JEFFERSON CITY, Mo – After long-time Senator Roy Blunt announced he was not running for reelection in 2021, questions over who would run to fill the seat began rapidly circling. However, one Democrat had already filed to run: former Missouri State Sen. Scott Sifton.
Based out of St. Louis, Sifton represented the 96th district of the Missouri House from 2011 to 2013, then was elected to represent the 1st district of the Missouri Senate from 2013 to 2021.
He briefly ran for the Democratic nomination in the 2019 gubernatorial election before stepping down and endorsing Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway, which would later pay off. Sifton announced his candidacy for U.S. Senate on Feb. 8, 2021 and received a return endorsement by Galloway within the hour.
Sifton is running his campaign on an anti-corporate PACs platform, per his website. But in past years, Sifton’s donor history tells a different story.
According to the Missouri Ethics Commission, between 2009-2020, Sifton accepted over $900,000 from corporations and corporate PACs.
Among the largest donors were those affiliated with Planned Parenthood, big pharma company Pfizer, and Ameren. Other notable corporations that Sifton accepted donations from include Monsanto, Boeing and Wal-Mart.
Some Missourians interpret the apparent disparity in Sifton’s beliefs as hypocrisy and insincerity, and Missouri GOP Executive Director Charlie Dalton agrees with them.
“Sifton is a classic example of Democrats saying one thing and doing another,” Dalton said. “He claims to be against corporate PAC money but has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from corporate PACs and special interests. One of them being Planned Parenthood, an organization that supports taxpayer-funded abortions. It’s clear who Scott Sifton stands with.”
Sifton’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment. It is unclear if he plans on returning the corporate donations or what has caused his change of mind on the issue.
Missourians can expect Sifton to be pressed more on the issue in the future as the election continues to inch closer.
