Kehoe declares victory in Republican gubernatorial primary

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe accepted victory in his race for the Republican gubernatorial nomination Tuesday night.

Kehoe spoke to a crowd of supporters in front of a giant American flag at his Tuesday night watch party in Jefferson City after a concession from opponent Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft.

"Tonight we showed that hard work still pays off, and that what you do is way more important than what you say," Kehoe said.

Kehoe ran against multiple other Republican candidates in the August primary, including Ashcroft and State Sen. Bill Eigel. All three candidates were endorsed by former president Donald Trump.

Kehoe was also endorsed by current Missouri Gov. Mike Parson.

Election results show Kehoe won with 39% of the votes, while Eigel had 33% and Ashcroft 23%.

Kehoe said he received gracious calls from his opponents and congratulated them on their hard-fought campaigns. But, he said this race showed the division within the Republican party and said it's time to come together and stop the finger-pointing.

"We have to join together if we're going to defeat our common enemy," Kehoe said. "And make no mistake, our common enemy is the bad policies pushed by Washington D.C."

As governor, Kehoe said he plans to make Missouri safer, work with federal officials to close the border, grow the agriculture economy, strengthen public education and lower taxes.

"I will work with anyone who has good ideas to make our state safer, stronger and better," Kehoe said. "As long as we end up with a commonsense, conservative solution, we will govern."

In November, Kehoe will take on Missouri House Minority Leader Crystal Quade (D-Springfield), who secured the Democratic nomination on Tuesday.

“I’m so proud of the support our campaign has received and I look forward to continue earning it by spreading our message in every corner of our state: Missourians deserve a governor who will fight for working families, a leader who will restore our rights, not strip us of them. Missourians are sick of the extremism, sick of the government overreach of their rights," Quade said in a statement following her nomination. "Throughout my career as Minority Leader, I’ve been a champion of reproductive freedom and access to abortion, I’ve fought for working families, and as governor, I’ll never stop fighting until we’ve made Missouri the best state to live, work, start a business, and raise a family because Missourians working double shifts today have children who need to beat the odds tomorrow.”

Hundreds of supporters for Kehoe showed up to his watch party in Jefferson City on Tuesday night.

This includes Alan Reinkemeyer with the Missouri Association of General Contractors, who endorsed Kehoe throughout this race. Reinkemeyer said in the association's almost 100-year existence, this is the first time it has endorsed a statewide candidate.

"We need someone who's going to be able to make tough decisions, whenever that time comes to set Missouri's priorities, be it public safety, be it roads, bridges, transportation, infrastructure issues, education, we need someone who can balance all that stuff," Reinkemeyer said. "And Mike's the guy for that."

Kehoe was also endorsed by the Missouri Fraternal Order of Police, who was in attendance Tuesday night.

"He's had our backs for the last ten years helping us with anything policy-related, anything we needed, especially at our darkest when law enforcement's been under attack," said Missouri FOP President Jay Schroeder. "This is our chance to get here and support him now and make sure we have his back."

Columbia supporter Wally Pfeffer said he is excited to see Kehoe follow in the footsteps of current Gov. Parson.

"I think the workforce development that Gov. Parson began, I think Mike will take that and run with it and accelerate that even more," Pfeffer said.

Kehoe was appointed lieutenant governor in 2018 by Parson and was elected to the position by Missouri voters in 2020. He has also previously served as a state senator.

Along with politics, Kehoe also has a background as a small-business background and farmer.

In a recent interview with ABC 17 News, Kehoe said he got into politics because he thought his business experience would be beneficial when discussing state policies.