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Smith wins special election
Smith wants to be sworn in as soon as possible
JEFFERSON CITY -- Republican state Rep. Jason Smith won a special election Tuesday for a vacant congressional seat in southeast Missouri that had been held by the same political family for the past 32 years.
Smith carried about two-thirds of the vote while defeating Democratic state Rep. Steve Hodges and several others in the reliably Republican 8th Congressional District. He will succeed Jo Ann Emerson, a Republican who resigned in January to lead the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.
Voters in only two counties - Mississippi and New Madrid -- in the large district cast a majority of their ballots for Bootheel native Hodges.
Unofficial election results showed Smith beat Hodges 67 percent to 27 percent, or 42,145 votes to 17,203 for Hodges. Constitution Party candidate Doug Enyart gained 4 percent of the vote, and Libertarian Bill Slantz received 2 percent.
In Scott County, Smith won the majority vote with 2,603 votes followed by Hodges, who had 1,439 votes. Enyart received 117 votes while Slantz had 72. There were also four write-in candidates.
Hodges of East Prairie carried his home county bringing in 59 percent of the votes cast in Mississippi County. He received 1,028 votes in Tuesday's special election.
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