Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Jake LaTurner, who opposes abortion, is backed by a Missouri megadonor trying to defeat a new Missouri law banning the procedure after eight weeks of pregnancy.
LaTurner has received $11,200 from Joplin, Mo., roofing executive David Humphreys and his wife, Debra, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission in April.
LaTurner declined to comment on the contributions through a spokeswoman. Efforts to reach Humphreys were unsuccessful. LaTurner is the only officially declared Senate candidate although there is an array of other candidates looking at the race.
Humphreys’ political connections to LaTurner are unclear. Some have speculated that it could be geography: LaTurner’s hometown of Galena is just across the border from Joplin where Humphreys’ company is based.
Other political operatives in the state are watching to what extent, if any, Humphreys might increase his involvement in Kansas politics.
Humphreys, who has contributed millions to Missouri political campaigns, has been in the news lately for his efforts to reverse Missouri’s bill banning abortion at eight weeks with a medical emergency as the only exception.
Last week, Humphreys put $1 million into a political action committee – the Committee to Protect the Rights of Victims of Rape & Incest – that was created to rescind the law.
The committee, whose only donation is from Humphreys, is pushing to put the abortion bill on the Missouri ballot next year.
Humphreys and the committee also are suing the Missouri secretary of state over his decision to reject their application for a referendum.
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a separate lawsuit on a second application to put the abortion measure to a vote.
Humphreys had asked Republican Gov. Mike Parson to veto the bill because it lacked exceptions for rape or incest.
He called the bill “bad public policy for Missourians,” according to published reports.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch obtained a statement from Humphreys in which he said he had “never entered the public debate over abortion. Nor have I wanted to. Nor do I really want to now.”
However, in an interview he gave to the Springfield News-Leader in 2017, Humphreys said he supported a woman’s right to choose an abortion.
LaTurner has been steadfastly opposed to abortion, a position that supporters believe is a strongly held conviction.
“I don’t believe that LaTurner’s abortion beliefs would be influenced by anybody’s donation or lack thereof,” said Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life.
Culp noted that the money LaTurner received from Humphreys was in the context of the approximately $300,000 that LaTurner raised during the first quarter of this year for the Senate race.
“I don’t believe it would influence him in any way,” she said.
LaTurner was quick to denounce the recent state Supreme Court decision that found the right to an abortion is protected in the state constitution.
He called the court’s decision “one of the darkest days” in state history and said the ruling was an “abomination.”
He spoke at this year’s March for Life rally at the Capitol.
“If abortion is not wrong, nothing is wrong,” LaTurner told a crowd gathered in the rotunda back in January.
“We need to stand up and be heard,” he said. “We need to stand up to the politicians that tout the empty lies of the pro-abortion community. We need to stand up and support pro-life elected officials that are doing the work.”
The story by the Springfield News-Leader characterized Humphreys — president and chief executive of Joplin-based TAMKO Building Products — as a rising political player in Missouri politics with millions to spend on political races.
Described as press shy, Humphreys revealed some insights about himself in responding to questions from the newspaper.
Among other things, the newspaper’s profile indicated that he has libertarian leanings “with no allegiance to a particular party.”
A former corporate tax attorney, Humphreys told the paper that he once interned in the public defender’s office in Miami and that he once was a member of the American Civil Liberties Union.
“I support gay rights,” Humphreys told the News-Leader. “I support drug legalization in principle though I believe we need to see how legalization in places like Colorado evolves as we consider it as a policy issue. I do not like the idea of abortion but nevertheless I support a woman’s right to choose.”
Wichita State University political scientist Neal Allen said a social moderate doesn’t have much space in a Republican primary in Kansas or Missouri.
“He’s got to find a way to play in Republican primaries if he wants to have influence,” Allen said of Humphreys.
“You really are kind of stuck if you’re a big donor sorting out where you want to be among the various socially conservative options.”
Allen said he didn’t think the contributions from Humphreys would necessarily be an Achilles’ heel for LaTurner.
He said the politics over banning abortion in cases of rape and incest are still evolving.
Allen pointed out that in 2012, however, the issue helped cost Todd Akin the U.S. Senate race in Missouri and Richard Mourdock the U.S. Senate race in Indiana.
