Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe will call a special election to fill two vacant Missouri House seats by April 2025. The governor's Communications Director, Gabby Picard, expects it to happen during the April 7 Municipal election.
According to Picard, an April election would allow Missourians to be more aware of the election taking place. There is no timeline for when Secretary of State Denny Hoskins and Gov. Kehoe will issue a writ of election.
The announcement comes after calls for representation for the vacant districts. St. Louis District 95 has been vacant since January, when Michael O'Donnell (R-Oakville) left to become the commissioner of securities for Secretary of State Denny Hoskins.
Rep. Ben Baker, R-Neosho, left District 160 in May to become Missouri's Director of Rural Development.
The Missouri Constitution requires the governor to issue an election within 30 days of the vacancy. Since Baker left his position, there's been no statement from either the governor or the Secretary of State
Angela Thomas with the Newton County Democrats said both vacant districts deserve adequate representation.
"It's not following the Constitution, and the Missouri citizens deserve better," she explained.
Since Baker left his position in May, Thomas has been making calls to Gov. Kehoe and Secretary of State Hoskins, asking for the specific timeline. She said they've told her, "The update is, there is no update.” She's surprised by the prospective election date
"The April date would give a freshman state Rep one month in the legislative session, which is the closing month and would not give those freshman reps the time to go through the bills that have been looked at, read, and voted on since January," explained Thomas.
Despite pressure from both President Trump and Missouri lawmakers to redraw the state's congressional map, Gov. Kehoe has yet to call another special session. If he does, neither district will have representation.
The Newton County Republicans and the District 95's office did not reply to KRPS' request for comment.
Despite the vacancies, offices for Districts 160 and 95 remain staffed if constituents need assistance.
Former Rep. Ben Baker wrote a statement on Facebook in response to rumors that the vacant offices were unstaffed.
"There has been chatter from a handful of folks in our community that there is no representation for the 160th district since I resigned to take a presidential appointment. This is simply not true and is primarily politically motivated.
Anyone who calls me with a constituent issue or reaches out to the office staff in Jefferson City will be helped.
Even though I am no longer officially the state representative, I am still fielding many calls and making sure that people are taken care of, and I'm happy to do so until the seat is filled.
Thank you for your attention to this matter."
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