Republican Candidate Wins Missouri Senate Seat
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iStockphoto/Thinkstock(JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.) — Republican Jason Smith has won Missouri’s 8th Congressional district special election to replace former Rep. Jo Ann Emerson who resigned earlier this year.
In just under two hours after polls closed, with 70 percent of precincts reporting, Smith was winning handily over Democrat Steve Hodges 68.5 percent to 27.8 percent, ensuring that the seat in the heavily Republican district in rural southeastern Missouri will stay in GOP hands.
Smith, 32, is a seventh-generation Missourian and family farmer who has served in the Missouri state legislature since 2005 — he was first elected when he was just 25 years old. He has also earned a reputation as a dogged campaigner.
Smith received endorsements from Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, the National Rifle Association, the National Right to Life and the Missouri Farm Bureau among others.
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