JEFFERSON CITY — Hoping to capitalize on anger over the end of legal abortion and concerns about “extremist Republicans,†the minority leader of the Missouri House will launch her campaign for governor Monday.
According to an obtained by the Post-Dispatch, Democrat Crystal Quade of Springfield said she plans to restore abortion rights and ban China and Russia from owning Missouri farmland if elected. Quade has served in the House since 2017 and is term limited next year.
Quade, 37, is the lone Democrat to step forward thus far for a gubernatorial run in a state that is controlled by Republicans.
But, with Republican Gov. Mike Parson not running because of term limits, Quade has been considering a bid for months amid some Democratic advances in other states following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last year to overturn Roe v. Wade.
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A trio of Republicans seeking the nomination are staunchly anti-abortion. They include Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and Sen. Bill Eigel, a state senator from Weldon Spring.
In her announcement, Quade only mentions Ashcroft, suggesting Democrats believe he will emerge from the contest.
She casts herself as the product of working class parents in a state where blue-collar workers have lost ground economically “while Jefferson City has grown more extreme and divisive.â€
“Missourians care about their freedoms, and extremist Republicans won’t stop stripping away the rights of Missourians. Be it abortion, the yearly attacks on the initiative petition process, overruling Missouri voters on Medicaid expansion, the extremist Republicans have been steering Missouri off a cliff,†she said.
She is scheduled to formally announce her entrance into the race at a coffee shop in Springfield Monday morning.
Quade has an uphill climb against her GOP counterparts when it comes to fundraising. Filings with the Missouri Ethics Commission show she has $68,565 in her personal campaign account and $33,597 in an affiliated political action account.
By comparison, Kehoe has more than $3.3 million in campaign accounts linked to his bid for governor. That figure dates to April and does not include a bevy of major contributions he’s since received.
In 2020, Parson handily beat former state Auditor Nicole Galloway, a Democrat, by a 57% to 40% tally, reflecting Missouri’s status as a deeply red state.
But, other red states, including Wisconsin and Kansas, have seen Democratic advances in recent years attributed to the abortion ruling and in response to former President Donald Trump.
During her six years as minority leader, Quade has led the opposition against further loosening state gun laws, tax cuts and attempts to limit who receives health care benefits through an expanded Medicaid program.
But, as a member of a legislative super-minority, the Democratic leader has had limited success.
In April, Quade said she was considering a bid for the top office in state government following Ashcroft’s formal announcement that he was seeking the post.
Quade slammed Ashcroft, saying he believes public office is his “birthright†as the son of former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, who also was a Missouri governor and senator.
Quade earned a social work degree at Missouri State University and is the former director of chapter services at Care to Learn, a nonprofit organization that addresses the health, hunger and hygiene needs of economically disadvantaged children in several school districts across Missouri.
She previously worked for Community Blood Center of the Ozarks, Organizing for America, and as a U.S. Senate constituent services representative.