Crystal Quade (D), the Missouri House Minority Floor Leader, is running for governor.

The transcript:

Hi, I’m Crystal Quaid. People say politics can be tough. I tell them I can handle it.

When you come from nothing you fight the odds your whole life. Growing up here in Missouri we lived on food stamps and leftovers that my single mom brought home from waitressing. Before school I’d go to work with her and after school I’d go back and do my homework to wait while she finished her double or triple shift.

When the dust settled we found hope on a gravel road, a good Factory job for my stepfather and a house we could afford. I became the first in my family to graduate …from high school. I paid my way through Missouri State and then started my own family. I committed myself to helping families like the one I grew up in.

Now I’m a leader in the state house where I’ve stood up for workers against big corporate special interests, sponsored a law to stop China and Russia from buying our Farmland to squeeze out Missouri Farmers, and I’m leading the fight to restore our abortion rights.

I’m not worried about bullies like Jay Ashcroft because Missouri has never seen a governor like me before. Ashcraft uses fear to score cheap political points and divide us.

I’m running for governor for one simple reason, because parents who are working extra shifts today have children who need to beat the odds tomorrow.