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Aug. 8, 2024 |  By: Jason Hancock - Missouri Independent

Among the biggest winners of Missouri’s GOP primaries: Gov. Mike Parson

missouri governor mike parson

By Jason Hancock - Missouri Independent

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson wasn’t on the ballot Tuesday. 

But he was still one of the biggest winners of the night. 

Watching from the sidelines as election results poured in — barred from running again because of term limits — Parson’s legacy was before voters in the form of the three men he appointed to statewide office: Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, Attorney General Andrew Bailey and Treasurer Vivek Malek.

Each emerged victorious in Tuesday night’s GOP primaries. 

In a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat to statewide office since 2018, Kehoe is now the favorite to replace Parson as governor, while Bailey and Malek hope to earn full terms in November.  

“How can you not say that tonight was a great affirmation of all the nominations the governor has made?” said Mark Milton, who served as treasurer of Committee for Liberty, the PAC supporting one of Kehoe’s rivals for the gubernatorial nomination, Jay Ashcroft. 

Margie Vandeven, the state’s former education commissioner, agreed that Tuesday night was a big win for Parson. 

“I’m not surprised,” she said. “He did a great job.”

The governor has made it no secret that the success of his appointees is a big part of the legacy he hopes to leave behind. He touted his impact on state government through his appointees in his final State of the State address to the legislature earlier this year, and has made it clear he’s willing to do whatever he can to ensure their success.  

In some ways, Parson’s entire governing philosophy was on the ballot Tuesday, with his appointees facing candidates who decried the culture of Jefferson City as corrupt and pilloried him as a RINO — a “Republican In Name Only.”

“You got to realize you don’t have to agree with everybody on all the issues, but you still got to govern,” Parson posted on social media Tuesday morning, “and that’s what we come up here to do.”

Parson did more than just endorse his favored candidates. Throughout the campaign, he’s shown a willingness to use his taxpayer-funded office to put his thumb on the scale — earning criticism and allegations that he was illegally using public resources for campaign purposes.

But he largely shrugged off those concerns, and by the campaign’s final week, wasn’t willing to stand by and let the primaries play out. 

The PAC that has supported Parson’s political campaigns since 2018 — and bankrolled his trips to the Super Bowl the last two years — started spending its massive war chest to boost Kehoe and Bailey. 

The money came in large chunks from loyal Parson donors — David Steward, whose technology firm holds contracts with the state; the Missouri Cannabis Trade Association, an industry regulated by the Parson administration; Torch Electronics, a Wildwood-based company accused of operating illegal gambling machines; and MACO Development Co., a beneficiary of low-income housing tax credits.

He also got a $300,000 from the St. Louis law firm of Eric Holland. 

Kehoe benefited from some of that spending, but the focus was Bailey, who was working to fend off a well-funded Republican challenger, former assistant U.S. attorney and member of Donald Trump’s legal team, Will Scharf. 

The pro-Parson PAC ran TV ads attacking Scharf. And days before voters headed to the polls, the governor used official letterhead to publicly condemn an ad attacking Bailey and convened a press conference in the Capitol with the attorney general to announce a crackdown on unregulated cannabis products.

“In this race, we were not just up against the Bailey campaign,” Scharf told supporters Tuesday night during his concession speech. “We were up against the official office of the Attorney General. We were up against Gov. Parson. We were up against the entire Jefferson City establishment.”

In an interview last month, Kehoe acknowledged that he’s seen by many as Parson’s stylistic and ideological successor. But he also said there have been plenty of areas where the two have disagreed over the years. 

“But we don’t air that in public,” he said. 

His approach to being governor would likely be very different from Parson’s, Kehoe said, but he hopes to live up to the high standard he believes Parson has set. 

“I consider Mike Parson a friend. I’ve known him for a long time,” Kehoe said. “Mike has taken on some very tough challenges. And he has tried to make decisions that’s best for Missourians and from his heart.”