Springfield fast food restaurant CEO thinks his business acumen makes him the perfect Missouri governor

A political outsider thinks he would make the perfect governor of Missouri. Mike Hamra is running for the Democratic nomination for governor in the August primary. The Springfield fast-food CEO thinks his business acumen makes him the ideal candidate to be CEO of the state government.

“We need a governor who knows how to bring people together, even when there are challenges and even when there are disagreements, but who also knows how to move things forward, who knows how to make sure the state moves forward into a great future,” he told Missourinet.

Hamra owns a family business that operates Wendy’s and Panera Bread restaurants in parts of Missouri and other states.

He said the state administrator, like his family business, invests in his citizens.

“We offer our employees the opportunity to own their own home so they can build wealth for their families, we support them when they want to go back to school and cover their tuition. And then we even pay our high school and college students to do their homework in our stores and we compensate them for good grades,” Hamra said.

A priority for him on day one is to draft a ballot initiative to restore women’s right to abortion. Hamra said he’s going to be a governor who upholds those rights for women in this state.

“It’s not just good for women in the state of Missouri,” he said. “It’s good for our economy. I talk to parents and grandparents every day who tell me the same thing, that they’re concerned and they know that their children and grandchildren are not interested in working and living and raising a family in the state because of that restriction. They don’t want politicians in Jefferson City telling them what to do.”

There is currently an effort underway to overturn the state’s near-total abortion ban, which is scheduled for the November ballot. State lawmakers also passed a bill this year that would defund Planned Parenthood, despite the state’s ban on most abortions, but it could be challenged by the Missouri Supreme Court, which has already rejected similar efforts.

He said people are interested in something different, so he’s banking on his lack of name recognition compared to others in this race. Hamra sees that as a good thing given the experience he’s gained from running his family business for the past 20 years.

“I can bring people together. I can get them on the same page and I can, even when there are challenges, solve problems, and that’s how I’ve built the company over the last 22 years,” he explained. “It’s one of the reasons we have one of the lowest turnovers and we’ve done so well because it’s about investing in people and then working with people to move things forward.”

Other Democrats running in the August primary include Missouri House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, Eric Morrison, Sheryl Gladney and Hollis Laster.

On the Republican side are Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, Jeremy Gundel, Robert Olson, Darrell McClanahan III, Chris Wright, Darren Grant and Amber Thomsen.

Bill Slantz of St. Charles is running for the Libertarian campaign.

The primaries are on August 6.