The Missouri House minority leader announced her candidacy for governor last week, but political pundits believe she faces an uphill battle.
Crystal Quade (D-Springfield) joins Republicans Jay Ashcroft, Bill Eigel, and Lieutenant Governor Mike Kehoe in the 2024 gubernatorial race.
“Missouri is center-right and I don't think Crystal can present herself as a center-right candidate, therefore, I think it would be very difficult for her to have success,” said Jean Evans, executive director emeritus of the Missouri Republican Party.
Ashcroft is currently the Secretary of State while Eigel is a state senator representing Weldon Spring.
In a campaign advertisement last week, Quade called Ashcroft a bully who is dividing Missourians with fear. However, Ashcroft might not be Quade’s biggest GOP competitor.
“From what I've seen so far in the governor's race, Mike Kehoe is outraising his opponents by more than two to one,” Evans told the St. Louis Record. “He's got pretty big cash-on-hand numbers.”
Fundraising, particularly in a state race, shows a level of support, according to Evans.
“The primary voters who are going to show up next August and vote for their primary choice want to know more about the candidate,” she said. “If you don't have the resources to get the word out, whether it's through tv, radio, mail, or digital, you could be the greatest candidate in the world but if voters don't know about you, it's not going to matter.”
Campaign finance filings show that Quade has $56,030.87 on hand compared to the $1.1 million Kehoe has on hand. Eigel has $245,668.29 on hand while Ashcroft has $530,439.95 on hand.
“My understanding is that Crystal Quade wants to run for the state senate seat that becomes available when Lincoln Hough terms out,” Evans said in an interview. “Running for governor will probably help increase the number of donors she has across the state and her name identification in general.”
Evans expects school choice and public safety to be issues that make Missourians vote for one Republican over another in the primary.
"Public safety is a huge issue in all the different places we look and another issue is education and school choice, particularly with Republican, primary voters, it's a differentiator," she added. "More and more Republican voters are leaning towards candidates who embrace school choice. It's a very, very popular issue although it often doesn't show up as a top-five issue when you ask them what's most compelling to them."