On Saturday morning, Democratic candidate Betsy Fogle and her supporters went door to door to campaign for her as a future state representative. Fogle hopes to flip the 135th district from Republican Steve Helms, who’s represented it since 2017.
About a dozen volunteers and staff knocked on doors near the MSU campus.
Fogle said her Springfield roots will help her serve the community. She graduated from MSU with a degree in sociology and got a master’s in sociology from The University of Arkansas. Today, she works full-time as the program director for the Jordan Valley Community Health Center.
She says her top campaign issue is healthcare.
“We’ve also unfortunately been faced with a lot of our children getting kicked Medicaid enrollment rolls," she told KSMU. "So we need legislators in office that are willing to ask those tough questions and willing to have conversations about ‘why is that happening to our children?’”
She also highlighted the need to increase representation of various people in public policy. She told KSMU she would create a space where members of the the LGBTQ community feel included.
“I thought about it for a few weeks and then decided to jump in and hopefully be a voice for those in the Springfield area that don’t feel that they’re represented by our current legislators up in Jeff City,” she said.
One of the volunteers for Fogle’s campaign is Amy Ramirez, a teaching assistant at MSU.
“I really believe in her, and I feel like she is a person who’s working for the people here in Springfield,” she told KSMU.
Alex Johnson works as field director for the Missouri House Democrats and was the campaign manager for Crystal Quade. He helps coordinate Fogle’s campaign and he’s provided his home as a base for canvassing events. He says Quade’s campaign gave him a blueprint to try to flip this House seat.
“From Quade’s campaign, we learned that knocking doors and having real, honest, issue-based conversations with voters is how you win an election," he said. "People want to know that you care about where they’re coming from, and that you’re listening to their voices. And I think it’s time that the 135th [district] had a representative that was doing that.”
Saturday’s canvassing events was focused primarily on Democratic voters, but as the November election gets closer, Fogle’s campaign will reach out to Republican and swing voters.
