Previewing the race for Missouri’s 135th District

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — In Missouri’s 135th District, Democratic incumbent Betsy Fogle is hoping to be elected for a third consecutive term.

Republican challenger Michael Hasty is hoping to flip the district back to the GOP for the first time since Fogle was elected in 2020.

OzarksFirst spoke to both candidates weeks ahead of the election about their campaign and voter issues.

Fogle says she wants to build on her four years of progress.

“My role as a Democrat here in Missouri, I’m one of three elected Democrats in the lower half of the state. I work in a building with a supermajority of Republicans in both chambers in both the House and the Senate. My role in Jefferson City is to try to continue to bring balance to the policy discussions and policy debates that we have to, most importantly, focus on the issues that are important to House District 135. Those issues, there are many that are important to my constituents, but at the top of the list would be access to health care and access to quality education for our kids and making sure that I’m taking the voices of my constituents to Jefferson City and focusing on the things that they ask me to focus on,” Fogle said.

She says she grew up in a family of Republicans but switched parties several years ago, but leans on the connections she has with her family to navigate divisive waters.

“My family worked very hard cattle farm in the Barry County area. When I decided to run as a Democrat, it caused, you know, a little bit of tension amongst my family, because not everybody agrees with me politically, but just like in my family, we may see policy different, but we love each other more than our differences reflect,” Fogle said. “I believe that our differences are strengths. I believe in a strong social safety net in that we need to have government services that provide for families that might be struggling and provide for them in a way that they’re able to move forward and be self-sufficient in the years to come.”

Fogle says she’s interested in representing the values voters have, not hers.

“Every single year, the top two issues are making health care more affordable and making sure our public education system is equipped with the things that they need in that we have a public education system that serves the needs of all children. Those aren’t things that I come up with. Those are things that my constituency asked me to focus on. The other issue that I’ll say I hear frequently from families here at home is access to child care, making sure that our working families have safe and affordable childcare options for their children,” Fogle said.

She adds that she believes she’s the right fit for District 135.

“When I’m in Jefferson City, I just try to bring that balance back, try to get back to a place where things like compromise and collaboration are viewed as strengths and not weaknesses, and hopefully voters in my district will know that even if we don’t agree on every policy, I am always working on your behalf,” Fogle said.

Her opponent, Michael Hasty, says he’s a common man.

“I’m a working-class man and I just got off work today. I have four kids in the school district and I believe that I represent what most people in the district are, whether they have kids in school or not. Most of us are punching the clock, working those 9 to 5 or whatever shift that we’re working, trying to make ends meet, and that’s what I am,” Hasty said. “There’s nothing super special about me. I’m a hard worker. I’ve worked hard in my whole life and I want to work hard for the people [in the 135th district].”

Hasty is no stranger to politics and says his focus is on public safety and the economy.

“One of the biggest things that everybody kind of feels it is the economy. We all feel inflation. We all go grocery shopping. We all have put gas in our vehicles and we feel those pains and especially the families with kids and everything that they’re feeling the pinch at the grocery store, just like I do, trying to get the daily essentials. The cost of living with inflation over the last four years has has increased. That’s something that’s undeniable and that’s something that everybody is feeling,” Hasty said. “I also have a few people very concerned about public safety and some drug issues and things like that. I’ve even had a few people concerned about issues stemming from the border falling over into Missouri because we have a drug problem in our state that some people aren’t willing to address.”

He says he wants to take a look at the foster care system as well.

“One of the campaign points that I am running on as well is foster care and adoption. I was a foster kid for 14 years and something is very passionate and close to my heart, and that’s one of my campaign goals and promises is to get in the Jefferson City and fix not just the adoption process but the foster care system as a whole so we can make the system work for the kids and not just get these kids shuffled and lost in the system,” Hasty said. “These kids are the next generation of our leaders, our innovators, our workers, business owners and everybody, and kids deserve every opportunity.”

Hasty, like Fogle, believes he is the best fit for District 135.

“I am what most of the District 135 are. Working class, blue-collar people who go to the store every day trying to find food for their families, people who fill up at the gas station, people who punch a time clock, work for somebody else. I feel that’s the majority of the 135th district, and in a lot of Springfield, quite honestly, is blue-collar, working class people who do everything from being police officers and first responders to food service workers to our medical staff,” Hasty said. “That’s the majority of what I feel the 135th district is, and that’s why I feel I would be a good representative because I’m just an average everyday guy like the majority of the people in the community.”

The General Election is November 5.

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