JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft announced his long-expected run for governor on Thursday, asserting Missouri Republicans had “failed to deliver” on conservative policies, falling behind other red states.
“Red states like Florida, Texas, Tennessee, even Indiana and Arkansas, have become examples of conservative leadership while Missouri Republicans, who control every statewide office and have supermajorities in both chambers of the legislature, have failed to deliver. I’m running to change that,” Ashcroft, 49, of Jefferson City, said in a statement announcing his candidacy.
The criticism of fellow Republicans suggests Ashcroft as governor would bring a more outspoken approach to hot-button national political topics than Gov. Mike Parson, who is set to leave office after the 2024 election.
Ashcroft, who is in charge of the state’s elections, has also stirred controversy for meeting with election conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell in January. The Guardian reported Wednesday that Ashcroft was among state election chiefs to attend a secret February event hosted by three groups that push “election integrity” measures backed by former President Donald Trump, who has falsely claimed he won the 2020 presidential election.
Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, a Parson ally, is the only other major Republican to so far announce a campaign. Kehoe, a former Republican Senate leader, has taken a less-partisan approach in public while racking up endorsements from groups such as the Missouri State Council of Firefighters.
In an announcement video, Ashcroft doesn’t mention Kehoe by name, but comes close. Footage plays of Kehoe, before a crowd, slapping another man’s back at a lectern.
“Politicians and lobbyists in Jefferson City slap each other on the back while they give our tax dollars to global corporations, sell our farmland to China, and raise gas taxes on hard-working Missourians,” Ashcroft says in the video.
Kehoe has netted $500,000 in large checks from retired St. Louis financier Rex Sinquefield, while former House speaker and current lobbyist Steve Tilley has worked to fundraise for the Ashcroft camp.
Lawyers and law firms gave at least $920,000 in large donations to the Ashcroft’s Committee for Liberty PAC last year, according to ethics commission records.
“Missouri taxpayers are tired of the Jefferson City back-slapping that takes money out of their pockets and puts in the pockets of special interests,” Ashcroft said in his announcement. “As governor, I pledge to end this culture.”
State Sen. Bill Eigel, a Weldon Spring Republican and leader of an ultra-conservative faction of senators, is considering a run but had yet to announce as of Thursday.
Ashcroft, the son of former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, enters the race with the early advantage of statewide name recognition. The elder Ashcroft also served as state auditor, attorney general, governor and U.S. senator.
But even so, nearly 60% of Republican primary voters in a February poll by Remington Research Group said they were undecided in the August 2024 primary.
In that poll, Ashcroft’s support stood at 28% while Kehoe and Eigel registered in the single digits.
Ashcroft’s campaign said he opposes the gas tax increase legislators approved and Parson signed in 2021. That’s a break with Kehoe, who supported the gradual 12.5-cent increase. The state’s gas tax funds road improvements.
Ashcroft’s campaign also touted the secrerary of state’s controversial regulation to block funding for public libraries if they offer books that might appeal to the sexual interests of minors.
His announcement touted Ashcroft’s implementation of Missouri’s photo ID law for voting. Ashcroft’s campaign also promoted a clash with the Biden Administration after he defended a county clerk’s decision to block federal election montors in the 2022 election.
In an interview with the Post-Dispatch, Ashcroft said school choice would be a priority of his administration.
While Parson signed into law the state’s limited tax credit education voucher program, school choice advocates want to go further with proposals for open enrollment and expansion of vouchers.
“Using that bully pulpit, I can affect the education issue,” Ashcroft said. “Maybe for the first time in my lifetime, we’ll be able to say that every child in this state actually does have an opportunity to get a challenging education.”
Ashcroft also criticized the state’s growing budget, which is set to top $50 billion in the next fiscal year, up from $28 billion in 2018.
“The government has more money than ever, it’s spending more money than ever, and everyday families are struggling to be able to pay for what they want to buy at the store with inflation,” Ashcroft said.
He also said crime was a major issue.
“We have people that do not feel safe living in their neighborhood,” Ashcroft said.
The secretary of state said he doesn’t support the Missouri Nondiscrimination Act, or MONA, which would outlaw discrimination in employment, housing, financial services and public accomodations because of a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
“We ought to be nice to everybody,” Ashcroft said. “We’re all discriminated against all the time.
“Do people have a reasonable belief that they’re not welcome in this state if they’re in the LGBT community? No,” Ashcroft said.
On the unregulated slot machines that have flooded the state, Ashcroft said it seems like the games “fall through a crack, and that doesn’t seem like the best way to deal with them.
“I think if we’re going to have those machines they should be regulated or else we shouldn’t have the machines,” he said.
