The Republican state senator who's represented Springfield in Jefferson City since 2018 fended off a challenge from a populist primary opponent Tuesday.
Sen. Lincoln Hough garnered about 56 percent of the vote compared to about 43 percent of the vote for challenger Angela Romine.
"I decided to run for office because I did not like the direction we're going as far as the state is concerned," Romine recently told KSMU and a coalition of nonpartisan partners who conducted candidate interviews ahead of the Aug. 2 primary election.
"There's never a voice for actual citizens," Romine said recently. "It's usually for the government to protect the government."
Romine was elected to Springfield City Council in April 2021 by a margin of roughly 190 votes. She served for less than a year before resigning to take on Hough in Senate District 30, the Springfield News-Leader reported at the time.
That made Romine a controversial candidate — after offering a contrarian voice on City Council when it came to pandemic-related issues.
Hough, meanwhile, articulated a more moderate version of conservatism; for example, he advocated that the state legislature fund Medicaid expansion, a constitutional amendment state voters passed in 2020.
"My position has always been after the voters approved that on the ballot that we should reimburse and provide that care," Hough told KSMU and the coalition earlier this summer.
Hough previously served in the Missouri House and on the Greene County Commission before he was elected to the state senate.
In the November general election, Hough will face Democrat Raymond Lampert, who ran unopposed in the state Senate District 30 Democratic primary Tuesday.
