Legislative wrapup: Republicans sweep contested races in area

The Democrats lost their best chance to pick up a legislative seat in Southeast Missouri when Republican Shelley Keeney of Marble Hill parlayed her job as a district aide to House Speaker Rod Jetton into taking over his job.

The GOP took a sweep of contested races in the area as all other area legislative seats have Republican incumbents who won easily or who faced only token minor party opposition.

Michael Winder lost the 156th District Missouri House race by a 54-46 margin, carrying his home county of Madison by 143 votes but losing Bollinger County by more than 1,000 votes and falling short in Wayne County as well.

Keeney, a longtime legislative aide to Jetton, raised a large campaign treasury early.

Winder, a union ironworker, relied heavily on those ties to raise money for his campaign. He became the target of attack ads from the House Republican Campaign Committee during the final weeks of the campaign, which used his responses to a 2006 candidate survey to challenge the Democrat on taxes.

Winder said Tuesday evening that telephone calls accusing him of supporting gay rights and abortion were wrong. He did not accuse Keeney of being behind the calls.

Winder also said that Democrats statewide need to re-evaluate their strategy for securing House seats. The GOP has a strong effort that backs its candidates with cash and independent advertising.

"If the Democrats want to do something different down here they are going to have to get a little more involved," he said.

Keeney said she heard of the calls Winder mentioned but was unaware of who paid for them. She said the message she brought to the campaign carried the day.

"I believe it was the conservative message that the voters of the 156th appreciate and wanted to support," Keeney said. "I was honored to have more than 54 percent of the vote."

In the Senate seat that includes Cape Girardeau County, incumbent Sen. Jason Crowell easily defeated Democratic candidate Linda Sanders, carrying every county in the six-county district. Crowell racked up 65.2 percent of the vote.

In the other area Missouri House race pitting two major party candidates, Republican incumbent Rep. Billy Pat Wright of Dexter easily dispatched former U.S. Rep. Bill Burlison, who was seeking to return to Missouri political office 28 years after losing his seat in Congress.

Overall, Wright took 61.8 percent of the vote to Burlison's 38.2 percent.

In two races where Republicans faced challenges from minor party candidates, the outcome was not in doubt from the point when the first votes were counted.

Clint Tracy of Cape Girardeau is the representative-elect in the 158th Missouri House District, having defeated Libertarian Party candidate Robert Roland of Cape Girardeau by a wide margin. Tracy took 76.3 percent to Roland's 23.7 percent.

Rep. Scott Lipke of Jackson cruised to re-election against Constitution Party candidate Jennifer Friedrich of St. Mary. Lipke defeated Friedrich 15,334 to 2,853 to retain the 157th Missouri House District seat. The district includes Jackson, northern Cape Girardeau County and much of Perry County.

The term will be Lipke's fourth and last. He will be forced to step aside in 2010 because of term limits.

rkeller@semissourian.com

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