Joplin GOP megadonor sitting out 2020 elections while others spend big

One of Missouri Republicans’ biggest donors in 2016 and 2018 is sitting out most of 2020.

A spokeswoman for Joplin businessman David Humphreys, who owns roofing company TAMKO Building Products, said in a statement this week her boss “believes now is a time we should all come together.”

“Accordingly,” she continued, “he is not allocating resources to the presidential or state political campaigns.”

Kim Eckerman, TAMKO's communications director, added that “during the pandemic and economic crisis, David’s full time and attention and resources have been focused on his business and helping his community and charities that he and his family support.”

Federal records show a David Humphreys employed by TAMKO donated a few thousand dollars to U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Nebraska, and U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, earlier this year.

But it doesn’t appear he’s given anything else at the state or federal level since early April.

Humphreys took a different approach in the last presidential year, donating more than $10 million to Republicans up and down the ticket and across the country and more than $2 million to future Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley alone.

Humphreys followed that up in 2018 with more big checks. More than $1 million went to support Hawley’s successful U.S. Senate bid, another $1 million went to Missouri House Republicans, and at least $100,000 went to backstop efforts to pass a right-to-work law that voters nevertheless blocked when it went to a public ballot.

But 2019 saw Humphreys turn off the spigot to most state-level Republicans after the legislature passed a law in May banning abortions at eight weeks of pregnancy with no exceptions for rape and incest.

Humphreys promptly donated $1 million to a “Committee to Protect the Rights of Victims of Rape & Incest” to support a doomed effort to force a referendum. State ethics records show no other contributions to state-level Republicans since, though he has continued donating to U.S. Senate Republicans, including Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri.

Humphreys’ hiatus this cycle contrasts with the considerable activity of fellow megadonors in the state.

Billionaire David Steward, a technology executive from St. Louis, has also cut back. But by the end of last year, he'd already donated more than $700,000 to a PAC dedicated to electing conservative Missouri senators this year.

Steward had also doled out smaller donations to Republicans ramping up for competitive federal races, including Rep. Ann Wagner of Missouri and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine.

Rex Sinquefield, the billionaire financier from St. Louis, appears to be even busier.

Records show he gave more $2 million to state-level efforts in 2019, including a political action committee supporting Gov. Mike Parson’s bid for a full, four-year term, and he's followed that with more than $1 million in donations this year, including a $100,000 check to help House Republicans.

Sinquefield, who is perhaps best known for his opposition to income taxes, has also been active at the federal level.

Records show he gave $604,700 to a PAC supporting House Republicans in February and $250,000 to a PAC supporting Senate Republican in July.

Austin Huguelet is the News-Leader's politics reporter. Got something he should know? Have a question? Call him at 417-403-8096 or email him at ahuguelet@news-leader.com. You can also support local journalism at News-Leader.com/subscribe.