The Republican governor’s race, fueled by high-dollar contributions, headlined a primary ballot that will determine the parties’ nominees in the November 8 general election for a variety of offices, including the U.S. Senate and House, the Missouri General Assembly and top state and local executive offices.
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Koster, a former Republican state senator, easily won the Democratic gubernatorial primary. Genevieve County, while Peter Kinder was next with 407 (27.4), Catherine Hanaway third with 342 (23.1) and John Brunner fourth with 265 (17.9).
Tuesday’s ballot features one of the most competitive Republican gubernatorial primaries in a generation, as well as contests for numerous federal, state and local offices.
Koster took a subtle jab at Greitens on Tuesday, denouncing a “disturbing political campaign” season that has featured “candidates shooting machine guns and doing sit-ups for the cameras”. Kinder was spending Monday around his hometown of Cape Girardeau. That year, Attorney General William Webster prevailed over Secretary of State Roy Blunt and Treasurer Wendell Bailey but ended up losing the general election to Democratic Lt. Gov. Mel Carnahan.
(AP Photo/Michael Thomas). Missouri Republican gubernatorial candidate Eric Greitens speaks to a crowd of supporters at the DoubleTree Hotel Chesterfield, Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016, in Chesterfield, Mo. Democrats ended up winning the governor’s office that year, as well as most other statewide offices and the US presidency.
The county’s Republican primary winners, all unopposed, were: Wendell R. Johnson for county commissioner in District 2; Thomas Hilbert for county surveyor and Robin L. Naeger for public administrator.
Besides the Republican governor’s race, the next most closely contested primary has been the Republican race for attorney general.
This year, Democratic Attorney General Chis Koster already has stockpiled almost $10.9 million for his gubernatorial campaign while looking past a primary against three lightly funded contenders Eric Morrison, Leonard Steinman and Charles Wheeler.
The message appeared to resonate with many voters in a year that also saw the rise of outsider presidential candidates, including Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic runner-up Bernie Sanders.
Koster, 51, was kicking off a multi-day bus tour Wednesday in Harrisonville, where he began his political career as elected prosecutor two decades ago. But Greitens faced repeated calls by his fellow Republicans to return the money, which he has refused to do.
They all have highlighted their support for gun rights, opposition to abortion, and their intent to bring a strong law-and-order approach to the office while citing displeasure with the way Nixon responded to racial protests over the fatal 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson and past year by students at the University of Missouri.
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All four candidates have benefited from big checks. Greitens has gotten a lot of money from wealthy out-of-state donors. Brunner has self-funded much of his campaign. And Koster has gotten big checks from labor unions.
