July 25, 2024

Last night, while the two other GOP gubernatorial candidates demonstrated why they would be disastrous for Missouri during a taped debate, Lt. Governor Mike Kehoe declined to show- again. Hiding from his record, Kehoe has declined to join either of his opponents in a live debate to avoid answering serious questions about his current and former positions. 

The question the Missouri Democratic Party would ask: What exactly do you stand for? 

Last week, reporting outed that Kehoe’s campaign tour bus was owned by Jewell Patek, the only Missouri lobbyist employed by the Chinese-owned Smithfield Foods, which owns a large chunk of Missouri’s farm land. Kehoe and other lawmakers sold-out Missouri agriculture by eliminating the ban on foreign ownership of Missouri farm land in order to help sell Smithfield, an American business, to a Chinese conglomerate back in 2013, while Kehoe was serving in the state senate. 

Since beginning his run for Governor, Kehoe has attempted to distance himself from the four times he voted to sell an American business and Missouri’s farm land to China or the highest foreign bidder. Kehoe praised Governor Parson’s executive order restricting certain foreign land ownership and said, “China is our nation’s most hostile foreign adversary, and Missouri cannot allow individuals and companies associated with the Chinese Communist Party to buy and exploit Missouri land.” 

“It is clear that Mike Kehoe says one thing on the campaign trail and another thing to his dark-money buddies bankrolling his campaign,” Missouri Democratic Party Executive Director Matthew Patterson. “Mike Kehoe voted four times to sell our farmland to China and other countries, so it is not shocking that Kehoe is run by the very people that benefited from those votes the most- lobbyists and foreign interests. The complete shamelessness of riding around in a tour bus owned by the only Missouri lobbyist employed by the Chinese-owned Smithfield Foods while he is campaigning to serve the people of Missouri is stunning. No one should be surprised that Kehoe is hiding these questions.” 

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Media Contact: 

Chelsea Rodriguez, Communications Director

press@missouridems.org