Police said Ramon Arnaldo Chavez-Rodriguez, a Honduran national residing illegally in the United States, struck and killed Lee on Interstate 70 in St. Louis in September.

This week, a political action committee supporting Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe in the governor’s race said the problem is “radicals like Crystal Quade.”

The ad claimed she supported open borders and allowing violent offenders to get out of jail right after their arrest by “relaxing cash bail.”

The PAC highlighted 2019 legislation that Quade expressed support for, as part of broader criminal justice reforms, to change the state’s cash bail system.

“It is absolutely disgusting that Mike Kehoe and his allies would use the tragic death of Officer David Lee to lie about Minority Leader Quade,” Quade spokesman Andrew Storey said in a statement.

“Using this tragedy to stoke fear shows how desperate and extreme Mike Kehoe is. We are confident that voters will understand this pathetic attempt and elect Minority Leader Quade in the coming weeks,” he said.

Jay Schroeder, president of the Missouri Fraternal Order of Police, which supported Kehoe in the governor’s race, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

A second ad from the American Dream PAC, supporting Republican Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, portrays Quade as a “tax and spend” politician.

Meanwhile, Quade, in a new ad announced Wednesday, blasts Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe for his past support of Chinese-owned farmland and opposition to abortion rights.

Dueling ad campaigns represent the final arguments for voters as early voting began Tuesday in Missouri.

Quade, in her ad, says Kehoe was the “deciding vote for China” as she wrote the bill “to stop China from taking over our family farms.”

Quade introduced a bill in 2023 prohibiting foreigners and companies from acquiring agricultural land after August 28, 2023.

Kehoe, as a state senator, voted for legislation allowing up to 1 percent foreign ownership of Missouri farmland. After then-Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed the bill, Kehoe voted to replace the governor. Without Kehoe’s “yes,” the bill would not have become law.

Quade, in her ad, also says she fights for “all women, Democrats and Republicans, to protect our abortion freedoms,” Quade said. She replied: “No. The first priority is to ban abortion.

Democrats hope Amendment 3, which would overturn the state’s abortion ban, will help them in the Nov. 5 election.

But polls show Republicans leading in Missouri, where Democrats haven’t won a statewide race since 2018.

Kehoe led Quade in available campaign funds until October. The Republican had $2.4 million between his PAC and his campaign, compared to Quade’s $560,000.