The Star Editorial Board’s endorsement for Missouri governor in Republican primary | Opinion

The next Missouri governor will inherit major challenges: violent crime, a skewed tax structure, poor health outcomes in rural areas, an education system that lags behind other states, and the state’s response to the warming, dangerous climate.

We had hoped the candidates, particularly Republicans, would talk about these issues during the primary season. So far, we have been sorely disappointed.

To date, the campaign for the GOP nomination has largely focused on the state’s wildly overblown immigration problem, Chinese ownership of Missouri farmland, guns and culture. No Republican has yet explained to the general public how he or she would untangle the dysfunctional mess in Jefferson City.

Our recommendation

For the Republican nomination, we endorse Mike Kehoe.

Kehoe is the incumbent lieutenant governor. Four years ago, when he ran for the job, we endorsed his opponent, but said Kehoe “is well-connected in Missouri politics and well-versed on the issues.” That remains the case.

He has served quietly. He has been involved in the state’s business recruitment and retention efforts, to mixed results. In recent days, he has suggested he’ll be more sympathetic to state help for new or improved sports stadiums in Kansas City, a reflection of his pro-business outlook.

We’re not prepared to endorse any specific plan for aid to the stadiums next year — in fact, it may be that no Missouri proposal will be good enough to earn the community’s support, or ours. But at least Kehoe will keep an open mind, unlike his GOP opponents in this race. That’s a good start.

Kehoe also appears more moderate on abortion restrictions than his major opponents. A year ago, he said he would “consider approving” exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother in the state, in contrast with the near total ban in the law.

Kehoe is also a former state senator. The next governor will need to have a keen understanding of how the General Assembly works, or doesn’t work. His experience will be valuable. On most issues, Kehoe is more centrist than his major Republican opponents.

In normal times, we would enthusiastically recommend the nomination of a moderate Republican candidate.

Sadly, the lieutenant governor and his supporters have chosen to run a pandering campaign of division, which should deeply concern all Missourians. Kehoe has repeatedly pushed for stronger immigration enforcement at the border. He called the New York prosecution of Donald Trump “a political stunt.”

Most ominously, he has hinted he would pardon Kansas City police officer Eric DeValkenaere, who is serving time in state prison for killing a Black man. A pardon is wrong on the merits, but it is horrific that the three major GOP governor candidates — Kehoe, Jay Ashcroft and Bill Eigel — have made a potential pardon a major issue in their campaigns.

Criminal justice and pardons should be about justice and the rule of law, not politics. No one’s vote should ever be predicated on a potential pardon for anyone. All three candidates, including Kehoe, have debased themselves by discussing this possibility before the election, turning it into a partisan football.

We expected more from Mike Kehoe.

We expected nothing less from Eigel, whose disastrous service in the Missouri legislature should disqualify him from serving the state. He is the central figure in the so-called Freedom Caucus, which seemed to take as its primary mission the destruction of representative government.

At every opportunity, Eigel has stalled progress in Missouri. He has battled fellow Republicans as much as Democrats. “One of the biggest problems we have in Missouri is RINO senior leadership pushing liberal policies,” he told us in our primary survey.

He also said, “Of course President Trump won in 2020.” His party should reject Eigel’s candidacy Aug. 6.

Ashcroft, currently the Missouri secretary of state, has made a horrible case to Missouri voters. His repeated hints that the national election in 2020 was somehow “illegitimate” are appalling. His efforts to stall initiative petitions on abortion rights have been galling.

Ashcroft rejects democracy. Republicans should reject him.

Other candidates in the primary include Chris Wright, Robert Olson, Jeremy Gundel, Darren Grant, Darrell McClanahan III and Amber Thomsen.

This story was originally published July 14, 2024 at 5:07 AM.