ST. LOUIS—One day before a planned announcement in Springfield, Crystal Quade, the highest-ranking Democrat in the Missouri House, released a video confirming her candidacy for governor on Sunday.

Quade, the Democratic minority floor leader, has represented the Springfield area in the House since 2017 and is term-limited after next year’s legislative session.

Quade publicly confirmed she was exploring a gubernatorial bid in April after Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft launched his GOP campaign, and in her launch video released Sunday, she mentions Ashcroft by name.

Ashcroft, the son of the former Missouri governor, U.S. senator and U.S. attorney general, is running against Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, a St. Louis native, in the Republican primary. State Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, has shown no outward sign that his exploratory campaign won’t turn into a full-blown campaign.

Republicans hold all statewide offices in Missouri but that hasn’t discouraged multiple Democrats from announcing campaigns for the same races at a time when the party has less “bench strength” among elected officeholders. As it stands now, there will be competitive Democratic primaries for attorney general and the U.S. Senate, where a third candidate, State Sen. Karla May, confirmed late Saturday night that she’s entering the race.

No other high-profile Democrats have publicly teased exploration of the race for governor. Many current elected Democrats in the General Assembly posted their support for Quade on social media Sunday morning.

Quade would be the first female governor of the state if she wins next year, and if she wins the primary, would be the second consecutive female standard bearer for the party in the race. In 2020, then-State Auditor Nicole Galloway was the Democratic nominee and lost to Gov. Mike Parson in the general election.