Jubilant Dems

Jane Bogetto's campaign manager nearly blew his voice out at 9:01 p.m. yelling, "We have a new state representative!" The volunteers and staff smiled in shock and surprise as word of the margin (1286 officially) got around.

Despite the sepulchuric "It's His Seat" t-shirts sported by a few members of the Byrd GOTV effort, the voters in Kirkwood said decisively that it's Bogetto's seat for now.

"It's going to be a new day, I am so excited…Thank you again," said Bogetto, thanking the assembled volunteers and supporters, "We'll have to do this again next November!"

Bogetto agreed that her success in this traditionally Republican seat is partly due to a rejection of Blunt and the Republican Party.

"I think they said, 'enough is enough.'…This sends a huge message"

The former Kirkwood School Board member's landslide victory in a seat that has never been held by a Democrat has been dismissed by Governor Blunt and the Republican Party. Yet despite efforts by Republicans to paint her as a radical lefty, she walloped the candidate that stuck almost exclusively to the Republican talking points and backed the republican Governor.

Some of the Dems in attendance noted that they felt the late Rep. Richard Byrd was somewhat moderate, someone they could work with and that the current campaign was more conservative than they expected. Byrd won the seat only a year ago with 54% of the vote.

Bogetto felt that the point at which she was put over the top was when the Byrd campaign, "went so very negative." She said that in a small district like the 94th, people "get to know you" and going negative can backfire.

The Democrat website, Fired Up! Missouri noted efforts by Byrd campaign supporters to portray Bogetto as an anti-"family values" candidate, including anonymous "robo calls".

A major factor for Bogetto may have been the one hundred plus volunteers calling and knocking on doors. Though territories don't always overlap, the Bogetto volunteers were surprised they saw only a few from the Byrd campaign, the ones wearing the "It's His Seat" t-shirts.

Matthew

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