Claims against Lieutenant Governor Kehoe

ST. LOUIS, Missouri (First Alert 4) – First Alert 4 is investigating claims about Lieutenant Governor Mike Kehoe, who is running to be the next governor of Missouri.

CLAIM: “Sponsor of the largest tax increase in Missouri history”

The Committee for Liberty runs an attack ad showing President Joe Biden transforming into Kehoe.

The claim refers to a 2014 constitutional amendment sponsored by then-Senator Kehoe: a multibillion-dollar sales tax increase to fund road and bridge construction projects. Missouri voters rejected the amendment, which reportedly would have been the largest tax increase in Missouri history.

CLAIM: “I gave campaign funds to a liberal who hates cops”

The pro-Jay Ashcroft group behind the ad said the claim referred to a campaign donation Kehoe made in 2019 to a Democrat running for mayor in Columbia, Missouri.

Records from the Missouri Ethics Commission show that the lieutenant governor and his wife donated $500 to Chris Kelly’s campaign, which ultimately lost the election. According to media reports, Kelly called for an outside audit of the Columbia Police Department during his campaign.

First Alert 4 found cases in which Kelly criticized the police.

CLAIM: “Support for police haters”

Although Kehoe financially supported the Democratic candidate in 2019, First Alert 4 found no evidence that the candidate hated the police.

CLAIM: “Voted four times to sell Missouri farmland to China”

The fact that China owns farmland in Missouri has become a hot topic in the race for governor. In fact, Kehoe voted four times in 2013 to allow foreign ownership of up to one percent of Missouri’s farmland, or about 3 billion acres.

The yes votes, including one overriding Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of the bill, effectively lifted a ban that had been in place since the 1970s. The law came weeks before a Chinese conglomerate now called WH Group agreed to buy Smithfield Foods, which owns thousands of acres of land in the state.

CLAIM: “Jay Ashcroft, the only one who stands up for the right to life, a true conservative as governor”

In fact, the Missouri Right to Life Political Action Committee announced its support for Ashcroft in July of last year.

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