A veteran of local, state and federal government is challenging Missouri Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick.
Quentin Wilson officially kicked off his campaign for the Democratic nomination to face off against Fitzpatrick, who announced recently he's running for a second term. Wilson has worked for several Democratic members of Congress, as well as Democratic Govs. Mel Carnahan and Bob Holden. Most recently, he served as director of the St. Louis County Department of Revenue.
In an interview Thursday, Wilson said he wants to help reverse what he sees as anemic economic growth in Missouri, especially compared to other states.
"What happened to Missouri? It's not just off track. It's off the tracks. It's a train wreck," Wilson said. "And I felt that that motivated me to do something about it."
The auditor's race is the only statewide contest on the ballot next year in Missouri. Republicans haven't lost a statewide race since 2018, when Auditor Nicole Galloway narrowly won reelection over Republican nominee Saundra McDowell.
Democrats have struggled since 2016 to piece together the urban, suburban and rural coalition needed to win statewide elections. Fitzpatrick, for instance, easily defeated Democrat Alan Green in 2022 after racking up landslide margins in the state's rural counties and in some fast-growing suburbs.
Wilson said, "I don't think you can beat something with nothing."
"We can't just wait for the inevitable dissatisfaction with the federal government administration or the state administration," Wilson said. "We've been going back and forth at the national level without really changing anything. This is something different. I'd been listening to folks around the state before I was thinking of running for this office because I wanted to understand what priorities are."
Fitzpatrick has about $130,000 in his candidate campaign committee, while a political action committee backing his candidacy has around $42,000 in the bank. Among other roles, he's engaged in high-profile audits of school districts – including St. Louis Public Schools. He also issued a scathing audit of former St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner's tenure in office.
For his part, Wilson didn't offer any specific criticism of Fitzpatrick's tenure – but did contend he has more experience in trying to make government more effective and efficient.
"I think my experience in state agencies and in local government would help me in terms of identifying these challenges," Wilson said. "But more importantly, I have more experience in actually achieving results than he does."
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