By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
State Representative-elect Mazzie Boyd is set to become the youngest member of the Missouri General Assembly.
In fact, Boyd, a Republican from Hamilton, barely meets the minimum-age requirement of 24.
“So, I was 23 during the primary and then actually right after the primary, I turned 24,” Boyd tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “So, I’ll be sworn in at 24.”
Boyd defeated incumbent Randy Railsback in the Republican primary before easily winning the General Election for the Missouri House 2nd District seat.
Boyd says her age became an issue during the campaign.
“Oh gosh, yeah. That was on a mailer, that I was only 23 years old.”
Boyd says opponents latched on to her youth as a criticism.
“I took a lot of flak,” Boyd says. “But, to be honest with you, I didn’t take a lot of flak from my supporters. It was kind of honestly from my Democrat (opponents) and of course people that weren’t going to like me if I was 30 years old or 40 years old.”
Not everybody saw her youth as a problem.
“But the people that supported me actually liked that I was younger and felt like I could bring a fresh perspective to our state legislature,” according to Boyd.
Boyd worked for Republicans in Washington, D.C. before returning home to run for the Missouri House. She will be sworn in next month before the legislative session begins.