COVID-19 reshuffles 2020 Missouri governor race between Parson and Galloway
COLUMBIA -- A little more than a month ago, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson was running TV ads making the case that a booming economy, record-low unemployment and his accomplishments as governor should earn him four more years in office.
Democrat Nicole Galloway hoped to unseat Parson with a focus on corruption, pointing to her work as Missouri’s auditor and hammering the governor for being “focused on delivering for his insider friends.”
All that has changed.
Since COVID-19 invaded Missouri in early March, schools and businesses have shuttered. Unemployment has skyrocketed. The state budget has cratered. And Missourians are bracing for the worst. As of Friday, the state reported 2,113 cases and 19 deaths.
While it is still seven months to Election Day, the full force of the pandemic is not expected to hit Missouri until mid-to-late May, according to projections by University of Washington researchers. The despair and dislocation it will leave behind, in the form of unemployment, cuts in state spending and simple human misery, will linger for much longer.
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