Gary Senciboy resigns as Oran mayor to focus on bid for state House seat

Oran native Gary Senciboy is leaving small-town government behind with his sights set on a seat in Jefferson City.

Senciboy recently resigned from his position as the mayor of Oran and filed to run for the soon-to-be vacant District 148 seat — currently held by state Rep. Jamie Burger who is running for state Senate — in the Missouri House of Representatives.

"I did resign a little bit early, simply because I had an opponent (Travis Scherer) that I felt could take the position," Senciboy said. "I was also hoping that this position (in the state Senate) was going to be available. I tried to pull my name off of the ballot, but it was a little bit too late to do that.

"I think he’ll be fine mayor. I spoke with him a little on the phone and he seemed to be pretty educated. I have good faith in turning it over to him. But I suspected that this position was going to be open, and I wanted to pursue it."

Senciboy spent just under 10 years as the city’s mayor. Senciboy expressed pride in some of the accomplishments during his tenure, including purchasing a new city hall building, securing a bond to update the city’s water system, helping install a resource officer at Oran schools and working to keep Canadian trailer manufacturing company Manac from leaving town.

"I’m the kind of person that thinks if there’s a job that needs to be done, we need to address it and we need to get it done," Senciboy said. "I’m not the kind of person who will say, ‘Well, let’s just push it on down the road,' and all of that. I think that getting something done ASAP is usually the best thing to do."

Senciboy said he has owned and operated his own business, GLS Construction, for 20 years, and also runs a rental company called Lillian Aire with his wife, Kerri.

"I think God puts you in places to teach you things and that your overall outcome is the result of it," Senciboy said. "I can tell you, if it wasn’t for my wife, I wouldn’t be as successful as I am right now."

Senciboy said he has served as the vice chairman of the Scott County Republican Committee, was a member of the Bootheel Conservative Republican Club and is a long-time member of the National Rifle Association.

Platform-wise, Senciboy expressed his passion for quality education, support of local police forces, Second Amendment rights and doing "the right thing."

"My goal is to go up there and do the right thing for Missouri," Senciboy said. "I love the Constitution and love the flag. I want to do the right thing and I won’t be corrupted. I feel that corruption could easily happen, but I don’t think that I’m the kind of person that can be corrupted."

The District 148 seat will be contested in a primary election Tuesday, Aug. 6, where Senciboy will face former 33rd Circuit Presiding Judge David Dolan for the Republican nomination.

"I believe that if God didn’t want me to be where I’m at, he wouldn’t have put me where I’m at," Senciboy said. "I’ve got a strong feeling that I can do a lot of good in the state of Missouri, and I’ve got a lot of people that have the same feelings who are backing me."