Scott Fitzpatrick Wins Missouri State Auditor Reelection

Republican incumbent Scott Fitzpatrick held onto the Missouri Auditor’s office on Tuesday, defeating Democrat Quentin Wilson and Libertarian Dustin Coffell to win a second term overseeing how the state spends taxpayer dollars, KCUR reported. Unofficial results showed Fitzpatrick taking 50.9% of the vote, with Wilson at 46.5% and Coffell at 2.6%. The race was the only statewide contest on Missouri’s 2026 ballot, and it extended a Republican streak that has not seen a statewide loss since 2018, when Auditor Nicole Galloway narrowly won reelection.

What made the outcome matter beyond the margin was what Fitzpatrick has already done with the office — and what he says he will do next. The auditor’s job is to make sure Missouri’s taxpayer dollars are used properly, and Fitzpatrick has turned that mandate into a visible series of audits targeting school districts, county property assessments, and local governments.

A Record of Audits That Reached Schools and County Halls

In his first term, Fitzpatrick pledged to combat waste and fraud, prevent immigrants without legal status from accessing public benefits, supervise school districts, and keep watch over local governments.

Fitzpatrick has also said he plans to review the state’s more than 500 school districts on a more regular basis, a sharp contrast to previous administrators, who produced an average of one school district audit per year, according to the state auditor’s office. His campaign website framed the issue in stark terms: “Meanwhile two thirds of Missouri students aren’t proficient in math or science, and over half don’t read at grade level, despite record levels of funding for public schools,” Fitzpatrick said. “As Auditor, I’ll review administrative costs and administrator salaries and measure the performance of our schools against the investment taxpayers are making in them.”

More recently, his office announced it was investigating the Special School District of St. Louis County, which serves more than 23,000 students with disabilities. That district faced a federal investigation in February over its seclusion and restraint practices.

Days Before the Vote, a “Poor” Rating for Jackson County

Shortly before Tuesday’s election, Fitzpatrick issued a harsh audit of Jackson County’s assessment department and the 2023 property assessments, assigning it the lowest possible rating. Fitzpatrick said more than 200,000 property owners will soon receive tax credits as a result, a detail his office spelled out in a news release on the catastrophic failure of the 2023 reassessment process.

That audit came on the heels of a separate probe: Fitzpatrick’s office had launched an investigation into St. Louis County’s property tax appeals process after whistleblower complaints that the county’s two boards of equalization were unfairly resolving appeals.

Fitzpatrick has also raised alarms that the state is nearing a fiscal cliff now that COVID-relief dollars have waned. Missouri eliminated capital gains taxes last year, but Fitzpatrick has argued that government spending, not revenue, is driving the problem. His Democratic opponent, Quentin Wilson — who served as director of the Missouri Department of Revenue under Gov. Mel Carnahan and later as director of the St. Louis County Department of Revenue — said he would have partnered with Missouri legislators to help address the impending budget shortfall.

The school district reviews Fitzpatrick promised would touch more than 500 districts, and the Jackson County and St. Louis County property tax matters include the audit of assessments and the investigation into the appeals process.