Missouri voters pick three new legislators in seat swap

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Republicans apparently claimed two legislative seats formerly held by Democrats on Tuesday, while a Democrat has won a seat previously held by a Republican, according to final, unofficial election results from the Missouri secretary of state's office.

In a race that likely will come down to a recount, Republican Bill Alter beat Democrat Rick Johnson by 66 votes, 6,861 to 6,796, in the 22nd Senate District. Democratic Rep. Harold Selby, running as an independent, was close behind with 6,272 votes, and St. Louis-area sportscaster Zip Rzeppa was a distant fourth with 2,854.

"It was closer than we expected, but winning is the final result," Alter said Tuesday.

The seat formerly was held by Democrat Steve Stoll of Festus, who resigned in January with two years left on his term to become his hometown's city administrator.

Despite the backing of Republican Sen. Sarah Steelman of Rolla, who was elected in November as state treasurer, Republican Bill Hickle of Rolla was defeated Tuesday by Democrat Frank A. Barnitz in the 16th Senate District. Unofficial results show Barnitz, of Lake Spring, with 13,238 votes to Hickle's 11,683.

And in the House's 38th District, which includes part of the Kansas City area, Republican Ryan Silvey beat Democrat Teresa Loar 3,468 to 3,255.

Missouri Democratic Party spokesman Jack Cardetti said even though a Republican was the winner in the 22nd District Senate race, Jefferson County voters sent a loud message to Republican Gov. Matt Blunt.

"I think it's a referendum by the fact two-thirds of the voters did not agree with Matt Blunt and the Republican leadership," Cardetti said Tuesday night. "If this is the reaction voters had to what is going on in Jefferson City now, just imagine voter sentiment after these devastating budget cuts are actually felt July 1st. This is actually the tip of the iceberg of voters being disenfranchised by this administration."

He said the presence of Selby, a Democrat who ran as an independent, probably robbed Johnson of some of the support from Democratic voters. But Cardetti added that he was not conceding the race to Alter just yet.

"We're in a little bit of flux right now," he said. "Of the 23,000 votes cast, Alter is up by 66 votes, but there are 189 undervotes that were not counted by the optical scanner."

A spokesman for Johnson, Shawn Borich, said he expects the Jefferson County election commission to do a voluntary recount because of the closeness of the race and, after that is done, Johnson will decide if he wants to further challenge the results.

State Republican Party spokesman John Hancock said the Democrats are "grasping for straws that are unreachable" in the 22nd Senate District.

"It's a historic Republican win," he said. "A Republican hasn't represented that county in decades."

In other races across the state, Cole County picked Greg White to succeed former Sheriff George Brooks, who committed suicide in January.

White, a former Jefferson City police officer who lost as a Republican to Brooks in November, received 7,598 votes, or 45 percent. Charles Jackson, an independent, was the next-biggest vote-getter with 2,610, followed by Republican Jeff Crocker with 2,521, independent Brad Spicer with 2,150, and Democrat Jeff Hilkey with 2,089.

In Kansas City, voters approved a measure to increase the city's property tax for the next nine years to fund health care services for poor people. In unofficial results, 54 percent of voters supported the 22-cent health levy increase, which will provide $13 million more annually for Truman Medical Center, Metropolitan Ambulance Services Trust and neighborhood health clinics.

Also up for grabs Tuesday was the St. Louis mayoral post held by Democrat Francis Slay, who was running for a second term. He was expected to easily beat his only competitor, Green Party candidate Willie Marshall.