47th District
Wright vs. Bayse
For state representative in Missouri’s 47th District, incumbent Democrat John Wright defends his seat against Republican Chuck Basye. Wright clearly is the best choice.
In his first two years in office, Wright has become an outspoken champion of education (early education in particular) and ethics reform. He collaborated with Republican Kathy Swan of Cape Girardeau to pass a bill providing state aid to schools offering pre-kindergarten classes. In his campaign, he pushes hard for banning lobbyist gifts and limiting campaign donations.
Basye does not endorse either idea.
The two diverge on other hot-button issues. Wright favors taking federal funding to expand Medicaid. Basye says he opposes expansion without reform, but so far majority Republicans have no reform plan. Basye says he is uncertain about Right to Work. Wright is adamantly opposed. Basye is anti-abortion; Wright is pro-choice.
In short, this is a race between a progressive Democrat running his own campaign and a doctrinaire Republican funded and scripted by the Republican Party.
This is not to say Basye is merely an empty-headed tool of the party, but he is supported because he perfectly fits the mold, earning the bulk of his campaign funding from party coffers. He would be a thoroughly dependable Republican vote in the legislature. Give him credit for being a true believer, but it says here we need to preserve what partisan balance exists, particularly in the thoughtful person of John Wright.
Wright is wealthy and able to fund most of his own campaign. He uses his independence in behalf of modestly crafted progressive ideas. He is smart and honest, a real asset to the General Assembly, just getting started.
His election is not assured, however. His district is evenly split between Republican and Democratic voters, and past patterns show the Republican voting base is more likely to show up in off-year elections like this one. Wright won his seat in the 2012 presidential election, when Democratic voters rushed to the polls. If tradition prevails, Democratic voting will diminish this year more than Republican, posing a potential problem for Wright and his party.
Chuck Basye is a respectable conservative, but the welfare of the state will be better preserved if John Wright remains in office. For this to happen, Democrats will need to get to the polls.
John Wright for 47th District, Missouri House of Representatives.
HJW III
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