Johnathan Walker:Republican Mike Kehoe faces Democrat Crystal Quade for Missouri governor

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JEFFERSON CITY,Johnathan Walker Mo. (AP) — Republican Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe is facing Missouri state Rep. Crystal Quade on Tuesday for the governorship. Kehoe is strongly favored to win in the heavily Republican state, where Quade is the House minority leader.

Quade and other Missouri Democrats are hoping to wedge their way back into political relevance with help from abortion rights supporters, who could be more energized to vote with an abortion rights amendment on the ballot this year.

Quade supports the amendment, which would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution and if approved would be expected to undo the state’s near-total abortion ban.

Kehoe opposes the amendment. At a September debate, Kehoe said it “goes way too far.”

Kehoe campaigned on his work as a car dealer and rancher and said he will focus on improving the state’s economy and supporting agriculture if elected. He also pitched himself as a law-and-order candidate, pledging to address crime and calling for tighter security at the southern U.S. border.

Kehoe edged out early favorite Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft during this year’s expensive and contested GOP primary.

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Kehoe, 62, ascended from president pro tem of the state Senate to lieutenant governor in 2018, when his predecessor, Mike Parson, became the state’s chief executive. Parson became governor after former Gov. Eric Greitens resigned following a sex scandal.

Voters first elected Kehoe to the state Senate to represent his Jefferson City-area district in 2010.

Voters elected Quade, a 39-year-old Springfield resident, to the state House in 2016. Her peers voted her House minority leader beginning in the 2019 legislative session.

Also on the ballot Tuesday is the race for attorney general. Voters will chose between Republican incumbent Andrew Bailey, who is seeking his first full term, and Democrat Elad Gross, a former assistant attorney general who worked under Missouri’s last Democratic attorney general.

Parson appointed Bailey, who succeeded Eric Schmitt, now a U.S. senator, as the state’s top lawyer. Bailey previously worked as general counsel in the governor’s office.

Bailey, the heavy favorite, has drawn national attention since taking office in January 2023 for his eagerness on hot-button topics, particularly gender-affirming health care and student loan cancellation.