The Missouri 8th stays Republican

By Richard K. Barry

Okay, no one is surprised by this, but Missouri state Rep. Jason Smith, R-Salem, won a special election earlier in the week over fellow state Rep. Steve Hodges, D-East Prairie, to replace U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson in the Missouri 8th. Emerson left in January after easily winning reelecting in November to become the CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperation Association, a Washington, D.C. trade group.

The Democrat in this race was a pretty right-wing guy, as you would expect in this part of the country. Hodges is pro-life and pro-gun rights, though local press reports say he combines that "with more traditional Democratic positions in favour of protecting social security, Medicare and the safety net."

Smith, soon to be Rep. Smith, ran a campaign on national issues like repealing ObamaCare.

Whatever the candidates ran on, this House seat has been Republican for 32 years and wasn't going to change hands this time.

Former Rep. Emerson looks interesting, though. As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted:

Jo Ann Emerson was viewed as a moderate in Congress. Though she enjoyed permanent popularity at the polls, it was clear that her district had shifted her right in recent years. She bucked her party on issues like her support of embryonic stem cell research and her vote to withdraw troops from Iraq. During the district's GOP vetting process for a replacement nominee last spring, one candidate after another vowed to move the district's seat further right.

Oh, well, another robot for Boehner.

(Cross-posted at Phantom Public.)