Mike Kehoe Wins Missouri GOP Nomination for Governor

Missouri Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, a Republican, with his family behind him speaks at his election night event on Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Jefferson City, Missouri. Austin Alonzo/The Epoch Times

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.—Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe won the inside track to take the Missouri governor’s mansion in November.

Missouri Republican primary voters on Aug. 6 picked Kehoe over his closest GOP challengers. As of 12:15 a.m. ET on Aug. 7, with more than 95 percent of the vote counted, Kehoe took 39.4 percent of the vote. He prevailed over Missouri state Sen. Bill Eigel, with 32.5 percent of the vote, and Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, who came in third at 23.3 percent.

“I am so proud of the race we ran, but this campaign also exposed some deep divisions within our party. So let me say this: The future of Missouri is too important for the Republican Party to be reduced to finger-pointing and name-calling,” Kehoe told supporters at his watch party.

“We have to join together if we’re going to defeat our common foe. And make no mistake: our common foe is the bad policies pushed by Washington.”

Kehoe was endorsed by outgoing Gov. Mike Parson.

In a previous interview with The Epoch Times, Kehoe said he was the only Republican in the field with serious experience leading the state government. He campaigned on a platform of providing what his team called commonsense conservative solutions.

After his victory on Tuesday night, Kehoe will head into November with a big advantage over the Democratic Party candidate. No Democrat has won a statewide election since former State Auditor Nicole Galloway won in 2018. The GOP currently controls the state’s executive branch and both houses of its legislature.

Parson appointed Kehoe lieutenant governor in 2018. The current governor served as lieutenant governor under former Gov. Eric Greitens. In June 2018, Greitens resigned. Kehoe won a full term as lieutenant governor in 2020.

Before his appointment, Kehoe served in the Missouri Senate for nearly seven years. When Parson selected him, he was the body’s majority leader.

Democratic Party voters selected Crystal Quade, the minority leader of the General Assembly’s House. Quade will face Kehoe in the general election in November. As of about 12:15 a.m. ET, with more than 95 percent of the vote counted, Quade won her primary with 50.2 percent of the vote.

At her election night event in Springfield, Quade said if she is elected she will focus on the things people care about like affordable childcare and health care.

“Not only are we going to win this race in November, we are going to take our rights back at the ballot box,” Quade told supporters on Tuesday night.

Along with marshaling the support of Parson and numerous state agriculture, business, and law enforcement organizations, Kehoe was the fundraising leader ahead of the election. However, no clear frontrunner had emerged among the three candidates leading into the Republican Party’s primary vote on Aug. 6.

At his victory speech, Kehoe said he had received concession calls from both of his challengers, Ashcroft and Eigel.

Eigel, who positioned himself as the outsider in the race, drew national attention with inflammatory ads.

On his X account, Eigel told his supporters, “Do not be discouraged.”