Pro-Choice Candidates Narrowly Defeated in Special Elections
By a mere 66 vote margin in a race in which over 22,000 votes were cast, Rep. Rick Johnson was defeated tonight (April 5, 2005) in the special election for the Senate seat for district 22. The final results are as follows:
Bill Alter REP 6,861 30.1%
Rick Johnson DEM 6,795 29.8%
Harold R. Selby IND 6,272 27.5%
Zip Rzeppa IND 2,854 12.5%
Total Votes 22,782
The winner of the election, former State Rep. Bill Alter, has a prior anti-choice voting record that makes it clear he will be no friend to women.
NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri phoned, mailed and canvassed for Rep. Johnson because, since his election to the House in 2000, he has been a strong and consistent voice for women’s reproductive rights. Rep. Johnson ran in the special election as the only pro-choice candidate, and beat out anti-choice democrat Rep. Harold Selby, who filed and ran as an independent candidate, as well as anti-choice candidate Zip Rzeppa.
Fortunately, despite the disappointment in this special election, Rep. Johnson maintains his seat in the House and will continue to be the kind of legislator that pro-choice Missourians need representing us in Jefferson City.
Also suffering a narrow defeat this evening was pro-choice candidate Teresa Loar in her race to fill the seat vacated in House district 38 by the death of Rep. Dan Bishop. She was defeated by anti-choice challenger Ryan Silvey.
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