In a statement, Missouri Republican Party Chairman John Hancock called Democrats “desperate” for potentially turning again to Carnahan, whom he chided for his support of President Barack Obama while in office. “(I)n November, Missourians will reject Russ Carnahan just like they have repeatedly rejected Barack Obama,” Hancock said.

Carnahan’s bid for lieutenant governor represents a kind of full-circle back to his family’s political roots. His late father, Mel Carnahan, was lieutenant governor from 1988 through 1992, before becoming governor.

The elder Carnahan died while he was governor, in a plane crash in 2000, during his campaign for the U.S. Senate. He won that race posthumously, and his wife, Jean Carnahan, was appointed to the seat. Russ Carnahan’s sister, Robin Carnahan, is a former Missouri secretary of state.

Three candidates have formally announced for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor: Brad Bradshaw, a Springfield doctor and personal injury attorney; state Rep. Tommie Pierson, a St. Louis pastor whose Ferguson-area church became a gathering point for protesters during the unrest there in 2014; and Kansas City-area singer-songwriter Winston Apple, a former social studies teacher and populist activist.