopes and beliefs of most Americans.”

According to his first-quarter campaign finance report, Young has raised $364,377 for his campaign and had $110,650 on hand.

Young will be listed fourth on the November ballot for Senate.

Hawley, unopposed for renomination, has raised $7.6 million since January 2023 for his campaign committee and had $5.5 million on hand on March 31. Democrat Lucas Kunce leads a four-person field for the Aug. 6 primary with $7.7 million raised and $3.3 million on hand.

The other Democratic candidates are state Sen. Karla May of St. Louis, December Harmon of Columbia and Mita Biswas of St. Louis.

W.C. Young of Kansas City is unopposed for the Libertarian Party nomination.

If he’s successful at garnering at least 2% of the vote in the November U.S. Senate race, Young’s new party will be able to file candidates without the petition requirement in 2026 and 2028. To stay on the ballot for elections after 2028, the party would again need to meet the 2% threshold in at least one race.

If Ashby receives 2% of the vote in the 1st District race but Young falls short statewide, the Better Party could file candidates for future contests in that district but would have to petition to obtain a statewide ballot line.

Two other minor parties have lost the status as established parties in recent Missouri elections.

The Green Party obtained 2.4% in the 2016 election for lieutenant governor but failed to repeat that in subsequent elections. The Constitution Party obtained 2.1% in the 2018 election for state auditor but failed to repeat that in subsequent elections.