Jay Ashcroft

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Jay Ashcroft (Republican Party) is the Missouri Secretary of State. He assumed office on January 9, 2017. His current term ends on January 13, 2025.

Ashcroft (Republican Party) ran for election for Governor of Missouri. He lost in the Republican primary on August 6, 2024.

Previously, he was a 2014 Republican candidate for District 24 of the Missouri State Senate.^[1]

Biography

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Ashcroft attended high school in Jefferson City, Missouri, and graduated from the University of Missouri at Rolla. After earning a bachelor's and master's degree in engineering management, Ashcroft began his career working at a defense contractor. He moved to St. Louis in 2000, enrolled in law school and became an engineering professor at St. Louis Community College. Ashcroft earned his J.D. from St. Louis University Law School in 2008, then went to work as an intellectual property attorney at the law firm of Armstrong Teasdale. At the time of his candidacy, Ashcroft was practicing compliance law with his father at Ashcroft Law Firm.

Ashcroft and his wife, Katie, have three sons and one daughter. He is the son of former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft (R).

Education

B.S., engineering management, University of Missouri at Rolla
M.S., engineering management, University of Missouri at Rolla
J.D., St. Louis University School of Law

2024 battleground election

See also: Missouri gubernatorial election, 2024 (August 6 Republican primary)

Ballotpedia identified the August 6, 2024, Republican primary as a battleground race. The summary below is from our coverage of this election, found here. Mike Kehoe (R) won the Republican primary for Missouri's gubernatorial election on August 6, 2024. Click here for detailed results.

Nine candidates ran in the Republican primary election for governor of Missouri on August 6, 2024. Jay Ashcroft (R), Bill Eigel (R), and Mike Kehoe (R) led in polling and media attention. Inc. Gov. Mike Parson (R) was not able to file for re-election due to term limits.

Ashcroft, Eigel, and Kehoe participated in a February candidate forum. According to St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosen, "The verbal blows onstage reflect a new reality for a party that’s been dominant in state elections for nearly eight years. Republicans now face noticeable factionalism in their legislative supermajority and on the campaign trail."^[2] Rosen said that while Kehoe avoided directly criticizing the other candidates, Eigel criticized both Kehoe and Ashcroft, saying, "Don't be afraid of the message that we can't take our state back because I don't have enough lobbyist money or I don't have the right last name from my dad," referring to Ashcroft, who is the son of Frmr. Gov. John Ashcroft. Ashcroft responded by saying, "Are we going to pick words, or we're going to pick actions?"^[2]

Ashcroft was the Missouri Secretary of State. Ashcroft said his engineering background helped him be results-driven. Ashcroft said, "It takes a different kind of thinking to lead the way out. I’m an engineer, and engineers fix problems. We focus on results." Ashcroft said he would reduce government spending, eliminate gas and income taxes, increase law enforcement funding, and keep obscene materials out of public libraries.^[3]^[4]^[5]

Eigel was a state senator from Missouri’s 23rd District. Eigel said, "I happen to believe that one of the biggest problems that we have here in Missouri [is] all of those so-called Republicans - folks who campaign as Republicans and govern as Democrats. I’ve got news for these campaign conservatives who have betrayed us: your grift is coming to an end."^[6] Eigel said he would require election authorities to manually count ballots instead of using machines, eliminate personal property and corporate taxes, and disallow programs he described as "woke" from being taught in public schools.^[7]

Kehoe was the lieutenant governor of Missouri. Kehoe said, "Making our communities safer, controlling spending, running the state like a business, creating jobs, and securing the future for Missouri by fighting for our shared family values - [that] is why I am running for governor."^[8] Kehoe said he supported policies that would create more jobs, expand workforce development, support seniors and veterans, and improve education.^[9]

Over 20 unions and organizations endorsed Kehoe, including the Fire Fighter Association of Missouri, Missouri Agribusiness Association, and the Missouri Farm Bureau.^[10] The Missouri Right to Life PAC endorsed Ashcroft, and the Make Liberty Win PAC endorsed Eigel.^[11]^[12]

As of August 6, 2024, The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales, and Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball rated the Missouri gubernatorial election as a safe or solid Republican seat.

