Dwayne Kirchhoff running for Cape County Commissioner

Former school board member and firefighter Dwayne Kirchhoff has entered the race for 1st District Cape Girardeau County Commissioner as a Republican.

Kirchhoff is a lifelong Cape Girardeau County resident. His family's roots in the county stretch back to 1844.

"I want to be able to give back as much as I can to the community so that others can raise their families here," he said.

He started out in public service in 1981 with the East County Fire Protection District. In 1987, he was elected to the Nell Holcomb school board.

Kirchhoff retired from the school board after 18 years and from the fire protection district after 38 years.

"When I had got on the school board ... we started out with a budget of $250,000 and we ended, when I retired 18 years later, with a budget of $4 million," he said.

Kirchhoff worked with taxpayer money in both organizations. He said the accomplishments of the groups were not made solely because of him, but because he worked alongside passionate people who wanted to be good stewards of the taxpayers' funds.

"Everything I have been involved in has not been about me. It's been about the community," Kirchhoff said. "A lot of people don't even know who Dwayne Kirchhoff is and that's OK, because I wasn't out there for name recognition. I was out there to make good things happen and I feel like that's what I have to offer."

If elected, Kirchhoff said he would focus on upgrading the county's roads and bridges.

Kirchhoff said he felt he had the experience and passion to make decisions on the county commission.

"My goal as always is to leave something in better shape than I received it. And that doesn't mean the county is in bad shape, it means that I want to continue to work on what's started and make it better," he said.

Kirchhoff ran against incumbent commissioner Paul Koeper in 2020. Koeper decided not to seek reelection this year.