By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Two different perspectives drive the Republicans running for the newly constituted Missouri House District Two and a bit of the emerging national Republican split is showing up in the race.
Incumbent Randy Railsback of Hamilton says his focus is on the state of Missouri, not the politics of Washington, D.C.
“We focus on the state,” Railsback tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “There’s nothing we can do about the mess in Washington, D.C., except vote in November. But we’re focusing on the state level and I have seen over and over where I feel like the state has not been a player at the table and has not been a good participant. And I want to make sure that we can say (the) state of Missouri is active, we’re in the game, we’re helping our communities be competitive.”
But, his Republican challenger, Mazzie Boyd of Hamilton, wants to promote former President Donald Trump’s agenda in Jefferson City, saying she got involved in politics during the 2016 Republican presidential primary.
“And Donald Trump was always the one that I always came back to, because he was saying things that were different than any other establishment candidate had previously,” Boyd tells Birr during her time on the KFEQ Hotline.
Boyd had first supported Ben Carson.
“But then, when Donald Trump came off the escalator, I was like, oh my gosh, this is the guy that we need, someone that really has some grit and is super tough,” Boyd says.
Boyd served in the Trump White House as well as in the communications department for Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
Railsback, past director of both the Northwest Regional Council of Governments and the Green Hills Regional Planning Commission, is coming off his first two-year term representing the old Missouri House District Eight, comprised of Caldwell, Clinton, Ray, and Clay Counties. The new Missouri House District Two retains Caldwell County, but then covers Daviess, Harrison, Worth, and Grundy Counties.