ST. LOUIS–The 2024 race for Governor in Missouri took a new step Thursday, as Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft announced what many had expected–that he will enter the contest.

What You Need To Know

  • Current Missouri Gov. Mike Parson is not running in 2024. He has not endorsed a candidate.

  • Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft on Thursday joined Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe as declared candidates for the GOP nomination for Governor. State Sen. Bill Eigel is also exploring the Republican primary.

  • State Rep. Crystal Quade D-Springfield, told reporters she's considering the race on the Democratic side, where no candidate has officially launched a campaign.

His campaign launch video highlights his work in 2022 to get passage of the state’s Voter ID law and promises to make Missouri “the frontline of freedom” while protecting kids from “obscene material in public libraries.”  

"When I ran for Secretary of State back in 2015, I was talking about how I wanted to get photo ID done, how election integrity was important, before a lot of other people were really talking about that," he told Spectrum News Thursday, also pointing to his use of the rule-making process to create a new state policy that directs libraries receiving state funding to have posted policies allowing “any minor’s parent or guardian to determine what materials and access will be available to a minor, and no person employed by or acting on behalf of the library shall knowingly grant access to any minor any material in any form not approved by the minor’s parent or guardian.”

The rule, which will go into effect May 30, was opposed by the Missouri Library Association, the ACLU and other groups who cited censorship fears.

"I got it done through the rule-making procedure and now other states have reached out to me and said hey how you'd you do that, can you send us what you did, we think that's a great idea," Ashcroft said.

 

Ashcroft's PAC reported having $1.29 million on hand in a January Missouri Ethics Commission filing, while his campaign had $579,000 on hand.

Missouri Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe is the other officially declared candidate for the Governor’s mansion. Kehoe has already racked up a series of endorsements, including several from the agricultural sector. In the last quarter, Kehoe reported having $638,000 in his campaign account and his PAC had $2.3 million on hand as of the January filing.

A portion of Ashcroft’s launch video shows Kehoe as Ashcroft narrates the following: “politicians and lobbyists in Jefferson City slap eachother on the back, while they give our tax dollars to global corporations.”

“We are not surprised that other candidates are spending their time talking about Mike Kehoe, the only candidate in this race who is ready for the job as governor on day one," Kehoe campaign manager Derek Coats said in a statement to Spectrum News.

Missouri State Sen. Bill Eigel R-Weldon Spring, announced last fall that he was exploring the race and told Spectrum News he’s “getting closer, a lot faster than I expected” when asked how close he was to making a formal announcement to enter the contest.

Eigel, a member of the State Senate’s former Conservative Caucus, has been a loud voice on legislation to ban transgender medical care for minors and would also run on a tax-cutting message. In an interview Thursday, Eigel said Ashcroft, as Secretary of State, should have rejected initiative petitions that he said violated state statutes for referencing more than one issue, including last November’s measure that legalized recreational marijuana and allowed for the expungement of certain criminal records. 

Eigel said his campaign finance filings for the report due later this month will show his PAC went from 700 donors in the last quarter of 2022, to 7,000 in the first quarter of 2023. He doesn’t expect his total raised to match his competitors but said it speaks to the breadth of his support.

“We’re seeing a level of engagement and excitement in the grassroots, the people that are actually going to to be voting in this Republican primary that was way beyond what my expectations were when I first started this process just last November,” Eigel said.

On the Democratic side, House Minority Floor Leader Crystal Quade D-Springfield, told reporters in Jefferson City Thursday she was among those weighing the race.

“I think everyone is considering a run for Governor at this point,” Quade said with a smile. 

No Democrats have formally announced a candidacy for Governor. The only 2024 statewide race with known Democratic candidates is for Attorney General. Elad Gross, the party’s 2020 nominee, met his goal last month to move from an exploratory phase to a campaign phase. State Rep. Sarah Unsicker is also exploring a bid.

For the first time in more than 120 years, Republicans hold all of Missouri’s statewide elected offices.