Coyne's run for Senate focuses on limiting government power

"I Love the Constitution."

Those words can be read on a bumper sticker above the desk of James Coyne, Republican candidate for Senate District 19.

Coyne, a health and life insurance broker for 30 years, said he believes strongly in both the Missouri and U.S. Constitutions, calling them "divinely influenced."

His interpretation of the state constitution puts a person's "right to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and the enjoyment of the gains of their own industry" as the prime directive of government.

In his view, lawmakers need to simplify government to focus only on the security of these things. Otherwise, it fails, he said.

Coyne said he has gradually become more active in politics and participates with organizations that advocate far-right conservative views. His activism drew him to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021. He never entered the U.S. Capitol and did not participate in any violence on that day, Coyne said.

"We were there to exercise our constitutionally protected rights, and we did," he said. "I have nothing to be ashamed of, I didn't do anything wrong at all."

Not surprisingly, his platform in his bid for the Senate proposes a very limited view of government.

Coyne would like to reform the legislative process and "return to transparent and equitable lawmaking." This proposal is fully explained on his website, citizensforcoyne.com.

Coyne said that there is too much power in the hands of the Speaker of the House and the Senator Pro Tem. He said he believes that limiting the power of other legislators is unconstitutional because citizens, through their representatives, are not being given equal representation.

His proposal would require significant changes to the operations of the Missouri General Assembly.

Coyne proposes that legislators would have a limited number of co-sponsorships of legislation that they may use each session. Bills with a specific number of co-sponsors would be required to have a vote, and bills with the most co-sponsors would be brought to a vote ahead of others.

The proposal would require that no bill that has the requisite number of co-sponsors could be killed or held up in committee and must be debated and voted on, he said.

All these steps would increase transparency of the legislative process, he said.

"You should know where people stand, what they're for, how they voted," Coyne said. "Well, you can't know how they voted if they never get a vote."

Coyne said that when power is concentrated in the hands of just a few people in the legislature, it makes influencing policy much easier for lobbyists as they have only a few people to convince.

Coyne said the changes potentially would help the minority as he said Democrats, or any minority group in the legislature, would be able to get more legislation to a vote.

The second leg of Coyne's platform is titled "Protect the sovereignty of the state of Missouri, and its citizens freedoms and property."

Coyne says he would rely on the doctrine of anti-commandeering. This doctrine prevents the federal government from directly giving commands to the states.

"It's the practical way that our state can protect its citizens," Coyne said. "If the federal government or any other big interest tried to infringe on the right of Missourians, what (the state) can do is say, 'That's fine but (the federal government) is not going to commandeer any of the resources of the state of Missouri.'"

This would mean state agencies would not be required to aid federal organizations in the enforcement of federal regulatory programs, he said.

The third leg of his campaign focuses on cutting the "size, scope and budget of Missouri state government," as well as the elimination of state income and property taxes.

"Government will grow and grow and grow and take power unto itself as long as you allow it to," Coyne said. "It becomes kind of its own self-feeding organism."

Coyne said that cutting taxes would benefit Missourians and also limit the size of government spending, another goal of his campaign.

Coyne was born in Webster Groves in the St. Louis metropolitan area and received a bachelor's degree in psychology from Sonoma State University. Coyne said he began to be interested in politics around 2008.

Since then, he has volunteered with Mid-Missouri Patriots where he served as president for four years. Coyne described the organization as a "local group that studied the Constitution and which advocated for the restoration of constitutional principles."

Coyne has also worked with Missouri First and has volunteered with the Missouri Chapter of Concerned Women for America, a conservative legislative action committee that advocates for the sanctity of life beginning at conception and seeks to defend Judeo-Christian values.

Coyne ran unsuccessfully for positions on the Boone County Republican Party Central Committee in 2012.

He ran as a write-in candidate for Senate District 19 in 2020, receiving 72 votes. Coyne said that his 2020 run was an attempt to put a bullhorn to the issue of legislative reform, which is the focus of his 2024 campaign.