Kehoe visits Downtown St. Joseph ahead of primaries

By Chris Fortune

The lieutenant governor made a return to St. Joseph with less than two weeks to go before the primary election, when a Republican candidate will be selected in the race for Missouri governor.

Mike Kehoe’s campaign bus arrived at Room 108 at 722 Felix St. on Thursday morning to speak with supporters and city officials during his gubernatorial campaign tour. Kehoe spoke with the crowd about his upbringing and his life in business and agriculture as breakfast was served.

“I understand what it means to create jobs and opportunities for Missourians,” Kehoe said. “My family didn’t have much when I was growing up, and those are the opportunities I want to make sure other families had, just like ours did.”

A first-generation farmer, Kehoe is approaching 40 years in the cattle business and prioritized the industry during his visit.

“We’re number two in the United States, at 87,000 family-owned farms,” he said. “Growing that industry is vitally important. We feed and clothe the world right now. We need to continue to do that.”

Gov. Mike Parson appointed Kehoe lieutenant governor in 2018, and six years later, he earned Parson’s endorsement in his own run for governor.

“It means a great deal to me,” Kehoe said. “Gov. Parson is a good Christian conservative that really holds his values true to his heart and has always tried to make the best decisions for Missourians.”

During his address to the visitors at his campaign stop, Kehoe stated his belief that the conservative candidate selected at the August primaries will be elected governor. He said Missouri is currently a strong conservative state.

With primary elections taking place in less than two weeks on Aug. 6, he encouraged everyone to vote early. Kehoe highlighted public safety and economic development as some of the most important issues on his platform.

“Crime is the number one issue,” he said. “Getting our community safe, giving our men and women in blue the resources they need to protect our communities. That’s always got to be our foundation before we do anything else.”

Kehoe wants to eliminate Missouri’s income tax, which he said is the largest tax Missourians pay.

“We believe we can get there and still be responsible and offer government services and put money back in Missourians’ pockets,” he said. “That’s very important to us.”

Thursday’s visit is Kehoe’s latest campaign stop to St. Joseph after visiting Rosecrans about a month ago.

“All these areas up here have been super nice to me,” he said. “We built a ton of good friendships, and I tell people the part of this job that we like the most are the people we meet and the friendships we build.”

Kehoe’s bus tour started nine weeks ago, and his campaign believes they will have made over 200 stops by early August.