House District 135, which covers east central and northeast Springfield, will have a new representative. Democrat John Chiles was successful in his bid against Republican Michael Hasty for the seat held by Democrat Betsy Fogle who ran successfully for Senate District 30 against Republican Melanie Stinnett and Libertarian Cecil Ince.
Fogle was elected to 135 in November 2020, defeating Republican Steve Helms who was elected in 2016. Republican Lincoln Hough held the seat before that.
In his victory speech at the Democratic watch party at Teamsters Hall Tuesday night Chiles thanked his family and campaign volunteers and said he was proud of the hard work they had done.
"Thank you all so much for believing and recognizing. This truly is a crucible moment for our country," he said. "There's been a lot of those in our history. We don't know what the future looks like. I think about the Gettysburg Address. When Abraham Lincoln wrote that he didn't know what the future would hold. Turns out that was a turning point for the war. But he didn't know that at the point in our history. We're always being tested and showing up. And tonight, in Greene County, in Missouri and in the United States of America, we showed up. Thank you for showing up. Thank you for not giving up. Thank you."
Chiles told the Informed Voter Coalition in a September interview that one of his top priorities would be working to fully fund public schools.
"I talked to a lot of people Democrats, Republicans, everywhere in between. Everybody wants better schools for their kids and for their grandkids and their nieces and nephews," he said. "And if we're not funding that as a society, I don't know what we're doing."
He also said he'd work towards affordable healthcare and to make sure data centers aren't depleting the water supply.
KSMU's Jorja Lageschulte contributed to this story.