By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson makes St. Joseph one of the last stops of his campaign, speaking to supporters at Rosecrans Memorial Airport.
Parson, a Republican, is running for election after becoming governor two-and-a-half years ago when Gov. Eric Greitens resigned in disgrace.
“And since Day One, it’s been a difficult job to be governor in the state of Missouri,” Parson tells supporters gathered in an airport hangar. “It does matter what kind of experience you have in life to be able to do this job.”
Parson won election as Lt. Governor four years ago after serving in both the Missouri House and Senate. He served as Polk County Sheriff previously.
His opponent, Democratic State Auditor Nicole Galloway, has harshly criticized his handling of COVID-19.
Parson says he never worried about the politics of the state response.
“It’s become a political issue and it’s unfortunate that it’s become such a political issue, because it should be about working together,” Parson says. “But it is what it is.”
Parson says he’s not necessarily surprised that Galloway made his response to COVID-19 the center piece of her campaign.
“I don’t think any of us knew exactly how COVID-19 was going to affect us,” Parson says. “If we go back to the beginning of this, nobody knew what was going to happen. There were no experts on the East or West Coast to know how to deal with it. There were no great think tanks. There was no playbook (on) how to deal with it.”
Parson, appearing with other Republican state officeholders at Rosecrans, expresses optimism the day before the election.
“I think we’re going to win,” Parson says. “If you look at the polling and the data, for the last 60 days we’ve been somewhere from 6 points to a 9-point margin. I think it’s been pretty steady. I think people like the balanced approach we’ve taken.”
Parson is hitting northern and southern Missouri in the fly around, flying to Kirksville, Hannibal, Cape Girardeau, and ending the day in Cassville.
“I think it looks good. I look forward to being the next governor of the state of Missouri.”