JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri House Minority Leader Crystal Quade is running for governor, and the Democrat from Springfield made the announcement Sunday in a campaign video that featured her bowling through skaters on a roller derby track.
Quade, a social worker first elected to the House in 2016, painted herself as unafraid of rough and rowdy politics while wearing elbow pads, wrist guards and a baby blue helmet. The 37-year-old says in the video that her childhood surviving on food stamps inspired her to enter public service.
“People say politics can be tough,” said Quade, who played on a derby team from 2010 to 2013. “I tell them, I can handle it. When you come from nothing, you fight the odds your whole life.”
Quade doesn't spend the whole video on the roller derby track, and the clip quickly pivots to scenes of her speaking to voters and laying out her campaign goals, which include restoring abortion rights in the state.
The governor's seat is up for grabs next year because current Republican Gov. Mike Parson is prevented by term limits from running again.
Quade wasted little time attacking Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, who has not yet announced his candidacy but is expected to be a top contender. She said the Republican “uses fear to score cheap political points and divide us.”
“I’m not worried about bullies like Jay Ashcroft, because Missouri has never seen a governor like me before,” she said in the video.
Other top candidates for the office include Republicans Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe and state Sen. Bill Eigel.
----------
Springfield Representative Crystal Quade announced on social media she is launching a campaign for governor of Missouri.
Her campaign website includes details on why she is running.
"Growing up in rural Missouri, young Crystal Quade made the trek before daylight every morning to help her mom prepare the diner where she worked double or triple shifts waitressing."
"They lived in a small house on a gravel road, and Crystal was the first in her family to graduate from high school. She worked her way through Missouri State, began her own family – and then became the Democratic Leader of the Missouri House of Representatives."
"Crystal is leading our most important fights to restore our abortion rights, standing up to the biggest corporate special interests, and stopping China and Russia from buying up our farmland and squeezing Missouri farmers out."