Darren Grant (R), Jeremy Gundel (R), Darrell Leon McClanahan III (R), Robert Olson (R), Amber Thomsen (R), and Chris Wright (R) also ran in the Republican primary.

Political career

2017 - Present: Missouri Secretary of State

Elections

2024

General election

General election for Governor of Missouri

Mike Kehoe defeated Crystal Quade, Bill Slantz, Paul Lehmann, and Theodis Brown Sr. in the general election for Governor of Missouri on November 5, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Mike Kehoe (R)	57.0	1,293,917
	Crystal Quade (D)	40.8	926,825
	Bill Slantz (L)	1.4	31,267
	Paul Lehmann (G)	0.8	17,633
	Theodis Brown Sr. (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	0

	There were no incumbents in this race. Source	Total votes: 2,269,642
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Larry Flenoid II (Independent)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Governor of Missouri

Crystal Quade defeated Mike Hamra, Eric Morrison, Sheryl Gladney, and Hollis Laster in the Democratic primary for Governor of Missouri on August 6, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Crystal Quade	50.2	190,228
	Mike Hamra	31.7	119,901
	Eric Morrison	9.8	37,084
	Sheryl Gladney	6.7	25,370
	Hollis Laster	1.6	5,990

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 378,573
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Sarah Unsicker (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Governor of Missouri

The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for Governor of Missouri on August 6, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Mike Kehoe	39.4	275,139
	Bill Eigel	32.5	227,257
	Jay Ashcroft	23.2	162,314
	Amber Thomsen	1.5	10,653
	Chris Wright	1.3	9,376
	Darrell Leon McClanahan III	0.8	5,656
	Robert Olson	0.4	2,985
	Jeremy Gundel	0.4	2,951
	Darren Grant	0.3	1,871

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 698,202
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Libertarian primary election

Libertarian primary for Governor of Missouri

Bill Slantz advanced from the Libertarian primary for Governor of Missouri on August 6, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Bill Slantz	100.0	2,419

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,419
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Polls

See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls

Polls are conducted with a variety of methodologies and have margins of error or credibility intervals.^[13] The Pew Research Center wrote, "A margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level means that if we fielded the same survey 100 times, we would expect the result to be within 3 percentage points of the true population value 95 of those times."^[14] For tips on reading polls from FiveThirtyEight, click here. For tips from Pew, click here.

Below we provide results for polls that are included in polling aggregation from FiveThirtyEight and RealClearPolitics, when available. Click here to read about FiveThirtyEight's criteria for including polls in its aggregation. We only report polls for which we can find a margin of error or credibility interval.

Missouri gubernatorial election, 2024, Republican primary election polls
Poll	Date	Ashcroft	Eigel	Grant	Grundel	Kehoe	Olson	Thomsen	Wright	Undecided/Other	Margin of error	Sample size^[15]	Sponsor^[16]
The Tyson Group	April 23-26, 2024	36%	3%	2%	1%	11%	2%	3%	1%	40%	± 4.3	504	Building America's Future
YouGov	Feb. 14-26, 2024	28%	8%	—	—	10%	—	—	3%	50%	± 5.4	414	Saint Louis University
ARW Strategies	Feb. 5-7, 2024	36%	13%	—	—	13%	—	—	—	48%	± 3.96	611	N/A
Show Me Victories	Oct. 26-31, 2023	18%	6%	—	—	19%	—	—	—	49%	± 4.9	407	N/A
Remington Research Group	Sept. 27-28, 2024	32%	5%	—	—	15%	—	—	—	48%	± 3.4	714	Missouri Scout

Campaign finance

Satellite spending

See also: Satellite spending

Satellite spending describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.^[17]^[18]

If available, satellite spending reports by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and OpenSecrets.org are linked below. FEC links include totals from monthly, quarterly, and semi-annual reports. OpenSecrets.org compiles data from those reports as well as 24- and 48-hour reports from the FEC.^[19]

Details about satellite spending of significant amounts and/or reported by media are included below those links. The amounts listed may not represent the total satellite spending in the election. To notify us of additional satellite spending, email us.