Missouri candidate for governor voted in Illinois in 2020, raising residency concerns

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A Missouri Democratic candidate for governor was registered to vote in Illinois for more than a decade up until last year and voted in Chicago as recently as 2020, raising questions about his residency from his Democratic opponent ahead of the upcoming election.

Mike Hamra, the CEO of a Springfield-based company that operates restaurants such as Wendy’s, Panera Bread and Noodles & Company, launched a Democratic campaign for governor in October, touting himself as the best person to lead Missouri forward.

Voting records obtained through public records requests show that Hamra was registered to vote in Illinois from at least 2013 to 2023 under Chicago addresses and voted in four elections in Chicago in 2016, 2018 and 2020. Records also show that Hamra has only been registered to vote in Greene County, Missouri, since 2021 and has since voted in just one election in the state in 2022.

The Missouri Constitution requires that candidates for governor be residents of the state for at least 10 years before the election. Hamra’s Democratic opponent, House Minority Leader Crystal Quade from Springfield, pointed to this law in a statement, saying it should disqualify Hamra from running.

“Mike Hamra was registered and voting in Illinois as recently as 2020,” Quade said. “I believe it’s clear that Mike Hamra does not meet the constitutional residency requirement to run for governor of Missouri. Missourians deserve a Governor who understands the issues because they’ve lived them.”

The Star has also requested records for Quade’s voting history.

Hamra’s campaign manager Brexton Isaacs disputed Quade’s argument, saying in a statement that she was “incorrect on both the facts and the law.” A spokesperson for Hamra’s campaign clarified in an email that Isaacs was not refuting Hamra’s voting history.

Prior to the statement from Isaacs, Hamra’s campaign told The Star in an email that Hamra, through a limited liability company, purchased property in Springfield in 2011. He built a home on that property and “started occupying” it in April 2014, the campaign said.

He sold that property when he bought another house in 2020, which he also later sold. Hamra and his family currently live in another Springfield home, which he purchased in 2021, the campaign said.

The questions surrounding Hamra’s residency come as he still has not officially filed for governor less than a day before the Tuesday evening filing deadline. While Quade said that Hamra does not meet the residency requirement, Missouri courts have taken a more loose approach to the definition of resident when it comes to candidates for office.

Chuck Hatfield, a Jefferson City-based attorney, said in an interview that Missouri courts will work hard to allow someone to run for office. Hatfield generally painted residency as more of a political issue that voters will have to consider than a legal one.

“The fact that you may depart from your home and take up, you know, housing and jobs and things like that in other states or other jurisdictions, does not deprive you of your residency,” he said.

When it comes to a candidate’s residency, Hatfield said the courts have to consider other factors including whether the person continued to own property in Missouri, maintained licenses and whether they returned to the state on a regular basis.

Hatfield pointed to a 1972 Missouri Supreme Court ruling involving former Republican Gov. Kit Bond, whose residency was challenged in his bid for governor after he resided in several different states during the ten-year residency window. The court ruled in favor of Bond, stating that “residence is largely a matter of intention.”

“I describe the Bond case as saying, generally, ‘home is where you wish to be,’” Hatfield said.

An advisor to Hamra’s campaign pointed to the Bond case in an interview with The Star, saying that Missouri courts have made it clear that once a person is a resident, they remain a resident when they vote or conduct business in other states as long as they have an intention to return.

“He has intended to return to Missouri. He considers Missouri his residence. He has owned property in Missouri for 10 years, and there’s just no real constitutional question,” the advisor said. “There may be political questions and they’re free to raise them and there’s arguments on both sides of that. But there’s really no legal question.”

Another factor that could bolster Hamra’s argument is the fact that he appears to have maintained his license to practice law in Missouri since being admitted to the Missouri Bar in 1994.

But articles and other public statements over the last several years have also framed Hamra as living in Chicago. A 2016 profile about Hamra and his wife, Eileen, in a Chicago-based wedding publication states that Hamra “got the kids together with Eileen and told them that he wanted them to be a family together in Chicago.”

In 2018, Hamra and his business ventures were also profiled on Franchising.com, which wrote in the piece that Hamra “now makes his home in Chicago.”

Records obtained from the Chicago Board of Elections indicate that Hamra registered to vote in Chicago in 2013. The documents show that Hamra voted in two elections in 2016, one in 2018 and then voted in the 2020 general election. His voter status in Chicago was listed as inactive as of September 2023.

Additional records obtained from the Greene County Clerk’s Office show that Hamra registered to vote in Greene County, Missouri, using a Springfield address in July 2021. The records show that he has since voted once, in the Nov. 2022 general election.

Quade’s questioning of Hamra’s residency comes ahead of what is expected to be a contentious Democratic primary for governor if Hamra files for the office on Tuesday. Quade, a longtime Democratic leader in the Missouri House, will likely continue to capitalize on Hamra’s voting history in the coming weeks.

A recent poll released by Saint Louis University and British pollster YouGov found that 21% of Democratic supporters surveyed favored Quade while 5% favored Hamra.

Missouri Democrats will face an uphill battle to take the office this year. Republicans hold every statewide office and a supermajority in both chambers of the General Assembly as the state has grown staunchly Republican.

Whoever wins the Democratic nomination will face one of three major Republican opponents in the general election. Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe and Sen. Bill Eigel are competing in what will likely be a three-way race for the Republican nomination.