GOP race for governor tops primary contests

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri's most competitive Republican gubernatorial primary in two dozen years will come to a close today as voters select from among four well-funded candidates promoting themselves as the party's conservative standard-bearer.

Democrats also will choose a gubernatorial nominee. And primary voters will pick a full slate of candidates for Missouri's statewide executive offices, U.S. Senate and House, the state Legislature and local offices.

Voting begins at 6 a.m. today and runs until 7 p.m. Missouri's primaries are open to all registered voters, meaning people can pick a ballot for any political party.

Election officials are predicting a turnout of a little less than one-third of Missouri's registered voters, which would be the largest for an August primary since 2004.

The governor's race has attracted a lot of interest, because Democratic incumbent Jay Nixon is prohibited by term limits from running again.

Polls have shown a tight race in the four-way Republican primary, and the candidates were crisscrossing the state Monday in a final push for votes.

The Republican field features Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, former federal prosecutor and Missouri House Speaker Catherine Hanaway, former Navy SEAL officer Eric Greitens and former Marine and businessman John Brunner.

Kinder was spending Monday around his hometown of Cape Girardeau. The others all were flying to at least a half-dozen cities across the state, with each making stops in Columbia, Joplin, Kansas City and St. Louis.

They all have highlighted their support for gun rights, opposition to abortion and their intent to bring a strong law-and-order approach to the office while citing displeasure with the way Nixon responded to racial protests over the fatal 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson and last year by students at the University of Missouri.

Together, the four Republican candidates already had spent more than $22 million as of July 21, the end of the most recent reporting period.

Greitens has received a lot of his money from wealthy out-of-state donors.

Brunner has self-funded much of his campaign.

Hanaway has been heavily financed by retired investment-firm founder Rex Sinquefield, Missouri's most prolific conservative donor.

Kinder has received much of his money from the Humphreys family, the conservative leaders of TAMKO Building Products.

Not since 1992 has Missouri had a Republican governor's primary that was so hotly contested among so many candidates. That year, Attorney General William Webster prevailed over secretary of state Roy Blunt and treasurer Wendell Bailey but ended up losing the general election to Democratic lieutenant governor Mel Carnahan.

This year, Democratic Attorney General Chris Koster has stockpiled nearly $10.9 million for an expected matchup against the Republican primary winner.

But he first faces a gubernatorial primary against three other Democrats who together have reported raising less than $4,000 -- Eric Morrison, Leonard Steinman and Charles Wheeler.

After finishing second in the 1992 primary, Blunt spent several years as president of Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar and resurrected his political career by winning a U.S. House seat in 1996. He was elected to the Senate in 2010.

Blunt and Democratic Secretary of State Jason Kander already have been focusing on their potential general-election matchup, though they first face U.S. Senate primaries against lesser-known candidates.

Besides the Republican governor's race, the next most closely contested primary has been the Republican race for attorney general.

State Sen. Kurt Schaefer and University of Missouri law professor Josh Hawley had spent a combined $6.5 million through July 21.

Schaefer has been heavily financed by Sinquefield and Hawley by the Humphreys.

St. Louis County Assessor Jake Zimmerman and former Cass County prosecutor Teresa Hensley together had spent less than one-fourth of that amount in the Democratic attorney general primary.