Last week the Audrain County Democrats hosted Missouri governor candidate Crystal Quade to learn more about her and vice versa.

Quade, who is a state representative from the Springfield area entering her eighth year, is her party’s leader in the House of Representatives. Quade told the small crowd there to greet her it was her first time in Mexico and that she arrived a little early so she could drive around and check things out. 

Quade grew up in the small town of Fordland in Webster County about an hour east of Springfield. Her mother was a waitress and her father worked at a factory in Springfield. Quade is the first in her family to graduate high school and she went on to attend Missouri State University where she studied social work.

“It was when I got to school that I realized that everything I wanted to do to help people was dictated by public policy,” Quade said. “So okay I’ll go to Jefferson City and try and learn about this place.”

After graduation, she worked for former U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill in her Springfield office and then worked on former President Barack Obama’s campaign and decided she didn’t like politics and went into social work for the next seven years and during that time she also became a mother.

During that time Quade found herself back in Jefferson City listening to the debate on Medicaid expansion. After listening to the debate she realized that maybe a turn back towards politics was a right move.

“What made me want to get involved with politics was the way all these elected officials in their fancy coats with gold pins were talking about poor folks, people like my family,” Quade said. “The way they talked about people who struggle just made me sick to my stomach and I said to myself these people don’t understand what regular life is like for working-class people.”

Quade decided to run for her local state house seat in Springfield in 2016 which was the only seat in southern Missouri that had been occupied by a Democrat. Three Republicans fought through a primary and Quade said the party spent more than $250,000 to beat her. But she won.

Quade said she won the race by knocking on doors and listening. She said she is most proud of the fact that many of her yard signs were right next to Trump signs.

“I did that by listening,” Quade said. “As an elected official it’s my job to knock on your door and say, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’” For too long in Missouri we haven’t been asking that question. I know how to fight and I also know how to have conversations with people.”

Quade said if you had asked her a few years ago if she would be running for governor the answer would have been no. She said the plan was to go to Jefferson City for a few terms and then come back home and be a mom. However, Quade quickly accented within her party and just a year into her first term won enough votes of her party to become the minority leader. Quade was the youngest person to hold that title in the state’s history and she’s the longest-serving leader in the state since term limits were instituted.

A run for governor isn’t the only thing Quade’s campaign will be about. Since becoming minority leader Quade said it’s been a priority to flip more seats to Democrats and work toward breaking a super majority Republicans have enjoyed for more than 20 years. When Quade took office in 2017 there were only 47 Democrats in the House. Since then six seats have flipped including two more in Springfield.

“I’m a personal believer that balance makes good debate and makes good policy,” Quade said. “When you’ve got one side controlling everything and there’s no debate, they’re just doing whatever they want or sometimes nothing at all because they can’t get along with each other.”

Quade said that lack of balance means folks in rural areas of Missouri are left without choices and they’re not hearing any other messages. Down-ballot races like for statehouse are important to statewide races for Democrats like Quade.

“I know you guys here in Mexico understand that there are too many times you go to vote and there are no options and oftentimes we’ll leave it blank or you might vote for the Republican you know because your kid plays football with their grandkid or what have you,” Quade said. “I believe my job as governor candidate is to make sure we are working all the way down and making sure that even in places like this where we may not be able to flip the seat randomly we can move the needle three or four points and really make headway.”

Local Democrats like Audrain County Chairman Erik Richardson have noticed Quade’s work and is one of the reasons he’s running for Congress. 

“All of the people I have talked to and interacted with in Jefferson City and beyond they all have the utmost admiration and respect for her and the work that she has done,” Richardson said. “Not only has she climbed up but she’s built a pipeline to help everybody climb up behind her and make sure that in all of these communities out here the Democrats are being heard,”

Quade pointed out that in 2023 the Missouri Legislature and its super majority got the least amount of bills to the governor’s desk in the state’s history. She said during the entire session it was nothing but children fighting. Quade said if voters could see behind the scenes of this past session they would be angry.

“Because of the infighting, we weren’t able to get anything passed even when Gov. Parson’s number one priority was a tax credit for childcare. They can’t stop fighting with each other long enough to do their jobs,” Quade said.

Quade was asked about several policy issues including rural healthcare and the closing of hospitals in rural areas. She said in January her campaign will be releasing several plans for different issues including rural healthcare.

One attendee said when he speaks to folks around town they tell him a Democrat can’t win in Audrain County. Others wondered why Democrats have had such a hard time breaking through to rural voters. Quade speculated that abortion and guns have driven the conversation for the past 20 years. She was told not to speak about the issues when knocking on doors but she didn’t listen. She believes more conversations will lead to change.

“Now that Missouri is where we are with the most extreme abortion laws in the country and the loosest gun laws in the country, I think folks are starting to wake up to that conversation,” Quade said. “I own a gun, I grew up on a farm. But when folks bring that up I say, ‘You already have access to everything you need but how’s your water? Let’s talk about that. We need to get back to pocketbook issues that matter.”