“The state will become like Oklahoma,” Koster says of the right-to-work state. “It will become like Kansas,” he says of the tax-cutting state with flailing revenues. “And it will be nearly impossible for us to get it back.”

Missouri is now a fully red state, with the governor’s mansion and Capitol in full Republican control.

It’s not the party Koster used to belong to, but a new one with an antipathy for government fed by an angry tone. It’s one that didn’t completely catch Koster by surprise as he traveled the state in what will be his final campaign.

“I don’t like that rain,” Koster said as the RV headed to the capital city, long before the votes were counted. The skies were cloudy, like the electoral forecast.

It was a pessimistic thought from an experienced politician who had never lost a race but prepared for the outcome that came.

The race, he said all day while encouraging volunteers, was “tighter than a tick.”

Meanwhile, in the privacy of his campaign RV, he mouthed the words he never wanted to say: “Governor Greitens.”