Jay Ashcroft, Missouri’s secretary of state and son of one of the state’s most well-known former elected officials, announced Thursday morning he was joining the 2024 race for governor.
In a statement released on social media, Ashcroft said Missouri “stands at a crossroads.”
“Red states like Florida, Texas, Tennessee, even Indiana and Arkansa have become examples of conservative leadership while Missouri Republicans, who control every statewide office and have supermajorities in both chambers of the legislature, have failed to deliver,” he said. “I’m running to change that.”
Ashcroft, 49, faces potential rivals for the GOP gubernatorial nomination. Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe is already a declared candidate, and state Sen. Bill Eigel is exploring a bid.
In an accompanying video announcing his candidacy, Ashcroft panned “career politicians” who “talk a lot, but don’t do a lot.”
The video doesn’t mention Kehoe, but it does include footage of him while Ashcroft says “politicians and lobbyists in Jefferson City slap each other on the back while they give our tax dollars to global corporations, sell out farmland to China and raise gas taxes on hardworking Missourians.”
The video mentions Ashcroft’s support for Missouri’s voter ID law, as well as his efforts to block the U.S. Department of Justice entry to polling locations in Cole County as part of its investigation of complaints involving accessible voting machines.
In recent months, Ashcroft has begun testifying before legislative committees in favor of bills that would ban certain medical treatments for transgender minors and ban foreign ownership of farmland, among others. He also garnered headlines for proposing a controversial rule that would cut funding to libraries that make “age-inappropriate materials” available to children, and for criticizing former U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt’s support for legislation protecting same-sex marriage.
Most recently, Ashcroft withdrew Missouri from a voluntary system aimed at helping states combat voter fraud by maintaining accurate lists of registered voters, known as the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC.
Ashcroft is an attorney and engineer by trade. Though he grew up in a political family — his father, John Ashcroft, served as Missouri governor, U.S. senator and attorney general under President George W. Bush — he didn’t throw his hat into the ring until 2014 when he ran unsuccessfully for a state senate seat in St. Louis County.
He bounced back two years later, winning a tough primary race and then cruising to victory in the fall to become Missouri secretary of state.
Ashcroft easily won reelection as secretary of state in 2020.
The Missouri Independent, www.missouriindependent.com, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization covering state government and its impact on Missourians.