A young Democrat, Mike Revis, 27, flipped a House seat in a special election on Tuesday in the 97th District of Jefferson County, Missouri. Trump won the presidential election in the same district by the wide margin of 28 points, but Revis pulled off a win by 3 percentage points.
Formerly, he was a procurement manager at Anheuser-Busch and ran on a platform of looking out for working people instead of millionaires.
The district where Revis won swung a whopping 31 percentage points to the Democrat side with this upset win. Revis’ victory makes 35 legislative seats that Democrats have picked up in recent elections, while Republicans have only managed to flip four seats so far.
BREAKING: Mike Revis has won the special election in HD97 for the Missouri House, flipping the seat from red to blue. Congratulations, Mike! pic.twitter.com/hjMIPW6dcT
— DLCC (@TheDLCC) February 7, 2018
The GOP has a super-majority in the Missouri House, and the Democrats in the state have struggled to flip any seats until now.
One obstacle: The Republican Campaign is strongly-funded in the area and didn’t hold back with spending this time.
The House Republican Campaign Committee invested heavily in cable ads for the Jefferson County race. The chairman of the state Democratic Party, Stephen Webber said in January 2017 that:
“the fact that anyone from his party was running in those districts at all was a small victory.”
However, Webber noted that scandals involving Republican Governor, Eric Greitans were working to solidify grassroots support for Democrats.
“Working families are feeling pain from Republican policies that prioritize millionaires. While Eric Greitens’ scandals, dishonesty, and corruption clouds everything related to the Governor’s Mansion.”
Mike Revis was inspired to run for office after Governor Greitens took office and ‘right to work’ laws were passed. The laws weaken workers unions and lead to lower wages and benefits as a result, according to experts like former United States Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich.
“As far as my priorities, my biggest issues are to look out for working people,” said Revis.
Revis’ other priorities include supporting public education, standing with First Responders and Veterans, and expanding access to health care.
His appeal in the area may have been bolstered because of his moderate views on gun regulation, as a gun owner and member of the NRA. He comes from a family of carpenters, electricians, teachers, and farmers and clearly can relate to the working class people in his district.
"It was never thought to be competitive because Trump carried the district 61 to 33 in 2016. And yet Democrat Mike Revis proved that wrong."https://t.co/H13RkmdRHu#WednesdayWisdom
— Holly Figueroa O'Reilly (@AynRandPaulRyan) February 7, 2018
Revis’ opponent, Republican David Linton, 59, ran on a platform of opposition to abortion rights and support for the 2nd Amendment. Although Linton lost, the GOP managed to hold on to three other seats in the special election.
The Republican super-majority allows the legislature to over-ride the Republican Governor’s veto power.
For more, see this brief video from Woochit Politics:
Featured image: Screenshot via Twitter and ocean wave via MaxPixel.
