COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Five Missouri Democrats are seeking the party’s nomination for governor in the November general election.
Two of those five – state Rep. Crystal Quade (D-Springfield) and businessman Mike Hamra – are running full-scale campaigns across the state.
Republicans have controlled the governor’s office since 2017 when Eric Greitens was sworn into office. Gov. Mike Parson took over in 2018 when Greitens resigned, and Parson won a full term in 2020 when he defeated then-state auditor Nicole Galloway.
Hamra and Quade both hail from southwest Missouri. Hamra, 55, went to the University of Missouri Law School. He worked in the Bill Clinton administration and the Federal Communications Commission in Washington D.C. Hamra moved back to Springfield in 2001 to work in his family restaurant franchising business. Hamra has been with the company, Hamra Enterprises, since then.
Quade, 38 has been the Minority Floor Leader in the Missouri House of Representatives since 2019. She was first elected in 2016 to House District 132. Quade served as a social worker in Springfield before her election and worked for the United States Senate and the Barack Obama campaign.