July 22, 2024

In a stunning slap in the face to Missouri farmers and voters, recent reporting by the Missouri Independent outed that Lt. Governor and GOP Gubernatorial candidate Mike Kehoe has been traveling the state in a bus 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. 

“Mike Kehoe voted four times to sell our farmland to China and other countries, so it is not surprising that Kehoe is bankrolled by the very people that benefited from those votes the most- lobbyists and foreign interests,” said Missouri Democratic Party Communications Director Chelsea Rodriguez. “What is stunning, is 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.” 

“This is yet another example of a two-faced Mike Kehoe. When he was overriding Governor Nixon and democrats in the legislature were proposing rules to fix this problem, he supported Chinese- owned farmland. But now that he’s running for governor, he’s against it. This type of gross behavior is entirely unacceptable and we deserve better.” 

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Media Contact: 

Chelsea Rodriguez, Communications Director

press@missouridems.org