By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Missouri Lt. Governor Mike Kehoe brought his campaign for governor to Savannah, part of a statewide press for votes ahead of the August 6th primary.
“This is our 77th stop on our bus tour. I’m sure we’ll be well over a hundred and some by the time we get to election day; continue to go out and meet people,” Kehoe tells reporters following his campaign stop at United Electric Cooperative. “We’re doing four or five, six stops a day, making sure they get a chance to meet me and understand what we’re doing. And then, obviously, get our message out on the media side of it, electronically. That’s really important for people to find out who Mike Kehoe is.”
Kehoe faces a crowded Republican primary, urging northwest Missouri voters to go to the polls in August, arguing that whoever wins the Republican nomination will win the General Election in November. There are nine names on the Republican ballot.
Kehoe acknowledges this is a tough race.
“It will be a difficult primary,” Kehoe says. “Several of them have probably better name ID than others, but we like where we’re going. There’s lots of polling out now showing us getting even or maybe a few points behind or ahead and they’ll be additional polls coming out. But we’re going to continue to work and deploy our strategy.”
The Republican primary for governor features two statewide office holders and a big voice from the Missouri Senate.
Public opinion polls indicate Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft leads the race, edging Kehoe. A bit back is state Sen. Bill Eigel of Weldon Springs, who has made a name for himself by leading filibusters the last couple of years in the Missouri Senate as a very vocal member of the Freedom Caucus.
Kehoe is running on four primary goals: reduce crime, expand workforce development beyond high school, agriculture, and economic development.
Kehoe is promoting the elimination of the state income tax as the main part of his economic plan.
“We think that eliminating the state’s income tax really gives us a competitive leg with the other states that are using that now as their tool to bring industry there and get industry to expand,” Kehoe says, referring particularly to Texas and Tennessee, both of which have eliminated their state income tax. “And as I mentioned, I’m a big believer in Reaganomics, that if you put money back in Missourian’s pockets, they’ll spend it better than we do and you’ll impact the state’s economy even greater.”
Kehoe doesn’t see the need for an increase in other taxes to offset the loss of income that would result from eliminating the state income tax.
“Revenue growth,” Kehoe gives as his short answer. “It would be growth of our General Revenue to help offset that.”
Democrats will choose from five candidates August 6th.
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