The race has narrowed for Missouri lieutenant governor, with St. Louis attorney Dave Wasinger winning the Republican nomination. He defeated state Sens. Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, and Holly Rehder, R-Scott City, in Tuesday’s primary election.
Wasinger was born and raised in northeast Missouri’s Hannibal. He describes himself as a political outsider to “drain the swamp” and “shake things up” in Jefferson City.
“I am not happy with the direction of both our country as well as our state,” Wasinger told Missourinet. “I am looking out for the interest of Main Street and not the special interests and lobbyists in Jefferson City.”
Wasinger said he plans to fight against “pet projects” in Missouri’s state budget.
“Whoever the next governor and lieutenant governor are, are going to have to be fiscal watch dogs, because this huge influx of covid money is going to dry up, and there are going to be some very, very difficult decisions and budgetary discussions that are going to have to take place over the next two or three years,” said Wasinger.
As lieutenant governor, he would be the top advocate for the state’s senior citizens.
“If you have had a relative or a friend or anyone in these senior living facilities, I’ve experienced this firsthand. It is boarding on elder abuse. We need to step up and improve the senior living facilities. That is also going to be a huge issue,” he said.
Wasinger said the state needs to solve its crime problems.
“You can talk about taxes until you blue in the face,” he said. “You can talk about all these other issues, but when you’re scared to walk out your front door, nothing else matters. In the city of St. Louis, where I was earlier this week, it’s kind of like real estate- location, location, location. To fix these issues in St. Louis and these other urban areas, the three issues top issues are crime, crime and crime. We need to get this crime under control so people feel safe to walk out their front door, they feel safe to visit our great state of Missouri.”
He faces Democrat Richard Brown and Libertarian Ken Iverson in November.
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