KWOS Jefferson City News Authority
Missouri’s secretary of state is running for governor in 2024.
Republican Jay Ashcroft made his official announcement early this morning in a two-minute and 20 second video on social media. His video criticizes what he describes as career politicians. Mr. Ashcroft says that he’s running to serve the people, and tells 939 the Eagle that he sees a lot of potential in Missouri that we aren’t using.
“We are not being as good as we can be. We are not leading this country in ways that we should. We’re not a state where parents can know that their children are getting to get good jobs and stay in Missouri. People are scared to move here, they’re worried about the education their kids will get. Companies are scared to move to parts of Missouri because of crime and concerns about that,” Ashcroft says.
Mr. Ashcroft says education will be one of his top priorities, if he’s elected governor.
“For decades we’ve had a problem in this state where not every child had the opportunity to get a good education. I think it’s long past time every child had the opportunity to get a challenging education, and every parent in the state had the same opportunity to choose where their child went to school that I do,” Ashcroft says.
He tells 939 the Eagle that state government is getting richer and richer, noting the state has a record surplus. He’s calling for returning more money to taxpayers.
Ashcroft will face Missouri Lieutenant Governor Mike Kehoe in the GOP gubernatorial primary, which could also include State Sen. Bill Eigel (R-Weldon Spring) and others. Governor Mike Parson plans to retire after his term expires. The Democratic field is unclear. Official filing for the position opens in February.
Ashcroft was elected secretary of state in 2016 and was re-elected in 2020. Ashcroft, a Jefferson City high school graduate, will join us live this morning at 7:10 in-studio to discuss his gubernatorial bid.
