Mike Parson

People ask how it feels when we had such a big (Republican) sweep in Missouri, and they ask how we are going to answer that. I’ll tell you: it’ll be responsibility. Before we go around high-fiving each other, let’s see what we’re going to do as a team, what examples we’ll set, and what we’re going to do differently to make Missouri a better state.

I always think coming from that background probably has always made me a better person as a candidate and probably was one of the reasons that I got elected to the second-highest office in the state — because of those values I learned as a kid in that small town and that small school. Knowing what it meant to respect one another and maintain that throughout my life. I hope someday, when politics are over, someone says, “You know, Mike Parson was a good statesman.” I always say the difference between a politician and a statesman: a politician is always worried about themselves and the next election. And you see that happen a lot. But I think statesmen are truly the ones who worry about the next generation.