‘We had no money.’ In MO governor’s race, candidates highlight their childhood challenges

After Missouri House Minority Leader Crystal Quade launched her Democratic campaign for governor this week by emphasizing a humble early life that included becoming the first person in her family to graduate high school, Republican Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe took to social media to highlight his own upbringing by a single mom with six children. Quade’s entry into the 2024 race for governor has for the moment placed the candidates’ childhood and youth at the center of the contest – and spurred a fight over what lessons Missourians should take from their by-the-bootstraps narratives. As Quade and Kehoe...