ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The Missouri Primary Elections came and gone, with some big winners like Mike Kehoe and Wesley Bell, and some big losers like Cori Bush and Jay Ashcroft.
Among the most notable results included Missouri Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe claiming the GOP nomination for Missouri governor over Jay Ashcroft and Bill Eigel and now will take on Democratic nominee Crystal Quade in November, Bell defeating Bush to all but claim the Bush's seat in Congress and Lucas Kunce claiming the Democratic nomination to take on Sen. Josh Hawley for Hawley's seat in the Senate.
Other results included Attorney General Andrew Bailey and State Treasurer Vivek Malek soundly defeating their opponents in the GOP primaries to be in good position to secure a second term in their respective offices and Bob Onder defeating his opponent Kurt Schafer to be in a good position to claim Missouri's 3rd Congressional Seat, currently held by Blaine Luetkemeyer, who is set to retire.
John Hancock and Michael Kelley of "Hancock and Kelley" joined KMOX's Total Information A.M. to discuss their biggest takeaways from the Missouri Primary Elections
Hancock starting off by saying while he wasn't surprised with Kehoe winning, he was surprised of the order of the GOP race for Missouri governor.
"I was happy (my candidate) Mike Kehoe won the GOP gubernatorial nomination, but I was genuinely surprised by the order of that race," said Hancock. "Kehoe, then Eigel then Ashcroft. I don't think many people saw that coming.
"There was a large number of undecided voters and a lot of them went to Kehoe and Eigel. They didn't go to Jay Ashcroft."
Kelley say his biggest takeaway from the primaries was the "more normal" candidates proved to emerge victorious over the "extreme" candidates.
"It seemed like the more normal of the candidates that were fighting, the less extreme of the candidates," said Kelley. "The far right candidates lost to some more moderate Republicans."
Kelley second takeaway was with the exception of Crystal Quade defeating Mike Hamra for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, raising money proved to be a significant factor in the primary.
"It was interesting that money did really help play and make a difference in these campaigns," said Kelley. "With the exception of Quade, which was interesting to me, because I thought $3 million dollars (for Mike Hamra) compared to $200,000 (for Quade), there was no way she could stop that onslaught.
"But in fairness to her, she's been the face of the opposition for Democrats and I think Democrats are a little skeptical when it comes to people who try to buy elections. Trudy Busch Valentine felt that a little bit and I think Mike Hamra felt it."
