Missouri Democrats hoping to take Governor’s Mansion back in November
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Five Missouri Democrats are seeking the party's nomination for governor in the November general election.
Two of those five - state Rep. Crystal Quade (D-Springfield) and businessman Mike Hamra - are running full-scale campaigns across the state.
Republicans have controlled the governor's office since 2017 when Eric Greitens was sworn into office. Gov. Mike Parson took over in 2018 when Greitens resigned, and Parson won a full term in 2020 when he defeated then-state auditor Nicole Galloway.
Hamra and Quade both hail from southwest Missouri. Hamra, 55, went to the University of Missouri Law School. He worked in the Bill Clinton administration and the Federal Communications Commission in Washington D.C. Hamra moved back to Springfield in 2001 to work in his family restaurant franchising business. Hamra has been with the company, Hamra Enterprises, since then.
Quade, 38 has been the Minority Floor Leader in the Missouri House of Representatives since 2018. She was first elected in 2016 to House District 132. Quade served as a social worker in Springfield before her election and worked for the United States Senate and the Barack Obama campaign.
Eric Morrison, Sheryl Gladney and Hollis Laster are also on the ballot.
LINK: Watch the full interview with Hamra
LINK: Watch the full interview with Quade
Hamra focused on his background as a businessman in an interview with ABC 17 News on why he wanted to get involved in politics.
"I'm running for governor because I love our state," Hamra said. "You know, it's a great place to live, work and raise a family. But for too long, our politicians have been playing political games. And while other states surrounding us surged ahead, Missouri continues to fall farther and farther behind. And like many Missourians, I'm frustrated with the stagnant state that we're in right now and we're not making progress."
Quade said the "divisive" politics she's witnessed while working in the House of Representatives inspired her to run for the governor's office. Quade said her tenure as party leader in the chamber would help her manage the duties of governor.
"That is great for this job because we do not need to have someone who's learning on the job," Quade said. "We have to be ready on Day One. And so I know what it means to be a Democrat working with Republican leadership, to be in the room, negotiate, adding and finding pathways for compromise, which is, and it shouldn't be a dirty word, but it has become one, right? And so I will go in on day one ready to have negotiations with these folks and talk about the things that we know are impacting folks all the time."
Hamra and Quade both emphasized working with local law enforcement agencies in their approaches to handling crime. Hamra said he would support so-called "red flag laws," which allow law enforcement to take someone's firearm if they're considered a threat to themselves or others.
"I know that law enforcement wants red flag laws," Hamra said. "It will help them in doing their job because right now they walk into situations where there's not the level of awareness that they need to have in order to deal with those situations. So it's going to be important to put these in place for the safety of the public, but also in support of our law enforcement agencies across the state."
Quade said understanding the needs of specific communities would guide her administration's handling of crime policy.
"I hear all the time from law enforcement officers throughout the state about how, you know, laws in Kansas City may need to be different than in Fordland, Missouri, where I grew up, because we, it's a different dynamic and folks need to have different access to things," Quade said. "And we as a state have been trying for too long, in my opinion, to do this one-size-fits-all when we're having conversations around our laws."
A November ballot measure on reproductive health care could play a major factor in the general election that month. Both Hamra and Quade said they supported the measure, which would grant constitutional protections for things like abortion in the state. Missouri was one of the first states to outlaw most abortions when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the protections given in Roe v. Wade.
Quade said the state would need a Democratic governor to protect the measure if it passes.
"As governor, I will make sure that the will of the voters is listened to, and that when we pass this, every time that the Republicans try to come after it again, whether it's abortion access or access to birth control or IVF, which is the latest thing that we've heard Republican senators in Missouri say that they're coming for, as governor, I will make sure that we are we are standing in line with Missourians to have their own say and what's going on in their reproductive health care," Quade said.
Hamra echoed that point, adding that the current ban was bad for the state's business.
"I've talked to parents and grandparents almost every day who tell me the same thing, which is they are concerned that their children are not going to move back to the state, that they're interested in going somewhere else where they will not have a politician in their medical office talking to them about growing a family," Hamra said.
Campaign finance reports released Monday showed Hamra with a sizable cash advantage. Hamra's candidate committee reported $414,501.66 on hand, having spent $2.4 million on the campaign. Together Missouri, an associated political action committee supporting Hamra, reported $108,227.61 on hand and spending a little more than $130,000 on the election so far. Quade's candidate committee had $76,553.58 on hand and has spent $1.1 million on the campaign. An associated committee CRYSTAL PAC reported having $69,793.27 on hand and spending $86,753.25 so far.
