“Attorney General Chris Koster received the National Rifle Association’s nod Tuesday for Missouri governor over GOP rival Eric Greitens, yet another endorsement for the Democrat from a group that typically supports Republicans.” Huh? Are they insane? Well, no. Koster isn’t your typical Democrat.
The NRA’s political action committee cited Koster’s record as a state senator and attorney general, including his support of a sweeping bill to expand gun rights that Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed this year. The gun rights group also highlighted that Koster supported a concealed guns law in 2003 when he was a state senator, as well as a more recent constitutional amendment aimed at making gun-control restrictions subject to strict legal scrutiny.
It should be noted that the NRA’s backing of Democrats hasn’t always worked out well. They tend to migrate — with alarming regularity — to the anti-gun party line as they ascend in state and national politics. But Missouri could be the exception that proves the rule. Outside of St. Louis and Kansas City urban Democrats, support for gun rights is unusually strong on both sides of the aisle in the Show Me State. Then again, Koster’s a St. Louisan who also lived and worked in Kansas City.
But there’s a fair amount of suspicion about Koster’s ex-SEAL opponent’s recent conversion to the GOP.
Greitens is a former Democrat and first-time GOP candidate who’s touted his military service and gun rights support. In one of his most attention-grabbing campaign ads, he shoots a big gun and causes a fiery explosion.
Hold on though…Koster used to play for the other side, too.
Koster, a former Republican state senator, is the only statewide Democratic candidate to earn an NRA endorsement. In an email, Koster pledged to “continue to protect the traditions and values of people across Missouri” if he’s elected governor.
So Missourians are either fortunate to have two such staunch 2A-supporting gubernatorial candidates from which to chose, or they’re rolling the dice on both sides that the next governor is who and what he says he is. We live in interesting times.