Voters select Trump, Kehoe and slate of local and state candidates

Donald Trump and Mike Kehoe were among key winners on Election Day, and Missourians weighed in on the candidacies of myriad other politicians on the local, state and national levels.

Trump, a Republican who previously led the nation as the country's 45th president, now has been voted in as its 47th, according to election results posted early this morning by The Associated Press. Trump has been declared the winner with 277 electoral votes in his favor so far, and Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, won 224 electoral votes as of deadline. A 270 threshold is required to win the presidency.

In Missouri, 58.4% of the vote went to Trump, with Harris winning 40%, according to data pulled from a Missouri Digital News election results aggregating tool. Among Greene County voters, 59.4% cast their ballot for Trump, according to results from the Greene County clerk’s office, with 38.5% for Harris.

The presidential candidates' divergent tax proposals were both projected, prior to the election, to raise the national debt, according to past reporting.

Governor's race
Kehoe, who is currently the state's lieutenant governor, has been chosen to succeed Gov. Mike Parson.

Kehoe secured 59.1% of the vote in the governor’s race, beating Democrat Crystal Quade, the Missouri House of Representatives minority leader and representative for District 132. Quade brought in 38.7% of the statewide vote total. In Greene County, where Quade lives, she captured nearly 39% of the vote, with nearly 59% of ballots cast for Kehoe, according to the Greene County clerk’s office.

Kehoe has served six years as lieutenant governor after being appointed to the job by Gov. Mike Parson in 2018.

Kehoe’s biggest hurdle to becoming governor came during a contentious primary in August, when he beat out two fellow Republicans who boasted being more conservative on issues, according to reporting by The Missouri Independent.

Kehoe’s message was that he was more interested in governing than politics.

“Missourians are a little bit sick of hate politics,” Kehoe said in a July interview with The Independent.

U.S. Senate
In the U.S. Senate, Republican Josh Hawley was reelected with 55.5% of the vote, according to the MDN aggregator.

Challenger Lucas Kunce, a Democrat, scored 41.8% of the vote. Libertarian W.C. Young was the only other candidate to pull in more than 1% of the vote.

In Greene County, Hawley brought in 57.4% of the vote, with Kunce gathering roughly 40%.

U.S. House
Incumbent Republican Eric Burlison claimed a second term in his seat in Missouri’s 7th Congressional District in voting yesterday.

Burlison captured 71.5% of the vote, according to MDN, placing the total number of voters at nearly 255,000.

Burlison had two challengers: Democrat Missie Hesketh, who garnered 26.3% of the vote, and Libertarian Kevin Craig, with 2.2%.

Greene County voters favored Burlison with 61.4% of the tally. Hesketh scored 36.3%.

Missouri General Assembly
The Missouri Independent reported that the Missouri General Assembly will retain the two-thirds Republican supermajority that has held since 2012. Each party flipped a seat in each chamber, the Independent reported, leaving the overall party mix unchanged.

The state General Assembly gained a new face with Democrat Jeremy Dean defeating Republican Stephanos Freeman in District 132, which covers northwest Springfield. Dean captured 51.6% of the vote. The seat was previously held for eight years by Quade.

In District 133, which covers west Springfield, incumbent Republican Melanie Stinnett defeated Democratic challenger Derrick Nowlin by capturing 56.1% of the vote.

Betsy Fogle, a Democrat, held on to her seat for a third term representing east Springfield’s Missouri House District 135. She was challenged by Michael Hasty, a Republican. Fogle won with 54.9% of the vote.

In District 136, covering central and south Springfield, incumbent Democrat Stephanie Hein edged out Republican Jim Robinette to win her second term in office by a narrow margin of 50.9% versus 49.1%.

Greene County
John Russell, Greene County’s District 2 commissioner, was reelected over challenger Tim McGrady, a Democrat, according to the unofficial election results posted by the county clerk's office. Russell received 58.9% of the vote to McGrady's 41%.

For the contested commission seat, incumbent Russell, a Republican, was appointed to his position by Gov. Mike Parson in 2019 to fulfill a vacancy left by the election of Missouri Sen. Lincoln Hough and was reelected the following year.

All other Greene County races were uncontested in the general election, including the District 1 commissioner, Rusty MacLachlan. The others are sheriff, Jim Arnott (who defeated challenger Ben McMains in the August primary election); assessor, Brent Johnson; treasurer, Justin Hill; and public administrator, Sherri Martin – all incumbents poised to continue in their present roles.

State positions
Republican Dave Wasinger secured 57.4% of the statewide vote for lieutenant governor. Democratic challenger Richard Brown received 38.5% of the vote.

Attorney General Andrew Bailey, a Republican, retained his job with 59.8% of the vote. Democrat Elad Jonathan Gross had 37.9%.

For secretary of state, Republican Denny Hoskins won with 57.7% of the vote. Democrat Barbara Phifer scored 39.6%.

Incumbent state Treasurer Vivek Malek, a Republican, was retained with 57.9% of the vote. Democrat Mark Osmack received 38%.

All of the judges on the ballot yesterday retained their roles.