Outgoing Missouri Democratic Party chairman mulling attorney general bid

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Outgoing chairman of the Missouri Democratic Party Mike Sanders told reporters Saturday he may not be completely leaving the statewide political scene.

Sanders, the Jackson County Executive, said while he is currently focused on his reelection in 2014, as the county’s former prosecutor, he has his eyes on the attorney general’s office in 2016.

“It is the chief law enforcement seat within the state of Missouri,” he said. “If things line up, if things go well in 2014, it would be hard not to take a serious look at that office.

Sanders said if he were to seek the office, it would take him back to his “roots in law enforcement,” going all the way back to October of 1994, when he was hired into the prosecutor’s office now-Sen. Claire McCaskill.

Sanders is the only Democrat openly mulling a run for the seat, while a handful of Republican lawmakers – including Sen. Kurt Schaefer, Sen. Eric Schmitt, and House Speaker Tim Jones – have touted their own interest in the office.