WARRENSBURG – Incumbent Brandon Phelps won the Republican primary for District 54 of the Missouri House of Representatives on Tuesday, Aug. 4, where he captured 83.56% of the vote.
According to the unofficial election results, Phelps received 3,457 votes, while his opponent Joe Plemons received 680. With the nomination, Phelps will move on to the general election in November to face off against Democratic nominee Taigan Plummer, who ran unopposed.
“I felt it a whole bunch two years ago, and I feel it again now – there’s just a whole lot of gratitude for the community for once again saying, ‘We trust this guy,’” Phelps said. “Of course, there’s still a general election, so we’ve got to address that, but you know, the people have sent me a message that they trust me to continue, so you know, I’ve got a lot of appreciation for that. It’s pretty humbling, quite frankly.”
Instead of heading to a post-election celebration once results were announced, Phelps hit the streets to pick up his election signs in an effort to get them out of the community’s sight as soon as possible.
“We feel like people in Johnson County don’t want to look at political signs any longer than necessary,” Phelps said. “We like to get them down on election night if we can.”
This proactive approach to serving his community, Phelps said, is the way in which he approached his first term as District 54’s representative, and is the way he said he’ll continue his approach if elected to the seat again in November.
Among the many pieces of legislation Phelps said he’s hoping to get passed if elected, he said he plans to continue his push to get his “Teachers Bill of Rights” passed to better protect Missouri educators while also championing a bill to heighten the penalties for individuals who commit fourth-degree assault on vulnerable victims like children, the elderly, folks with disabilities and more.
“There’s zero downtime; we’ve actually been working on legislation for this upcoming year,” Phelps said. “We’ve got a variety of things that we’re working on, so there really won’t be any rest between now and (November). We’re just going to keep on trucking.”
As he heads into the next phase of the election cycle, Phelps once again expressed his gratitude for the people in the community who entrusted him with their vote. When he reflects on his last two years and envisions his future as District 54’s representative, he said building more avenues for folks to share their thoughts and concerns with him is a top priority.
“It really is important to me to listen and to understand what the voters are wanting. The better I can understand what the voters want, the better I can represent them,” Phelps said. “I encourage people to call their state representative, email their state representative, (even) come to the Capitol if they choose. I want to build that two-way street of communication. I feel like if we do that, everybody wins.”
Hasina Shah can be reached at 660-747-8123.
