Today the non-partisan election forecaster Cook Political Report shifted Republican Congressman Ann Wagner’s seat in Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District from “Likely Republican” to “Lean Republican” signaling that the Republican hold on suburban St. Louis is quickly disappearing. Citing how statewide Democrats have overperformed in the district and the decreasing margin of victory among Republican presidential candidates. Cook Political also points to Jill Schupp’s impressive fundraising as a reason for the shift.
In case you missed it, Schupp raised $475,000 in less than one month, more than Wagner did in the entire fourth quarter – as a reason for the shift.
“St. Louisans are tired of Congresswoman Ann Wagner’s extreme, out-of-touch rhetoric and ideology,” said DCCC Spokesperson Courtney Rice. “Her record makes clear that she’d rather serve as a Republican party shill than represent her constituents. Come November, voters in the 2nd District will have a clear choice between this career Republican fundraiser and Jill Schupp’s tireless advocacy on behalf of Missouri’s families and her record as a problem solver and consensus builder.”
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MO-02: Ann Wagner (R) – East: Western St. Louis suburbs
Lean Republican. Once a GOP bastion, these St. Louis suburbs have gotten more purple of late. President Trump took 52 percent here in 2016, down from Mitt Romney’s 57 percent in 2012. In 2018, Democratic attorney Cort VanOstran held Wagner to a surprisingly close 51 percent to 47 percent margin as Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill carried the district en route to losing statewide.
This cycle, Democrats scored state Sen. Jill Schupp, an advertising businesswoman who beat former Sen. John Ashcroft’s son to flip a state senate seat in 2014. Schupp raised $475,000 in 2019 and will rehash portrayals of Wagner, a former ambassador to Luxembourg, as an out-of-touch socialite. But Wagner ended 2019 with $2.5 million on hand and won’t be afraid to pick apart Schupp’s Jefferson City voting record.