Rowden bids farewell to legislature

EMMA J. MURPHY

MIssouri News Network

JEFFERSON CITY — Caleb Rowden never expected to run for office. But Friday marks the last day of the final regular session of his 12 years representing Columbia and Boone County in the Missouri General Assembly.

For the past two years, Rowden has served as Senate president pro tem, the first senator representing Boone County to hold that position. He went from a touring musician in a band playing Christian music to holding the most powerful position in the Senate in just over a decade of public service.

As he leaves the legislature, he cites a number of victories: the Interstate 70 expansion, greater investments in public education and charter schools for Boone County.

But this final session has been challenging, seeing high levels of dysfunction in the Senate with Republican infighting in addition to the usual across-the-aisle disagreements with Democrats.

A group of far-right Senate Republicans known as the Freedom Caucus spent hours filibustering this session, seeking their priorities addressed on their schedule and preventing the Senate from debating and passing other legislation. They were vocal on the Senate floor and on social media about how disappointed they were with what they said was the Senate leadership’s unwillingness to press for Republican priorities.

As president pro tem, it’s up to Rowden and other Senate leaders to maintain order in the chamber so that legislation can be addressed. Part of that involves counting votes and knowing when there is a majority of Republicans ready to support specific bills.

Sen. Mike Cierpiot, R-Lee’s Summit, explains that the Republicans call themselves “the normals” in comparison to the Freedom Caucus.

“I encouraged (Rowden) all the time,” Cierpiot said. “I met with him early in the session and said, ‘We can’t back down with these guys; we just can’t.’”

Early in the session, Rowden took action against the Freedom Caucus in an effort to curb its disruptive actions after several weeks of caucus members using Senate time to criticize his and other Senate GOP leaders’ priorities. In what was seen as a dramatic, even harsh, move, he stripped the Freedom Caucus members of their committee memberships.

“I think we’ve done as best as we can. I think that Caleb, his entire leadership career … has been dealing with this chaos, and I think he’s done a remarkable job,” Cierpiot said.

Democrats acknowledge his efforts as well. Sen. Tracy McCreery, D-Olivette, said that Rowden “epitomizes what you’d expect of a statesperson.”

In a recent interview, Rowden recalled that back in 2016, the legislature experienced relatively low amounts of infighting as it was the first time in a while that a Republican had been elected governor.

But then the Conservative Caucus was created in 2018 when Sens. Denny Hoskins, R-Warrensburg, and Bob Onder, R-Lake Saint Louis, lost Senate leadership races to Sen. Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, and Rowden. Rowden said while the conservatives may claim this isn’t why the caucus was formed, it’s his opinion that this loss had everything to do with its creation.

“They broke the Senate so they can claim it’s broken,” Rowden said, referring to the friction and infighting that came from the Conservative Caucus — and now the Freedom Caucus. Rowden has also been open on social media platform X about his frustration with the Freedom Caucus. He has noted that their tactics tie up normal floor procedure despite the group having fewer votes than the nine Democrats.

“Obviously since he kicked me off being a chairman, kicked me off two committees, took my parking spot, this session has been rocky,” said Hoskins, a member of the Freedom Caucus. “The most rocky it’s been the last eight years.”

Rowden had announced his intent to run for secretary of state last fall but never formally filed to run and announced in March that he had decided not to.

“I just came to the realization that there are so many things in my life that I care about more than running for office,” Rowden said. “You have to prioritize … There’s only so much time in a day.”

For Rowden, his priorities are his family: his wife, Aubrey, and three children, Willem, Adele and Theo.

“Whatever I do next, we’re going to make sure that there’s space for my family and space for me to be a good dad,” Rowden said of his future plans.

Rowden owns a marketing company in Columbia but said he’s in no rush to make decisions about his next steps. While he said, “never say never,” Rowden does not see himself coming back to a public role and that it would “take a lot” to convince him.

So how did a musician find himself as the leader of the Missouri Senate?

“There was no ‘a-ha’ moment,” Rowden said.

Rowden said he wanted to settle down and establish roots. As he was finding his way and looking for ways to serve his community, he was approached and asked to run for office, initially for the Columbia City Council, but his sights soon changed to the Missouri House.

He was first elected to the House in 2012 by constituents of Boone and Cooper counties. District lines for both Senate and House seats have since been redrawn to limit them to the borders of Boone County.

Rowden has consistently run on a platform of strengthening the economy, community safety and investing in public education. He said these are the issues that most of his constituents care about — regardless of political affiliation.

“I think one of Caleb’s gifts is he’s been able to accurately represent his district,” McCreery said, “which, in my opinion, is more of a regular Republican district.”

When Rowden stepped into his role as majority leader in 2018, after being elected to the Senate in 2016, he said he had to give up a lot, specifically trading in pushing his personal priorities for the responsibilities of leadership. Despite being in a leadership role, Rowden said he didn’t want to continue running for office but felt like he got forced into it by his fellow Senate Republicans in 2020.

“I got elected to majority leader … which is a really unique opportunity to do big things for Columbia and Boone County,” Rowden said. “It was, ‘you’ve got some unfinished business’ and you’re in a position of influence that not many people get to be in so it’s worth sticking it out.”

Rowden said he is content with the legacy he’s leaving behind. He’s not sure if the senators who spent this session disrupting the legislative process will feel similarly about their legacies.

“I’m gonna look back and be really proud of what I’ve accomplished. I’m not sure they’re going to be able to say the same,” he said.

While he had to give up a lot of his personal priorities, Rowden kept his focus on improving education in Missouri. This past session he pushed for an education package that was signed by the governor on May 7. The $468 million package included increasing the minimum pay for teachers, allowing for charter schools in Boone County and changing the funding formula for public schools.

Rowden said he expects Sen. Cindy O’Laughlin, R-Shelbina, to take his place as it’s the natural pecking order to move from majority leader to president pro tem. O’Laughlin would be the first woman to hold the position in Missouri. But who takes O’Laughlin’s seat as floor leader is more of a mystery.

Rowden’s advice to those hoping to take his place as the leader of the Senate: “Don’t run.”

He laughed after giving the answer but said that the next president pro tem should be prepared to be flexible, give up a lot and, most importantly, maintain relationships.

“There’s very, very few great days and quite a lot of not great days,” Rowden said. “It’s hard to find 18 people who want to do much of anything around here, but we’ve been able to do it occasionally.”

Rowden said he has been ready to be done with the legislature and jokes that he’s finally “retired” now. He says you will be able to find him on the golf course as he figures out his next steps.

Reporter Quinn S Coffman contributed to this story.