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Welcome back to Last Call.

Hey, political season.

It's coming up, man, August is, the first Tuesday in August is almost here.

It kind of snuck up on me.

But another race.

Jason, we have Von Dross versus Gina Bitton.

Von Dross' first name, I'm sorry.

Von Dross versus Fred Wellman.

Fred Wellman, I'm sorry.

Bitton was Mr.

Butts.

It was Mr.

Butts.

That was my fault, I put it wrong on the teleprompter there.

So, this is where I live.

Okay, I'm following this race.

I thought Mr.

Wellman, you know, came out early, and I thought he had some momentum, but is that a done deal, or you think it'll be close?

Won't be a done deal until the primary.

I think that Wellman has significantly more institutional support.

Like, she has support from, like, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who's a senator, a number of sitting members of Congress, a lot of state legislators, including Jill Shoup, who ran the 2nd District.

I wouldn't say Von Dross is, like, a non-entity.

She's put a lot of her money in the race.

She has a lot of really ardent fans.

She's doing a lot of town hall meetings.

I think it is not unusual for there to be a primary in the 2nd Congressional District.

There was in 2018 between Mark Osmack and Court Van Ostrin.

That did not really hurt Van Ostrin when he only lost Dan Wagner by a small amount.

So I actually think primaries could probably be not as damaging, and I think it'll probably, I'm assuming, like, the National Party will do polling of the 2nd District, and if it's really close, then the winner will get DCCC funding, which is a blessing and a curse.

It's a blessing because you get the money.

It's a curse because the DCCC makes the candidates, like, go into a very moderate-ish box when they really don't want to.

Okay, but I was gonna say, what does it make them?

Do you have to be more progressive once you get it?

Well, the 2nd, you know, it's probably the opposite.

You probably have to be blander, I think is the best way I could put it.

The 2nd District is also, like, we didn't talk about this in the first segment, but the thing that's hanging over a lot of these progressive, not progressive-y primaries, a lot of these congressional primaries, is the fact that it's being done on the new congressional map.

And on August 4th, Denny Hoskins is likely gonna say, no referendum, it's hurting my feelings, or it's illegal, or whatever.

If that referendum is put on the ballots by a court, the Supreme Court of Missouri very clearly said that map was not in effect as of last December.

So the prospect of having to do redo primaries, like in September and October, I'm not saying it's gonna happen, people, but I think somebody who loses a primary by a small margin could say, we just ran a primary on a map we shouldn't have.

So that's something to keep in mind.

The 2nd District, 2015, or 2025, is much different from 2022.

And even the 1st District, it's not radically changed, but it is different.

So that is something to keep in mind, and not forget about, that there is some ambiguity over which map is gonna be done in November.

Interesting race also in the sense that it's boiled down to sort of money issues, in the sense that Fred Wellman had taken a shot at Ms.

Vondross back in February or early March, about lending money to her own campaign, saying that was out of touch, to which she immediately responded, bringing up Fred Wellman's two bankruptcies and federal liens that he's had, and still trying to pay down, an issue that he has been up front on the campaign trail.

So it's not hidden.

Well, because somebody's gonna bring it up if you don't bring it up.

So I mean, when you needed a candidate, he was.

I don't think that's politically heroic.

I just think that's realistic.

I didn't say it was heroic.

I just said he hasn't tried to you settle down.

Hey, don't tell me to calm down.

So I think that it's come to be that argument there.

But as Jason said, it seems that the Democratic establishment has already kind of cast their weight in with Fred Wellman, along with all the people he mentioned, Jason Kander, his endorser, a lot of the trade unions, the big ones, the Teamsters, the UAW, have also endorsed him.

So it seems to me that the Democratic Party, at least in Missouri, wants Fred Wellman to run as the Democratic candidate, which is where the other money issue comes in, because whoever wins is gonna run against Ann Wagner, who if it happened today, they would have about a couple of hundred thousand dollars apiece, Ms.

Vandross and Fred Wellman.

Congresswoman Wagner has $4.4 million.

So at some point in time, you know, people go, well, money counts, and you can say what you want about, and we can, as political reporters, divvy it all up.

90% of the voting population does not pay as much attention to these things as we do, and they go by commercials and ads.

Money is name recognition.

Name recognition is money, and Ann Wagner has it.

And all I know is that every two years, everybody says Ann Wagner is vulnerable, and she's now served seven terms.

And she's becoming more entrenched with each passing term.

That's clear, and I think there's something about Ms.

Vandross who, I mean, it seems, it's very charming and sort of esoteric, but this feels like big machine politics, and I'm not sure that she can pull that off.

You know, living in that district, I kind of sometimes feel like I'm not represented because I never see or hear from my congresswoman.

Maybe that catches up with her this time.

