Missouri’s Hannibal. Missouri Lieutenant Governor David Wasinger made a comeback to his birthplace of Hannibal on Friday to attend the Hawthorn Foundation’s quarterly meeting at the Rialto Banquet Hall, where he stood on business with the state’s leading business executives.
Among the foundation’s objectives are to close the gap between current Missouri companies, increase global recognition of their worth, and offer chances for cooperation between the governmental, private, and nonprofit sectors.
To offer different viewpoints, the venues for quarterly meetings are rotated. Northeast Missouri was the center of attention on Friday, with particular attention paid to its affordability, its mutually beneficial relationship with the land, and the work ethic of its residents.
Visit Northeast Missouri if you’re looking for a skilled workforce. “There will be one,” Wasinger remarked.
Among those present was State Representative Louis Riggs (R-5), whom Wasinger described as the one guy who goes above and beyond for Northeast Missouri.
Wasinger also discussed a federal push to increase apprenticeship programs and his pledge to put growth ahead of regulation.
In June, the U.S. Department of Labor announced more than $80 million in grants to help President Donald Trump achieve his goal of adding 1 million active apprentices to registered apprenticeship programs nationwide.
Due to Missouri’s support for President Trump, Wasinger said he just received a call from the Department of Labor regarding the Trump Administration’s interest in increasing apprenticeship possibilities in Missouri particularly. Over $1.33 million in grants will be given to the state, one of the largest sums given out under the program.
Wasinger claimed that while touring the state, he has had conversations with small business owners, farmers, and other regular Missourians who desire a government that facilitates rather than obstructs their path.
I am adamant that jobs are not created by the government. People create jobs, but we can foster growth instead of stifling it with bureaucratic red tape, he argued.
Wasinger stated that he is supporting highly conservative legislation in his capacity as lieutenant governor in order to promote pro-business regulation and a competitive tax climate across the state.
During his first return to Hannibal since he was elected lieutenant governor in November, Wasinger visited a number of local establishments and businesses in May, including Hannibal Machine and Hannibal Regional Hospital, and expressed excitement about the potential for a manufacturing revival in Northeast Missouri.
Since the middle of the 20th century, various enterprises in Hannibal and the larger northeastern Missouri area have closed, including a rubber factory in 2017 and multiple shoe factories by the early 1980s.
The Kansas City Star reports that Missouri lost over 5,000 jobs in 2024 as a result of layoffs and facility closures, compared to roughly 6,700 jobs lost in 2023.
Wasinger stated on Friday that it’s about community, dignity, and purpose rather than just numbers. A town loses more than simply money when employment depart. It’s personal and cultural.
He said, “I think it’s really, really important to make Northeast Missouri, or Missouri (as a whole), a nice place to work and do business.” The Hawthorn (Foundation) does an excellent job of permitting and assisting in the completion of that. It enhances lives, creates communities, and boosts our economy.
The Hawthorn Foundation was established in 1981 as the Missouri Foundation for Economic Development, according to the organization’s website. This was during the administration of Governor Christopher Kit Bond, who ran on a platform of increasing employment opportunities and was worried that the state’s business communities were prioritizing competition over collaboration. A year later, the group changed its name to the Hawthorn Foundation in honor of the Missouri state flower.
To highlight the advantages of doing business with and in Missouri, offices have been set up in Germany and Japan. Additionally, a number of trips have been made to promote Missouri exports, including:
- high-tech military hardware in Greece
- agricultural products in Canada and Cuba
- automotive parts in Mexico
- agricultural chemicals in Brazil
- consumer goods in Southeast Asia
- and electrical appliances in the Middle East.
Since its founding in 2008, Missouri Partnership, its partner organization, has brought in $4 billion in new capital investment and approximately 30,000 new employment to the state as the state’s top corporate recruitment and marketing agency.
In addition to Google’s donations to the local school district’s STEAM program, the foundation revealed last year that it had successfully recruited a $1 billion Google data center to Kansas City.
According to research firm Data Center Watch, communities nationwide have successfully stopped $64 billion worth of data center projects because of worries about noise levels, water and power use, and declining property values. Peculiar, Missouri, was one such community that last year halted a $1.5 billion data center project.
Google announced plans to provide 400 megawatts of carbon-free energy—enough electricity to power about 275,000 homes—to the grid and expand skilled trade career development programs in the Kansas City area as part of its data center.
Every data center now in operation consumes the same amount of electricity as 100,000 households combined.Given that future versions are expected to consume 20 times as much, the project’s investments are unlikely to offset its costs, particularly given that such improvements only create jobs for those hired to build them, such as electricians and contractors.
Both Google and the federal government’s initiatives to increase apprenticeship opportunities will guarantee that there are enough skilled trade jobs to support the growth of digital companies as states provide incentives for them to establish data centers in their localities.
Customers’ utility rates have skyrocketed nationwide, including in Hannibal, as a result of data centers.As the Hannibal Board of Public Works continues to deal with unforeseen costs related to an increasingly volatile electricity market, rising utility rates have been a common topic of discussion on the Hannibal City Council.
Wasinger responded that he would make sure that large tech corporations are not exploiting good people in Hannibal when asked how he would respond to a request to locate a similar development close to Hannibal, which would rely on the area’s abundant natural resources, which were mentioned by several speakers on Friday.
He stated that if a data center were to be constructed in northeast Missouri, it would need to be thoroughly examined. You will really harm what I refer to as the forgotten man and woman for whom we are fighting if you don’t do it correctly.
Wasinger ran as an outsider with a MAGA affiliation who was prepared to upend Jefferson City in the same way that President Donald Trump had pledged to upend Washington, D.C. The tactic worked, as he defeated Democratic State Rep. Richard Brown of Kansas City by 15 percentage points in the general election to secure his first public office after narrowly defeating State Sen. Lincoln Hough (R-30) for the Republican nomination in the primaries.
He is the only lieutenant governor to hold the position without previously serving in the Missouri Senate since Mel Carnahan, who served in that capacity from 1989 to 1993 before becoming governor.
