Missouri congressional hopefuls run on low budgets
JEFFERSON CITY (AP) - Missouri's eight Congress members hold a huge cash advantage over their challengers.
Heading into the final few weeks before the Aug. 5 primaries, incumbent Congress members were sitting on nearly $5 million in campaign cash. By contrast, their 38 challenges had less than $100,000 combined in their campaign accounts.
The challengers generally lack the name recognition of the incumbents.
Yet some of the challengers remain hopeful of success, citing the upset victory of Dave Brat over U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in Virginia's Republican primary.
Missouri State University political science professor George Connor said a similar upset is highly unlikely in Missouri. He said Missouri's incumbents are generally viewed as conservative or liberal and thus aren't as susceptible to a challenge from the political right or left in primaries.