I don't know, I think there's a lot of furor out there.

I'd like the Democrats' chance in this race much more than I like our friend Ray Hartman's two years ago for various reasons.

I think it'll be a lot closer.

I think it will be, too, but here's the thing.

The Democrat has to win St.

Louis County for all the blueing of that part of the district.

I'm making up words today.

Blueing and progressive-y.

Nobody has ever beaten Ann Wagner in St.

Louis County, and that is to her credit that she is outrunning people like Trump and the gubernatorial candidates.

So until any Democrat does that, it's over.

Like, they need to win St.

Louis County first before we even consider this race competitive.

And even though we have a very strict non-wager policy here at 9PBS, Joe and I believe that she will not come any closer than Ray Hartman.

I do, I think so.

Amy, you wanna add anything to that?

No, you guys have done it really well.

Okay, all right.

Oh, wait, here's what I'll say, is that the good news is, is running a couple companies into bankruptcy doesn't automatically eliminate you from political office.

It's been proven.

Very true, very true.

It's been proven.

You're so right.

He's got a chance, yeah.

So, you know, the election, general, the midterms are in November, and if you count the months, well, St.

Charles County put a hold on data centers for six months.

Conveniently, it's past the election date.

So is this a big deal, Amy?

Are they kind of thumbing their nose at data centers or just kind of putting it on pause?

I would like to say it's both because it is very politically convenient, but at the same time with this push, push, push to build these data centers, specifically the large-scale data centers, which are different than the small and medium, which we already have all around us.

It's in Chesterfield and downtown, but these large -scale data centers, I think the push to develop and build is moving more quickly than cities and counties and states can really understand the impacts of what these data centers will do.

So while, yes, I think a pause is smart, is prudent, I'm not naive as to like, you know what, let's just kick the can down the road six months.

Well, the other thing too is this is just for St.

Charles County.

It's not for the municipalities, which I'm sure still want that sweet, sweet data center.

Sweet, sweet data center money.

Just saying back there, that sounds like a blues singer.

So my understanding from talking with Steve Allman, who's the incumbent, and there are two people running against him, Jason Law and Bill Igel, there's really not a lot of developable land where you would put a data center, maybe in a floodplain.

We could see if a data center floats.

Yeah, I've left it in my own throats.

Yeah, open mic night with Jason.

I saw the- You're all weak, folk.

I saw the Japanese nuclear power plant, you know, like those things don't work out well.

Not that, you know, I'm not a fan of that.

Do you think, as you said, Amy, do you think the push is on because they realize that the window is closing?

I mean, because Mr.

Brazil, when he responded to the St.

Charles, he said, this is nothing.

It means nothing.

Six months is nothing.

So, but it does seem that the opposition is gaining a lot more traction and they've got to act as fast as they can.

Yeah, I mean, again, I think the size, the placement of the data centers matter.

You look at Franklin County, the data center that was proposed next to the Shaw Nature Reserve and how they said, this is really gonna mess up the ecology, the flora and fauna of that area.

I just, I have a skeptical eye toward the data center developers, even though I know everyone said, well, you're on your phone, you use social media, you need a data center.

True, but we also know that the new meta data center campus in Louisiana is requiring 10 gas fuel burning power plants to just power that data center.

More than the entire state of Louisiana, I believe.

And so, do we know what we're getting into with these data centers?

And I think it's healthy to have a skeptical eye.

Well, I think one thing we can count on politicians, what they do better than anything else is kick cans down the road.

Oh, yeah, don't forget it.

All right, before we get out of here, we gotta talk about this.

One of the highly, most sensitive intelligence gathering campuses in the world is in St.

Louis.

And a guy in a pickup truck just drove past the first security point and was trying to walk right in.

Now, are you concerned about this or does this fall into the stuff happens category?

I'm not concerned.

They caught the guy.

They caught the guy.

They did, but you can do a lot with confidence and one accessory.

So if you're confident with a lanyard or you're confident with a ladder or you're confident with an utility van.

A vehicle.

A vehicle.

I think you can get further than people think.

He deserves a cake.

You know, there's a Simpsons episode where Bart was gonna give Homer a cake that says, you tried.

And I think he deserves that cake.

Right, and not to make light of it, because, you know, like the man may have really been up to some mayhem, but at the same time, he, right.

It's just, it's, you kind of chuckle and hopefully they've got this.

I'm just glad I'm not him right now.

I'm glad, wait, I'm glad I'm not the person who he drove by.

That person.

He's already looking for another place of employment.

Maybe we'll get a job at a data center.

All right.

Hey, thanks for hanging out with us on Last Call.

We'll see you next week on Donnie Brooke and Donnybrook Last Call.

Even if the light had gone out, even though I was still on the screen, I would have probably just broken character.