JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Voters were weighing their desires for an outside voice versus political experience Tuesday as they cast ballots in a Republican gubernatorial race that has been one of Missouri's most broadly contested primaries in a generation.
The four-way Republican governor's race, fueled by high-dollar contributions, headlined a primary ballot that will determine the parties' nominees in the Nov. 8 general election for a variety of offices, including the U.S. Senate and House, the Missouri General Assembly and top state and local executive offices.
Voting began at 6 a.m. and runs until 7 p.m.
Missouri's governor's race is wide open because two-term incumbent Jay Nixon, a Democrat, has served the maximum amount allowed under state law and cannot seek re-election.
The Republican gubernatorial field features former Navy SEAL officer Eric Greitens, former Marine and businessman John Brunner, former Missouri House Speaker and U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway and Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder. Together, their campaigns already had spent more than $22 million as of July 21, the end of the most recent reporting period. Much of that money has gone toward a barrage of advertising.
Voters interviewed Tuesday by The Associated Press indicated they were focused at least partly on the candidates' biographies.
Greitens, a first-time candidate, has highlighted his military service while casting himself as a political outsider.
"The fact that he's not a career politician speaks to a lot of people right now," said Debbie Raines, of Liberty, a part-time camp worker who voted for Greitens.
Brunner, the former CEO of personal care products company Vi-Jon Inc., has described his business experience as an asset to spurring job creation in Missouri.
"In government, it is a business. We need someone running that is not self-serving," said Brunner voter Glen "David" Jobe, a retiree from Columbia.
Some voters for Hanaway and Kinder cited the two candidates' experience in government.
"Campaigning is one thing but you have to be able to govern," said Hanaway voter Tammy Henderson, of Kansas City, who works in the central office of a school district.
Kinder supporter Eric Peters, who is the Cole County treasurer, explained: "He's been in the trenches, and I think he's deserving of Republican support."
Not since 1992 has Missouri had such a hotly contested Republican governor's primary involving so many candidates. Democrats ended up winning the governor's office that year, as well as most other statewide offices and the U.S. presidency.
This year, Democratic Attorney General Chis Koster already has stockpiled nearly $10.9 million for his gubernatorial campaign while looking past a primary against three lightly funded contenders - Eric Morrison, Leonard Steinman and Charles Wheeler.
Koster voter Tyrone Aken, an artistic director in Kansas City, said he voted for the Democrat in hopes of countering Republicans, who hold supermajorities in the Legislature. He also cited the conservative agenda being pushed by Republicans in neighboring Kansas.
"I am afraid that is going to happen in Missouri, and it needs to be tempered," Aken said. "Both parties are needed to bring balance."
Even before the primary polls closed, Democrats and Republicans were looking ahead to the general election.
Koster scheduled a bus tour to begin early Wednesday in Harrisonville to kick off his general election campaign.
The Republican Governors Association says it plans to release its first TV ad against Koster on Wednesday, and a Democratic affiliated political group already has been running an ad against Greitens.
The state Republican Party is planning to bring together the winners and losers from its primaries for an event Thursday in the St. Louis area, hoping to patch over any bruised feelings and put forth a united front for the general election.
In the gubernatorial primary, the four Republican candidates generally have agreed on most issues. They support expanded gun rights and tax cuts and have sharply criticized the way Nixon responded to protests at the University of Missouri in Columbia last year over racial concerns and to riots following the 2014 fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson.
Missouri law has no dollar limit on campaign donations, and all gubernatorial candidates have benefited from big checks. Brunner has self-funded much of his campaign. Greitens has gotten a lot of money from wealthy out-of-state donors. Hanaway has been heavily financed by Rex Sinquefield, a retired investment firm founder. Kinder has received much of his money from the Humphreys family, the leaders of TAMKO Building Products. And Koster has gotten big checks from labor unions.
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Associated Press writers Margaret Stafford in Kansas City and Summer Ballentine in Columbia contributed to this report. Follow David A Lieb at: http://twitter.com/DavidALieb