The new 47th Missouri House district, which includes part of Boone County, may finally have a Republican nominee. The Columbia Daily Tribune reports Mitch Richards was nominated by the Republican committee last night. He is the fourth nominee in less than one month. Richards is treasurer of the group Keep Columbia Free, and serves on the Citizens Police Review Board.
Previous nominee Mike Zweifel bowed out Wednesday, citing financial and family reasons.
"I'd like to eventually run for public office someday, I just thought that this opportunity was fairly rare, given a new district, no incumbent. I thought this was a real good opportunity, but it’s not in the cards at this time."
Because the new district was created as part of redistricting following the 2010 census, there is no incumbent candidate.
The Democrats in the race are Nancy Copenhaver and John Wright.