In race for Missouri governor, Mike Kehoe draws on long friendship with top lobbyist (2024)

JEFFERSON CITY— In a Republican primary election where some candidates campaigned on a “drain the swamp” theme, a key figure behind the winning GOP nominee for governor in Missouri is a longtime political insider.

Lobbyist Andrew Blunt, son of former U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt and brother of former Gov. Matt Blunt, serves as a top campaign consultant for Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, who garnered enough votes on Aug. 6 to advance to the November gubernatorial election.

Campaign finance records show Blunt’s lobbying firm, Husch Blackwell, was paid more than $1.4 million in the past two years to help Kehoe fend off two major opponents, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and Sen. Bill Eigel of Weldon Spring.

At a time when Republicans like Eigel and winning lieutenant governor nominee David Wasinger echoed former President Donald Trump’s mantra of dismantling government, Kehoe is running a campaign forged on political and business relationships dating back two decades or more.

Buoyed by a healthy fundraising lead, Kehoe won the nomination with 39.4% of the vote, followed by Eigel at 32.5% and Ashcroft at 23.2%.

The St. Louis native will face House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, on Nov. 5 with Republicans continuing to dominate voting in the Show-Me State.

The pairing of Kehoe and Blunt goes back two decades to when Kehoe and Andrew Blunt, a former Eagle Scout, served on the same fundraising team for the local Boy Scouts council.

“Mike and I became fast friends, as did our families. Mike’s kids became babysitters for our young children and eventually we moved next door to each other in Jefferson City,” Blunt said in a statement to the Post-Dispatch.

The two also campaigned together in support of Andrew’s brother.

In his 2024 autobiography, “Someone on My Side,” Kehoe said he took a 60-day leave of absence from his Jefferson City Ford dealership and traveled the state in support of Matt Blunt’s successful 2004 gubernatorial bid against Democrat Claire McCaskill.

After winning, Matt Blunt appointed Kehoe to the powerful Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission, the six-member board that governs the Missouri Department of Transportation.

In his book, Kehoe called it his “first real experience in politics.”

Andrew Blunt and Kehoe paired up again in 2006, when the duo invested in an ethanol production plant in Carrollton, Mo., located in the northwest part of the state.

Four years later, Kehoe ran for a seat in the state Senate, where he ascended to a top leadership post before his two four-year terms ended.

“When Mike decided to run for office, I wanted to do everything I could to support him,” Andrew Blunt said. “To me, Mike is a mentor, another brother, and a genuine friend.”

Kehoe campaign spokeswoman Gabby Picard said Kehoe has worked with many people over 30 years in business and politics “to improve the lives of Missourians.”

“He is grateful for the support of the Blunt family and the thousands of Missourians who have endorsed his campaign and vision to move all of Missouri forward,” Picard said in an email.

During Kehoe’s rise, Andy Blunt was amassing a powerful array of top companies in his arsenal of lobbying clients.

Lobbyists and political consultants in Missouri play a significant role in the process of lawmaking by the General Assembly. Term limits result in a constant churn of new faces in the House and the Senate, leaving lobbyists and legislative staff to inform newcomers about potential paths forward— as well as possible pitfalls— in their goals.

It can be a lucrative business.

In addition to his duties as CEO of Husch Blackwell Strategies, Blunt is executive director of the Missouri Cable Telecommunications Association.

He lists 36 companies and organizations as clients, including heavy-weight national firms like BNSF Railway Company, Microsoft and tobacco-giant Altria.

Since 2020, Missouri Ethics Commission records show Blunt’s clients have contributed more than $177,000 to a political action committee that raises money for Kehoe.

Tops among donors to the American Dream PAC was Blunt’s cable TV association.

The Missouri Hospital Association, another Husch Blackwell client, also has given generously to the PAC, including more than $42,000 this year.

Another Blunt client, the Missouri Automobile Dealers Association, gave Kehoe’s PAC $25,000, on top of a raft of contributions from individual car dealers who backed their former colleague.

While some of Blunt’s clients aren’t doling out campaign dollars, they are keeping a close watch on the outcome of the November election.

Since 2015, Blunt has represented the University of Missouri System, which relies heavily on state support. Altria, the cigarette company, also has fought back attempts to raise the state’s tobacco tax.

The Missouri Asphalt Pavement Association also claims Blunt as its Capitol lobbyist as Kehoe, who led the charge for a recent hike in the gasoline tax, will be faced with an expensive road building budget left in the wake of Gov. Mike Parson’s focus on infrastructure.

Another client, Scientific Games, is a major supplier for the Missouri Lottery, raking in over $10 million in state contracts annually.

Blunt has faced questions in past elections involving his father about whether he can keep a firewall between his lobbying business and his work to get Roy Blunt elected.

In 2015, Andrew Blunt told the Springfield News-Leader he never lobbies his father or any other federal official — establishing a “bright line” between his clients' priorities in Jefferson City and his father’s political pull in Washington.

He sounded a similar note in his response to the Post-Dispatch.

“My work for the PAC and services HBS provided were no different than what we provide other clients across the country,” Blunt said. “Mike has a big campaign team, and I am honored to play some role in it.”