The race for Missouri's 6th Senate District is framed around the Republican incumbent's voting record, which a challenger of the same party contends isn't representative of the district.
Mike Bernskoetter, a Cole County Republican and first-term state senator representing Mid-Missouri's 6th Senate District, faces challenger Scott Riedel, a Camden County Republican and Army veteran who served domestically and overseas as an air defense artillery officer and chaplain for 31 years, in the Aug. 2 Republican primary election.
Riedel said Bernskoetter's voting record isn't conservative enough.
Bernskoetter said his opponent is conflating procedural votes with his position on several issues, such as student athletes participating on sports teams that don't correspond to their sex at birth and the teaching of critical race theory at public universities. The two candidates also disagree on the latest increase to Missouri's gas tax.
There are no other candidates from other parties vying for the seat, meaning the election will be decided in August.
Riedel, who said he has been campaigning since October, described Bernskoetter's voting record as "radical" for the district and said it's the reason he joined the race.
"His voting record is just really not in line with his conservative district," Riedel said. "And trust me, when I go out door-to-door and I tell them that I'm a conservative Republican, everybody says, 'Oh thank God.' So that gives you an idea what they want and when they see his voting record, they're not happy at all."
Bernskoetter said he stands behind his voting record as conservative, and voters in the community recognize it.
"I'm very proud of my voting record," he said. "I'm pro-life. I voted to cut taxes. I've been the chairman of agriculture and done what I can do for farms and family farms. I'm a small-business owner, and I've always looked out for the small-business community when I'm voting. I'm very proud of my voting record, we just have this group that's turning our voting records around, or trying to turn our voting records around, but the people of my district don't believe that stuff that The 100 PAC is putting out. They know that those things aren't true."
The 100 PAC is a political action committee aligned with members of the Senate's Conservative Caucus and operated by Jim Lembke, a former state senator. The PAC supports Republican candidates who have vowed to join the Conservative Caucus. But Lembke has previously said it won't get involved with Senate races in which a GOP incumbent is running. The PAC hasn't financially contributed to Riedel's campaign nor is he pictured among the candidates on the PAC's website.
In a campaign handout, Riedel states Bernskoetter voted to increase the state tax on gasoline, for critical race theory to be taught at public universities and for "men playing in girl sports and allowed in locker rooms."
Riedel said he would vote to eliminate the state's most recent gas tax increase and Missouri's personal property tax.
Bernskoetter voted in favor of the gas tax increase in 2021, as did 11 other Senate Republicans and nine Senate Democrats. Twelve Republicans and one Democrat voted against the measure. With gas prices increasing and tax holiday proposals offered last session, Bernskoetter said he could be in favor of a one-year pause on the gas tax increase, but he would not support efforts to repeal the tax.
"I mean, they've even talked about repealing the federal tax and they haven't done that, but if we wanted to pause it for a year until things leveled off," he said. "But the main reason for the increase in price of gas has nothing to do with the 2.5 cents that we imposed."
Bernskoetter blamed increased gas prices on federal policies enacted by President Joe Biden.
He said the funds generated from the state gas tax are critical for infrastructure repair, noting Missouri has the sixth largest transportation system but comes in at 42nd in funding for the system and the gas tax hadn't been increased since 1996 so income hasn't kept pace with regular inflation. He said it's not conservative to neglect the state's road system.
Riedel said he would also vote to ban transgender athletes from joining sports and using locker rooms and restrooms that don't correspond to their sex at birth, which he claims Bernskoetter supports. He said he was disappointed Bernskoetter didn't advance measures during the last legislative session that would have outlawed it.
Bernskoetter said his opponent is referring to his vote on a motion to lay the topic over for more study and he doesn't support transgender students participating on their chosen sports teams.
"They're cherry-picking votes, and they're turning them all around and saying that I'm in favor of transgender sports," he said. "There's not a Republican up there that's in favor of that."
Riedel said he would also vote to ban critical race theory, a decades-old academic framework that takes a critical approach to race in relation to social institutions, from being taught in public schools and universities. He said he would also vote for legislation that returns school curriculum choices back to local districts.
"We don't want ideology taught," Riedel said. "We want reading, writing and arithmetic taught."
Critical race theory studies the way race and racism influence politics, culture and the law, challenging the idea that racism should be viewed as an individual prejudice. It instead views racism as systemic.
Bernskoetter said he's also not supportive of critical race theory being taught in public schools, despite Riedel's claims to the contrary. Bernskoetter said his opponent was again confusing his vote to study the issue more with his position on the subject.
"This isn't grade school student council; the things we say and the things we do and how we do them are important. You can't just throw stuff out there and see what happens," he said. "We get both sides of the issue and fully vet the issue. And then we craft legislation and hopefully we can come up with the best legislation and you know how you're going to enforce it and if there's going to be penalties for this or that."
Last legislative session, ideological fractures among Senate Republicans saddled progress on a number of party priorities. Senate leadership blamed a group of seven Republican senators, known as the Conservative Caucus, for employing stall tactics and attaching controversial amendments to hurt the viability of legislation. The division most noticeably impacted the state's congressional redistricting process as members of the Conservative Caucus filibustered for weeks to pass a map that favored seven Republican-leaning seats, as opposed to six.
Riedel said his ability to make progress on these issues depends on who is elected.
"If I was to go in there right now, I don't think I could get anything done," he said. "I mean, I'd do the best I could, but really this comes down to who is elected."
If the Republican incumbents up for election are voted out of office, Riedel said that opens the door for people who share views more similar to his to be elected. With a PAC established, there's a movement afoot to grow the ranks of the Conservative Caucus that could oust leadership. But Riedel said he's unsure whether he will immediately join the Conservative Caucus if elected.
Bernskoetter, who was aligned with Senate Republican leadership throughout the last session, said his voting record and legislative achievements show he can work with other lawmakers to pass legislation into law.
Scott Riedel