Missouri Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe won the race to become the state’s 58th governor on Tuesday, after a campaign centered on his extensive business experience and promises of steady conservative leadership.
Kehoe, a 62-year-old former Jefferson City car dealer, state senator and current lieutenant governor, courted voters partly through tamping down on the aggressive rhetoric that has often defined Missouri politics. But the victory also serves as an affirmation of the Republican Party’s iron grip on Missouri politics as Democrats have struggled to win statewide races in recent years.
Kehoe defeated Democratic House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, who cast Kehoe’s opposition to abortion rights and other conservative policies as extreme. Quade, who would have been the first woman to hold the office of Missouri governor if elected, built her campaign on securing abortion rights, gun reform and child care aid.
“If businesses and people want to do good, they should be allowed to do so, and I think government should play a role in that — not in creating jobs, but creating an environment where good jobs can grow and prosper,” Kehoe said during a debate in late September. “That’s the administration I want to bring to Missourians.”
The Associated Press called the race for Kehoe at 8:45 p.m. At that time, he had 53.6% of the vote, with 141 of 3572 precincts reporting, according to the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office.
Quade, who received 44.4% of the vote, was expected to address supporters at a campaign event in Springfield Tuesday evening.
“People are tired of the status quo, they are tired of Missouri being the laughingstock for the entire country and getting on the news for all the ridiculous things happening,” Quade told a gathering of Jackson County Democrats on Friday.
“They’re tired of ranking bottom on everything that we deeply care about and they are tired of politicians in their personal lives telling them what to do. They’re over it.”
Kehoe’s victory means Republicans will maintain control of the governor’s mansion for another four years after Republican Gov. Mike Parson terms out of office in January. A Kehoe administration is likely to continue many of the same policies seen under Parson, who appointed Kehoe as lieutenant governor in 2018. Kehoe won a full term in 2020.
House Majority Leader Jonathan Patterson, a Lee’s Summit Republican, said Kehoe would prove an “exceptional leader.” He pointed to Kehoe’s business experience as Kansas City prepares to host World Cup matches in 2026.
“I think the one thing that we haven’t talked that much about is his experience as the ultimate salesperson,” said Patterson, who is poised to become the next House speaker. “He’s going to go to other countries and sell Missouri, and to do that in the run up to the World Cup, I think it could be a recipe for something very special for Kansas City and Missouri.”
In the lead-up to Election Day, Kehoe and Quade sparred over a host of issues, including the state’s minimum wage, the ability for local governments to regulate firearms and whether Kansas City should retain control of its police force.
But perhaps the most potent issue of the race focused on Missouri’s near-total abortion ban. The Republican-controlled General Assembly approved the ban with Parson’s signature in 2019 but it took effect in 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Kehoe and Quade staked out starkly different positions on abortion. Kehoe opposes it while Quade supports the right to choose to end a pregnancy. Quade largely built her campaign on expanding access to reproductive rights as Missourians prepared to vote on Amendment 3, a constitutional amendment to overturn the ban.
Throughout the campaign, Quade connected the issue of abortion to wider women’s rights issues and concerns over personal freedom. Quade and other Democrats also emphasized the idea that if voters supported abortion rights, they also needed to elect a governor who supported Amendment 3.
“I do feel if we vote yes on Amendment 3, and we do not elect Crystal Quade as our governor, I do think we’ll be back here in two years defending the rights that we took back in November for reproductive services,” Rep. Deb Lavender, a Manchester Democrat, said last month.
Missouri Republicans have floated the idea of putting a constitutional amendment on the 2026 ballot to weaken Amendment 3 if it passed. Kehoe, in a recent radio interview, promised to work with lawmakers to “protect innocent life” if the amendment passed.
“I will do everything I can to work with legislators and other folks around the state to find ways to make sure we continue to do that in some form or fashion,” Kehoe said.
Kehoe’s victory was powered in large part by a network of statewide organizations that endorsed the former state senator and contributed resources to his campaign. He scored endorsements from a host of public safety organizations, agricultural groups and business associations.
That network of resources also propelled Kehoe’s win in the August Republican primary where he defeated two major opponents in Sen. Bill Eigel and Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft. Kehoe, who promised pragmatism over bombast, painted himself in sharp contrast to both candidates who attempted to run to his right.
“He’s not a bomb thrower,” said Jean Evans, a former executive director of the Missouri Republican Party. “He’s a uniter. He recognizes what people want.”
The lieutenant governor’s campaign also emphasized his humble beginnings and the business lessons he learned. Born and raised in North St. Louis, Kehoe has said he never met his father and began working at age 15 washing cars at a Ford dealership and worked his way into sales management by his early 20s, and that his mother worked three jobs.
Future for Kansas City
A Kehoe administration comes at a crucial time for Kansas City as the city grapples with a state-controlled police force, gun violence, anger over property tax assessments and questions over the future of the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals.
Kehoe and the Republican-controlled General Assembly are likely to stymie any renewed discussion of Kansas City assuming control of its police force, one of the few state-controlled departments in the country.
The Republican governor-elect was endorsed by a number of law enforcement groups and “supports the current governance model for the KCPD as it provides a system of checks and balances between the local leaders, the legislature, and the governor,” a campaign spokesperson said earlier this year.
While Kehoe has also promised to implement a crime plan once elected, he has been vague on details. He has signaled that his plan would include attempts to recruit and retain more law enforcement officers as the Kansas City Police Department has more than 100 funded but unfilled officer positions.
One of the most pressing issues facing Kansas City is Missouri’s push to keep the Chiefs and Royals.
The team’s leases at Truman Sports Complex expire in 2031. But after Jackson County voters in April rejected a sales tax that would have ensured both teams stayed in the county, Kansas has mounted an aggressive effort to court the teams.
While Missouri leaders have promised to respond, no concrete plan has emerged. Kehoe has voiced support for working to keep the teams but has not shared specific details.
Many political observers have signaled that a Kehoe administration would be similar to Parson’s, pointing to their connections to rural Missouri and agricultural industries. However, Patterson also emphasized his background of growing up in North St. Louis.
“In that respect, he’s different,” Patterson said. “He’s just a great mix of both urban and rural, corporate and farmer. And that, I think, is what makes him special.”
___
© 2024 The Kansas City Star
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
