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ST. LOUIS — The way Gabe Gore saw it, there were two main reasons not to pursue the job of St. Louis Circuit Attorney.

One was the money he would give up leaving his job at a high-powered law firm. But money, he said, wasn’t a valid reason to turn it down.

So he considered the big reason: The job would be a massive challenge.

Gore would take over for Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner, who left the office in chaos after an abrupt resignation that followed years of organizational dysfunction. He’d be under the spotlight as he waded through a massive case backlog and worked to replenish a staff roster that had decreased by about two-thirds during Gardner’s six-year run.

But to someone like Gore, a marathon runner, the difficulty eventually became the draw.

“I can honestly say I have never in my life not done something because it’s going to be hard,� he said. “Saying something is going to be hard makes it kind of interesting to me.�

So he applied. He was appointed. And on Wednesday, he sat down with the Post-Dispatch for his first interview since taking office. The wide-ranging conversation included discussions about his childhood, his dedication to work and how he hopes to turn around the beleaguered circuit attorney’s office.

Gore, 54, spent his early years in a working-class neighborhood in Detroit where his father was employed at a Chrysler plant.

Gore said he had a good childhood with the “run of the neighborhood.� His friends’ parents were teachers, policemen and garbagemen, but he watched over time as the neighborhood went from racially integrated to showing signs of white flight.

In seventh grade, Gore took a civics class where he learned about the Constitution, landmark Supreme Court cases and how laws are passed. He was hooked. His teacher encouraged Gore to keep pursuing his passion.

“It was an interest that always stuck,� he said.

Gore’s father got a promotion when Gore was 14 to work as a supervisor at the Chrysler plant in Fenton, and the family moved to Ballwin. The result — moving from inner-city Detroit to Parkway South High School in the 1980s — was a culture shock.

But Gore liked his school, and he played on the basketball team. His senior year, he got recruited to run track and thrived in running middle distances. He kept running at what is now Missouri State University and studied pre-law, then went to the University of Chicago for law school.

Gore said his plan was to stay and practice law in Chicago, and he did an internship at a firm in the city one summer and liked it. But something about St. Louis kept calling him home, he said.

“I kind of surprised myself,� he said. “By the time I was a third-year law student I said, ‘Wow, I actually want to go back home.’�

So he did. And he spent the next several decades in the city building a career and working at high-profile firms and on complicated cases. He and his wife, who works at Washington University, raised two children, now in their 20s.

Then, in early May, Gardner announced she would resign effective June 1. Gore said he started getting calls from people who either asked him if he was interested in the job or who already assumed he had applied and were asking how they could help.

Gardner abruptly left her post two weeks early, speeding up the selection process. Gore’s name rose to the top.

Three days later, Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, introduced Gore as Gardner’s replacement.

Gore was sworn in Tuesday and spent the rest of the day meeting with the staff and learning about the job. He said he came in with his “eyes wide open,� but so far, his assessment was that it’s “as challenging as I believed it would be.�

On Wednesday, during his first of several interviews with local news outlets, he sipped from a coffee mug emblazoned with the KIPP charter schools slogan “Work hard. Be nice.� — an homage to his time founding the school in St. Louis and serving on its board — as he discussed his plans for the office.

He said he wants to dig out from a backlog of hundreds of cases and find resources to improve technology in the office, which he said is woefully behind modern standards. The office needs new hardware like computers for new hires, but they also need to figure out a better internal system to manage cases. Training prosecutors must also be a focus, he said.

But before they can do any of that, they need to fill the staff roster, Gore said.

Gore has already spoken with people who had previously worked in the office, many of whom were excited to come back — including former chief trial assistant Marvin Teer, who announced he was returning to the office on Tuesday after retiring less than three months ago.

Gore said he’ll rely on those returnees to “lead the resurgence.�

As for new hires coming into the office for the first time, Gore’s hiring pitch is simple: “You need to come now or you’re going to miss all the fun.�

“It’s a challenge, but doing things that are challenging, when you look back on it, are some of the best experiences in your life. That’s my pitch,� he said. “Come join us early and help us turn things around.