Trudy Busch Valentine wins MO Democratic Senate primary, setting up showdown with Schmitt

Philanthropist and Anheuser-Busch beer heir Trudy Busch Valentine won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Missouri Tuesday, with a message of restoring civility in Washington, D.C. that was amplified by $5 million of her own money.

Democrats now head into the general election with female nominee who worked as a nurse at the top of a ticket in a year where the party will heavily emphasize women’s health care and abortion rights in the aftermath of a U.S. Supreme Court opinion that overturned a constitutional right to an abortion, leaving the decision up to the states.

Busch Valentine will face Republican state Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who played a key role in implementing Missouri’s abortion ban just minutes after the Supreme Court decision in June.

Control of the evenly-divided U.S. Senate could ultimately hinge on Busch Valentine’s ability to overcome Missouri’s Republican lean to win in November. Democrats are expected to lose congressional seats to Republicans amid high inflation and poor approval ratings for President Joe Biden.

But Missouri Democrats are betting Busch Valentine’s appeal to a more civilized and cooperative politics will prove attractive to independents and some Republicans. Busch Valentine, a political newcomer, may bring a moderating voice to the state party, which holds just one statewide office – auditor.

The Associated Press called the Democratic race for Busch Valentine at 10:11 p.m.. She defeated former Marine Lucas Kunce and nine other minor candidates who also ran, though none attracted significant support.

“I never saw myself running for public office. I always wanted to be a nurse. When I was young, I saw nurses taking care of people, staying calm in crisis and solving problems,” Busch Valentine said in her victory speech. “I became a nurse because I was inspired by their dedication to service, and that same service is why I stand here as your Democratic nominee for the United States Senate.”

Busch Valentine’s chances largely hinge on whether she can effectively attack Schmitt in a state that has increasingly supported conservative candidates since former President Barack Obama’s reelection bid in 2012. Many Democrats had seen former Gov. Eric Greitens, who is accused of domestic abuse, as their party’s best shot at winning in November.

But that outlook isn’t universal. “I don’t think this is just an Eric Greitens or bust type thing,” said Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, who briefly weighed his own run for the Democratic nomination.

St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones, who endorsed Busch Valentine, previewed how Democrats may go after Schmitt.

“I have served with Eric Schmitt. And I know that he doesn’t believe half the stuff that he talks about that he believes on TV. This is an act,” Jones said. “And so do you want to send someone to the U.S. Senate who actually believes in what they say or somebody who’s playing a game?”

Democrats last won a Senate seat in 2012, in part because of a controversial comment from the Republican nominee, former Rep. Todd Akin, a staunch anti-abortion lawmaker who said “legitimate rape” rarely resulted in pregnancy.

Abortion rights will once again figure heavily into the race, as Democrats are hoping that the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe v. Wade to say there is no constitutional right to an abortion will motivate enough Democratic voters to keep the coalition they built in the suburbs during the Trump years.

“Post Roe, I think that having a woman on the top of the ticket is a huge motivator for a lot of people,” said state Rep. Crystal Quade, the Democratic leader in the Missouri House. “You add to that, that Trudy is a nurse and has vast experience in the health care world. She understands the real life impacts of what is happening in our state when it comes to reproductive health care.”

Despite Busch Valentine’s pledge that she would bring unity to the U.S. Capitol, the race turned bitter in the final weeks. It was a rarity for the state party. Missouri Democrats haven’t experienced a highly competitive Senate primary in decades. Every Democratic nominee for Senate since at least 1998 has won with at least 66% of the vote.

In order to Busch Valentine will have to work toward uniting the Democratic Party, after alienating some of the more progressive Democrats in the state with her muddled answers about LGBTQ rights and her participation in a ball that has white supremecist origins.

Unity among the Democratic Party may be challenged by former U.S. Attorney John Wood, a Republican who is running as an independent candidate with a similar pledge to restore civility in Washington, D.C. Wood submitted more than 20,000 signatures to get on the ballot on Monday. Both Wood and Busch Valentine will be competing over moderate voters as they try to prevent a more conservative Republican from winning.

“Things are so negative and extreme,” Quade said.. “I think there are a lot of people who are eager to kind of get back to the way it used to be, if that makes sense. And I think that she definitely brings that.”

Busch Valentine, 64, is the daughter of August “Gussie” Busch, the powerful beer magnate who helped grow Anheuser-Busch to one of the most recognizable brands in the country. She grew up on the family farm that has now become an event venue in St. Louis.

She said she was inspired to become a nurse after her 8-year-old sister died in a car crash in 1974. Busch Valentine became a candy striper and later got her nursing degree before working at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. She eventually moved back to Missouri and worked for three years with children at the Salvation Army Residence in St. Louis before leaving to raise her family and continued to work in a volunteer capacity.

She spent at least $7 million of her fortune in donations to St. Louis University’s nursing school, which has been named after her.

Busch Valentine entered the primary two days before the state’s filing deadline, officially launching her bid after she filed. Her candidacy in the race came a year after Kunce and caused former state Sen. Scott Sifton to drop out in support of her campaign.

Soon, more followed – like U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver and former U.S. Sen. Jean Carnahan – as Busch Valentine appealed to more establishment Democrats who were uncomfortable with Kunce’s message that he wanted to be disruptive in Washington D.C. and upset the current power structure.

She made up the gap by investing more than $5.3 million of her own money in her campaign – using it to advertise her campaign to increase her name recognition and attack Kunce over his opposition to abortion rights and same-sex marriage when he ran for the Missouri House in 2006.

“She had the most money and she hailed from a family whose name had a large reservoir of goodwill throughout the state– a state of Busch drinkers,” said Jeff Smith, a former Democratic member of the Missouri House.

Kunce, meanwhile, set out to tap into Missouri’s populist streak, adopting the same posture of outrage against the elites as Greitens and U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, but gearing it toward Democratic policies.

He repeatedly challenged the Biden administration, particularly over their handling of foreign policy, and said he wanted to change how politics works by returning resources that have been spent on the military to helping repair struggling rural areas across the country. Biden won the Missouri presidential primary in 2020 by a large margin against Sanders.

Kunce’s populist message appeared to win several rural counties in the state, particularly in the boot heel region. But it didn’t prove enough to overcome Busch Valentine’s lead among Democrats in the state’s two biggest cities and the suburbs that surround them.

Meanwhile, Busch Valentine’s softer message appealed to voters who had been bombarded by candidates carrying guns and blowtorches and pledging to go to Washington D.C. to “fight” for their ideals.

“I’m not doing this for money, I’m not doing this for power, I’m not doing this for ego,” Bosch Valentine said. “I cannot be bought by any company. I am doing this because I care.”

The Star’s Emily Hood and Brittany Swearingen contributed reporting