Both major party candidates for Missouri governor as well as the Libertarian and Green Party candidates participated in a forum at the Fox Theatre, owned by the History Museum on the Square.
The candidates answered questions about constitutional amendments that will be on the ballot in November as well as things like childcare tax credits and the state budget. And they laid out their priorities if they’re elected.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Kehoe said he spent 30 years in small business in the state and that government's role is to create an environment where good jobs can grow and prosper. But his number one priority would be public safety.
“We need to make sure that we fund and give the resources to our men and lady in the police departments in public safety all across the state -- the resources they need to keep Missourians safe.”
His Democratic opponent Crystal Quade pointed to the state’s “crumbling infrastructure” and rural hospitals that have closed and said government needs to focus on that rather than continued overreaches into Missourians’ personal lives, “whether it is in our doctors’ offices, what books our kids can read, the focus of what’s been coming out of Jefferson City is absolutely wrong.”
The Green Party candidate Paul Lehmann said one of the "looming clouds over the state of Missouri and the nation and the world is what he called the opposition of the United States to a cease fire in Gaza. That affects the environment we live in, according to Lehmann. We need to stop treating people as the enemy, he said.
The Libertarian candidate for governor Bill Slantz pledged to focus on limiting the taxes for Missourians. He said he would eliminate the income and personal property taxes and would do that by "cutting half the budget."
