Kehoe quietly builds campaign war chest. Can that send him to the MO governor’s office?

Missouri Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe has quietly built up a campaign funding war chest over the past few months, attracting high-dollar donations and endorsements from major groups in his bid for governor.

But Kehoe, a Republican, has taken a much different, and more lowkey, approach to campaigning than his Republican opponents for governor, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and Sen. Bill Eigel, whose media appearances, social media posts and highly-publicized actions in their respective offices could court right-wing voters.

Kehoe has instead focused on appearances at local events with groups such as the Missouri Corn Growers Association, fundraising and various talk radio interviews. It’s created an environment in which the Republican has amassed intense support in and around the Missouri Capitol. But one of the biggest questions will be whether he can translate that into statewide name recognition.

The Republican lieutenant governor has outraised both of his major Republican opponents by a significant margin. His official campaign committee reported more than $1.4 million in cash on hand at the end of December and a political action committee supporting his campaign had $4.3 million.

Kehoe has also received two key endorsements over the past several months, from The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry in September and, most recently, The Missouri Farm Bureau this month.

But some Republicans and Missouri politicos have noticed that Kehoe has taken a more subtle approach to his campaign. The lieutenant governor position is also not historically one that garners a large amount of public attention.

Kehoe’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

Kehoe’s different approach to campaigning

The Republican lieutenant governor is taking on two opponents who are attempting to run to his right: Ashcroft, who holds a prominent name in Missouri politics as the son of a former governor, U.S. senator and attorney general under former President George W. Bush, and Eigel, a hard-right senator from Weldon Spring who has chewed up a significant amount of floor time while serving in the Missouri Senate.

“Whoever raises the most money in a statewide race normally wins,” said Jean Evans, a former executive director of the Missouri Republican Party. “Kehoe has not been the frontrunner, but he continues to outraise.”

Kehoe’s approach to campaigning — with the GOP caucus still months away — is likely by design. Evans said if she were running a campaign for governor, she wouldn’t be spending tons of cash at this point. She would wait until the summer.

Senate Majority Leader Cindy O’Laughlin, a Shelbina Republican, said in an interview that Kehoe is likely seeking to appeal to a different demographic of voters than his opponents Ashcroft and Eigel, who are both competing for right-wing support.

“I think Mike Kehoe is traveling the state and visiting with all different types of people in different communities,” she said. “I think the other two are basically competing for the same voting sector, and so they’re going to be doing things to differentiate themselves from the other person.”

O’Laughlin added that Ashcroft and Eigel “both take a very strong conservative view of everything.”

“Mike Kehoe is also conservative, but the other two are going to take it as far as they possibly can and try to appeal to primary voters,” she said.

Ashcroft in the lead, early polling suggests

Kehoe’s campaign strategy shifted more aggressively this past week, attacking Ashcroft after the Republican secretary of state during a recent candidate forum suggested special benefits for veterans were unfair, arguing that he didn’t think “we ought to treat people based on classifications.”

Kehoe, whose role as lieutenant governor includes serving as an advocate for veterans, called Ashcroft comments “disrespectful” and later posted a photo on social media holding a copy of a guide to veteran benefits.

The PAC supporting Kehoe this week also released an advertisement accusing Ashcroft of not doing enough to support former President Donald Trump’s “voter integrity efforts,” referring to Trump’s false claims about election fraud in the 2020 election.

Early polling released this month from ARW Strategies suggested Ashcroft was leading Eigel and Kehoe by 23 percentage points.

In a statement, Jason Cabel Roe, a spokesperson for Ashcroft’s campaign, attacked Kehoe, saying that he was “keeping a low profile because Republican voters are not fond of” his voting record, including a 2013 vote when Kehoe was in the Missouri Senate that allowed foreign entities to own up to 1% of agricultural land.

“Jay Ashcroft is not the choice of Jefferson City insiders,” the statement said. “He doesn’t have the benefit of millions of dollars in lobbyist money so he’s earning his votes traveling the state and talking to Republican voters about his vision for Missouri.”

Ashcroft, the statement said, has traveled to every county in the state since he was elected and will do that again this year.

But Sen. Mike Cierpiot, a Lee’s Summit Republican, said that Kehoe’s focus on local events over media appearances and advertising was a strategy that would pay off.

“He’s doing a lot of personal stuff…meeting people one on one and small groups of farmers and business people and regular citizens,” Cierpiot said. “And the thing about Mike is when you meet him, he’s very impressive…I’ve heard a lot of people would say immediately, like, ‘holy smokes, this guy is really talented.’ So I think it’s gonna do very well for him.”

Eigel and name recognition

While Kehoe may be slow in building name recognition outside of Jefferson City, Republicans who spoke with The Star consistently pointed to his massive amount of fundraising.

“Kehoe has a lot of connections he’s made from his time in the Senate, even going back (in) time through his automobile dealership,” said Rep. Michael Davis, a Kansas City Republican, referring to the prominent car dealership Kehoe owned in Jefferson City. “I think he’s calling in those favors.”

Eigel, the only non-statewide official of the three major Republican candidates, will likely face an uphill battle in gaining greater name recognition, Davis said. But the hard-right senator’s fundraising efforts have exceeded his expectations.

“He started out with a name identification disadvantage compared to the other two,” Davis said. “He has a lot more work to do.”

Eigel’s official campaign committee reported roughly $703,000 at the end of December while the PAC supporting him had $932,000. Ashcroft’s official committee reported nearly $614,000 on hand and the PAC supporting him had $1.6 million.

Sophia Shore, Eigel’s campaign manager, attacked Kehoe in a statement, saying that Eigel was focused on “connecting with real grassroots Missourians who are being railroaded by the lobbyists and special interests that Tax Hike Mike spends his time palling around with.”

“There is no other candidate in this race, and frankly in Missouri, that garners the level of grassroots enthusiasm that Bill Eigel does,” Shore said.

Sen. Denny Hoskins, a Warrensburg Republican running for secretary of state, is a member of the hard-right Missouri Freedom Caucus in the Missouri Senate along with Eigel. Hoskins said in an interview that he hasn’t officially endorsed anyone in the race for governor but said Eigel would be a “good fit” for governor.

“This is definitely going to be a race to the finish… but I’d say, based on that most recent polling, Eigel definitely has increased his name ID and polling percentage more than either of the other two candidates have,” he said.

Who will Trump endorse?

Unlike Ashcroft and Eigel, Kehoe has focused on winning support from business groups and fellow politicians, Hoskins said.

“Kehoe seems to be focusing a lot of his campaign efforts on what I call ‘chamber events’ — business events and groups across the state,” Hoskins said. “(It’s) a different campaign strategy than what Ashcroft and Eigel are utilizing.”

For Evans, the former Missouri GOP director, one of the key factors to getting statewide support for any of the candidates could hinge on an endorsement from Trump. Evans said the former president likely will not issue an endorsement until the summer.

“The best case scenario he’s supporting you, worst case scenario he’s supporting somebody else,” she said. “So you’re trying to stem that off, but I would imagine all three of them have some attempts to meet with Trump.”

In January, Kehoe posted a photograph with his wife, Claudia, and the former president. Both Kehoe and Trump were depicted smiling with their thumbs up.

“Republicans are ready to get America back on track and defeat Joe Biden in November,” the tweet said, which tagged Trump. “#MAGA2024.”