6 years ago this month I started looking for a Democratic candidate for Congress in our District to support. What happened next was not planned, expected, or even considered.
Since that time I’ve run for Congress (briefly), Mo. State Senate (2018), Mo. State House (2020), and Mo. State Senate again in 2022. I ran as a Democrat in Districts where Democrats don’t win, but despite the challenges involved I gave all of these races my best effort regardless.
Last fall, I was looking for a race in 2024 in which a Democratic candidate that lives in an area like ours could actually win. I decided that running for a statewide seat would be an excellent opportunity and a complement to the rural organizing that I had already been doing for a few years.
A few months ago I learned that a current elected Democratic State House member from the Kansas City area also intended to run for Lieutenant Governor. Unfortunately, that threw off my plans for 2024 and also potentially negated thousands of dollars in investments already spent for that race- but here we are. I don’t see the point in engaging in a primary considering the general lack of support and scarcity of resources for Democratic candidates in Missouri so I dropped out of that race.
My options- if I chose to run again in 2024- were to pursue the Congressional race for MO-02 or run for my State House seat in HD88. While I feel a desire and obligation to continue working on efforts that we’ve been undertaking in Franklin and Warren Counties (and beyond), my obligations to my family have to take precedent first and foremost.
While a Congressional race does seem exciting (and we live in a fairly competitive Congressional District), I don’t have the time necessary to raise the millions of dollars necessary to run that race nor the time to conduct what could possibly be a winning campaign for that seat.
Since the state-level issues affecting my family and families like ours haven’t improved much- or may have actually gotten worse in many cases- I’ve decided to run for State Representative in our 88th House District for 2024. I will do whatever I can in our little corner of the universe to put together a team and do the work necessary to replace our right-wing extremist Republican State Representative Holly Jones next November.
Fortunately, we already have a number of the necessities for this campaign including business cards, yard signs, 3×5 signs, 4×8 signs, a professional website, social media presence, t-shirts, stickers, etc. My main focus for this campaign in 2023 is to engage in community-building and raise money. We’ll be hosting events, participating in local events, and using a variety of digital and real-world strategies in order to expand awareness of and support for this campaign.
I would greatly appreciate your support over the next 16 months as we first work to build a solid foundation of support for this campaign and then expand on that work to earn the support of the majority of voters in this House District. In the past, I haven’t had the opportunity to start anywhere near to 50%, so this race could be our golden opportunity to flip this District, give me the opportunity to serve in our State Legislature, and help to end the Republican supermajority in the Missouri House.
Remember- Rep. Deb Lavender lost three times before she won a seat in our State Legislature. We can do that, too! You can give online today at KIEHNE2024.COM or send a check or money order to:
Kiehne for Missouri
P.O. Box 1, Pacific, MO 63069
*** Please remember to include address, employer, and occupation information for MEC compliance purposes ***
The Crawford County Democrats hosted a very well-attended BBQ and Stump Speech Picnic this last weekend. In attendance were MDP Chair Russ Carnahan, MDP Vice Chair Yvonne Reeves-Chong, U.S. Senate candidates Wesley Bell and December Harmon, Attorney General candidate Elad Gross, U.S. Congress candidate Randi McCallian (MO-08), State House candidate Bernadette Holzer (HD143), Rep. Deb Lavender (HD98), and yours truly.