On June 4th, the special congressional election in Missouri’s 8th district was held was held. The reason for it was due to the resignation of Representative Jo Ann Emerson January 22nd to become the President and CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. Republican Jason Smith, a member of the Missouri House of Representatives, easily cruised to victory. Democrat Steve Hodges came in second with Constitution Party candidate Doug Enyart coming in third and with Libertarian Bill Slantz placing fourth. Additionally, three write-in candidates ran. Thomas Brown received 85 votes, Robert W. George received 73 votes and Wayne L. Byington received 25 votes, for a combined total of 0.2% of the vote among the write-ins.
| 2013 Missouri 8th congressional district special election[25] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | |
| Republican | Jason Smith | 42,145 | 67.3% | |
| Democratic | Steve Hodges | 17,203 | 27.5% | |
| Constitution | Doug Enyart | 2,265 | 3.6% | |
| Libertarian | Bill Slantz | 968 | 1.5% | |
Note: Post election statements from the two-third party candidates on the ballot will be published on IPR as soon as they are released.
Well, it’s a promising district for them then.
Alan Redburn ran for State Senate in 1998 as U.S. Taxpayers Party and garnered 12%. Other than that 15 year old foray, this is the first time a CPer has run for any office in this entire district. The race was really a start-up for the CP. Doug Enyart did best in his own county – 19.2% – which means he could do well campaigning as a State Representative.
Petitioning is a great cure for that.
True.
You give voters credit for being much more educated than they actually are.
I guess I would have thought the CP nominee would have done better especially since the district is so “safe” for the GOP. With no “wasted vote” issue to contend with I would have expected at least 5% and perhaps even more.
That might explain it. Plus the district is hardcore conservative
The Missouri Constitution Party had never before polled as much as 2% for US House. The Libertarian had some bad publicity for not living in the district, something that is perfectly legal but still considered irregular.
A little more surprising that the Constitution Party nominee managed to perform better than the Libertarian despite, at least from an outside of district perspective, not campaigning as hard.
Very disappointing result for the Libertarian. Surprising? Unfortunately not.