Candidate Letters: Governor

By Phil Cobb | October 24, 2024 |

Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe Republican

GOVERNOR

Libertarian candidate Bill Slantz did not respond to multiple invitations to send a letter. The Missouri Green Party did not respond to an email seeking contact information for candidate Paul Lehmann.

Mike Kehoe, Republican

Growing up, no one would have looked at my life and said, one day, that kid is going to be a candidate for governor of Missouri. The son of a single mom in North St. Louis, who started working at a young age to help keep food on the table and a roof over our heads. Some would say that I started life at a disadvantage, but I was blessed with a family who valued hard work and faith, and living in a country and state where where you start does not decide where life’s journey ends. America is a great place, and Missourians should be free to pursue their own American Dream regardless of their upbringing and background.

Throughout this campaign and during my time serving as your lieutenant governor, my wife Claudia and I have traveled to every corner of the state. We’ve met thousands of Missourians who have shared their stories, hopes, dreams, and ways the government has let them down. They are not looking to Jefferson City politicians to solve all their problems, but they know there are common-sense solutions that would improve their lives.

We’ve heard from too many families, in both rural and urban areas, who don’t feel safe in their neighborhoods. Missouri must send a message to criminals that they are not welcome here. That’s why, as governor, I’ll give our brave law enforcement the tools and resources they need to do their jobs effectively. And until the federal government steps up to its responsibility to secure the southern border, we need to do our part to stop drugs and gangs from threatening our future. As governor, I will work to increase penalties for those who sell deadly drugs like fentanyl to Missourians.

Government doesn’t create success, but it can support it, as I’ll do by growing high-paying jobs. I am proud to have led Missouri’s efforts to expand job training opportunities for Missourians. As governor, I will put a renewed emphasis on career technical education and work to cut taxes, red tape, and burdensome regulations so job creators can grow the quality jobs with benefits Missourians need.

Missouri must continue to strengthen public education and expand school choice options so that every single student has the opportunity to get a world-class education.

As a first-generation farmer, I am passionate about growing our ag economy. We’ve heard from too many family farmers and ranchers that government regulations are strangling their ability to maximize their production that feeds, fuels, and clothes the world. These regulations dampen the hopes of second-, third-, and fourth-generation farmers. We need the incredible talents of our young farmers and ranchers.

As governor, I plan to get things done for the people of Missouri — and there is so much to do. We will work hard so that years after my time as governor is done, we have an even safer, stronger, and more prosperous Missouri.

Missouri’s brightest days are ahead of us, and I humbly ask for your vote on November 5th.

Crystal Quade, Democrat

Right now, our schools are underfunded, our teachers are the worst paid in the country, our rural hospitals are closing, and our roads and bridges are in disrepair.

Missourians are sick and tired of the status quo: politicians profiting while working families struggle to get by. I’m running for Governor because we deserve better than we’ve been getting from Jefferson City. I grew up in Southwest Missouri, off a gravel road. My mom waited tables, often working extra shifts, and my stepdad drove an hour to work at the bread factory in Springfield. Because of their hard work and support, I became the first person in my family to graduate high school.

It wasn’t until an internship in Jefferson City when I saw elected officials, wearing their fancy suits and gold pins, speaking about regular, working class folks — families like mine — with disgust and disdain. That’s when I realized we needed leaders who understood the real problems Missouri families face if things were going to get better. When I first ran for office in 2016, we won by focusing on these very real, non-partisan issues. I asked voters what they wanted from their state government, and they told me they wanted affordable childcare, healthcare, and better opportunities for their kids. It was my focus on those issues that had my yard signs, a prochoice Democrat, next to Donald Trump’s yard signs. It wasn’t about political party, it was about addressing the problems that affect Missourians each and every day. During my time as House Minority Leader, I’ve proudly introduced bills to help Missouri families access child and elder care, ban foreign countries like China from buying Missouri’s farmland, and to fully fund our public schools. It’s time to elect leaders who will move our state forward and put our families above their donors and buddies.

Northwest Missouri has such an important role to play in producing the food that feeds not only America but the world, and we need to do more to support our local farmers and rural communities. We need strong infrastructure and rural broadband to help expand farming operations and open up opportunities for new businesses that couldn’t have existed before.

Like most Missourians, I want to build a state that my children will be proud to call home, where they can find great jobs and start their own families. That’s only possible if we reverse the course that’s left Missouri stagnant and struggling to compete.

I’m Crystal Quade, and I’d be honored to have your vote on November 5th.

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