Republican candidates for county and state offices spoke at a Meet the Candidates event in the Activities Center of the First Assembly of God Church of Trenton on July 25th.
County candidates spoke first.
Phillip Ray is running for reelection as presiding commissioner. He said his term had been challenging. There was flooding less than 100 days into his term.
Ray reported the county commission was still working on the flooding when COVID-19 hit. He said that caused overwhelming problematic situations.
The Grundy County Courthouse did not close during the pandemic.
Ray noted that health insurance costs for county employees were maintained, and they only saw increases of about three to five percent annually. Deductibles were also kept to $500 annually.
Ray reported improvements were also made to the courthouse, including new doors, HVAC updates, and computer systems.
Grundy County also received more than $3 million of grants in the last three and a half years. Ray explained the phone bill is $11,000 a month for the 911 phone lines to dispatch, and a grant the county recently applied for could reduce that cost by 75%, which could save the county $100,000 a year for the next five years in the 911 budget.
Bill Wilson is also running for Grundy County Presiding Commissioner. He said he grew up in Trenton.
Candidates running unopposed for county offices also introduced themselves. They included Associate Circuit Court Judge Steve Hudson, Circuit Clerk, and Recorder Beck Stanturf, Prosecuting Attorney Kelly Puckett, and Public Administrator Adria Moore as well as Courtney Campbell, who is running for county clerk.
Grundy County Republican Central Committee Chairperson Becky McDonald also allowed forum attendees to speak on behalf of candidates running for US offices.
Republican candidates for Second District State Representative spoke at a forum in Trenton on July 25th.
Randy Railsback of Hamilton said he ran a program from 1986 to 1990 to help farm families during the Farm Crisis. He was the director of the Northwest Regional Planning Commission for 12 years and the director of the Green Hills Regional Planning Commission for 18 years.
Railsback was elected as the Eighth District State Representative two years ago. He is now running for the Second District because of redistricting due to the 2020 Census.
Railsback said Missouri does not have good programs for economic development.
Railsback reported that, for the first time ever, $100 million was put into the budget to hep work on low-volume roads. Fifty-three million dollars is to go to North Missouri.
He said there was $5 million in the budget last year for broadband internet. After working with the governor’s office, he noted there was $400 million going to broadband this year.
Railsback added that No Patient Left Alone was one piece of legislation that came through one of his committees. He explained the legislation ensures there will not be any more patients in the hospital, a nursing home, or assisted living who will not be allowed to have visitors or an advocate for them.
Mazzie Boyd of Hamilton is the other Republican candidate running for Second District State Representative. She said she watched her parents strive for the American dream, and they taught her some things.
Boyd became interested in politics around 2015 and 2016. The first election she could vote in was in 2016, and she researched the candidates.
Boyd said she had an internship with United States Senator Roy Blunt, and then the Trump campaign needed a war analyst. She also worked for Trump’s top advisor as an executive assistant.
Boyd added that she is pro-life and was happy to see Roe versus Wade overturned and Missouri abolishing abortion. She dislikes attacks on Second Amendment rights.
Twelfth District State Senate candidates spoke at a Republican candidate forum in Trenton on July 25th.
Delus Johnson of Country Club said he is a small business owner who trains people to start their own businesses. He was a firefighter with the Saint Joseph Fire Department for 20 years and was a captain on a rescue truck.
Johnson explained there were a lot of things going on in 2010 that he did not like, including Congress controlled by Democrats and Barack Obama in the white house. He decided to run for state representative. He read the book Think Like a Champion.
Johnson said that, in his first term as a state representative, he had a leadership role as a floor whip. He was also one of seven second-term representatives to be assigned a chairmanship on a committee, and that was an agriculture committee.
Johnson was also one of seven members elected to serve at the Leadership Table. He noted the Senate has been approving double in spending, and it has spent twice as much money in four years. He is “strongly opposed” to that.
Johnson added that he is pro-life and plans to hold town hall meetings in the Twelfth Senate District if he is elected.
J. Eggleston of Maysville said he grew up on a farm, and he and his wife have had a small business for 27 years involving satellites and antennas. He has also substitute-taught. He thinks it is important for legislators to understand the life of a constituent because they have lived it. He noted rural Northwest Missouri has a lot of farmers, teachers, and small business people, and he has experienced them all.
Eggleston also thinks it is important to be a good public servant and do things because they are the right thing to do.
Eggleston said North Missouri needs a true conservative to represent it in Jefferson City.
Eggleston commented that North Missouri is also about low taxes and keeping more of its hard-earned money, limited government, and reliable elections, and he has fought for all of those. He has also pushed back on Critical Race Theory being taught to children and the Woke Agenda.
Eggleston has chaired or vice-chaired five committees and believes the most important was Ethics.
Eggleston noted that bills he has passed have supported law enforcement, lowered taxes, helped with rural roads, cut red tape and regulations, and promoted life-saving organ donations. His last bill last year pushed back on COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates.
Rusty Black of Chillicothe is also running for Twelfth District State Senate. He said he taught agriculture for 33 years, and 28 of those years were in Chillicothe. He decided in 2016 to run for state representative after retiring. His main focus as a representative was on the budget and the appropriations process, including education. He said the budget exploded in six years.
Black noted it will be important to be a filter for the federal government for things like gun laws.
KTTN has not presented a feature on Democratic candidates during this election as there are no races for any of the offices.
