Jim Higgins

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Jim Higgins

Libertarian Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 8, 2022

Education

Bachelor's

Ohio University, 1973

Personal

Profession

Computer systems analyst

Contact

Personal Facebook

Jim Higgins (Libertarian Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Missouri's 8th Congressional District. He lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.

Biography

Jim Higgins earned a B.S. in civil engineering from Ohio University. Higgins' career experience includes working as a computer systems analyst.

Elections

2022

See also: Missouri's 8th Congressional District election, 2022

General election

General election for U.S. House Missouri District 8

Incumbent Jason Smith defeated Randi McCallian and Jim Higgins in the general election for U.S. House Missouri District 8 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jason Smith (R)	76.0	186,472
		Randi McCallian (D)	21.9	53,738
		Jim Higgins (L)	2.1	5,185

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 245,395
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Missouri District 8

Randi McCallian advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Missouri District 8 on August 2, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Randi McCallian	100.0	16,691

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 16,691
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Missouri District 8

Incumbent Jason Smith defeated Jacob Turner in the Republican primary for U.S. House Missouri District 8 on August 2, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jason Smith	82.0	78,342
		Jacob Turner	18.0	17,242

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 95,584
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Jeremy Dennison (R)

Libertarian primary election

Libertarian primary for U.S. House Missouri District 8

Jim Higgins advanced from the Libertarian primary for U.S. House Missouri District 8 on August 2, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jim Higgins	100.0	232

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 232
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2020

See also: Missouri's 6th Congressional District election, 2020

Missouri's 6th Congressional District election, 2020 (August 4 Democratic primary)

Missouri's 6th Congressional District election, 2020 (August 4 Republican primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Missouri District 6

Incumbent Sam Graves defeated Gena Ross and Jim Higgins in the general election for U.S. House Missouri District 6 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Sam Graves (R)	67.1	258,709
		Gena Ross (D)	30.8	118,926
		Jim Higgins (L)	2.1	8,144

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 385,779
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Watch the Candidate Conversation for this race!

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Missouri District 6

Gena Ross defeated Ramona Farris (Unofficially withdrew), Henry Martin, Charles West, and Donald Robert Sartain in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Missouri District 6 on August 4, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Gena Ross	32.8	14,503
		Ramona Farris (Unofficially withdrew)	26.9	11,882
		Henry Martin	21.3	9,393
		Charles West	15.7	6,951
		Donald Robert Sartain	3.3	1,447

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 44,176
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Victor Abundis (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Missouri District 6

Incumbent Sam Graves defeated Christopher Ryan in the Republican primary for U.S. House Missouri District 6 on August 4, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Sam Graves	79.7	81,584
		Christopher Ryan	20.3	20,826

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 102,410
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Libertarian primary election

Libertarian primary for U.S. House Missouri District 6

Jim Higgins advanced from the Libertarian primary for U.S. House Missouri District 6 on August 4, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jim Higgins	100.0	431

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 431
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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2018

See also: Missouri State Senate elections, 2018

General election

General election for Missouri State Senate District 24

Incumbent Jill Schupp defeated Gregory Powers and Jim Higgins in the general election for Missouri State Senate District 24 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jill Schupp (D)	60.9	51,106
		Gregory Powers (R)	37.1	31,153
		Jim Higgins (L)	2.0	1,708

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 83,967
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Missouri State Senate District 24

Incumbent Jill Schupp, Gregory Powers, and Jim Higgins advanced from the primary for Missouri State Senate District 24 on August 7, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jill Schupp (D)	70.6	27,419
✔		Gregory Powers (R)	28.8	11,182
✔		Jim Higgins (L)	0.6	224

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 38,825
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2016

See also: Missouri's 2nd Congressional District election, 2016

Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated this race as safely Republican. Incumbent Ann Wagner (R) defeated Bill Otto (D), Jim Higgins (L), and David Justus Arnold (G) in the general election on November 8, 2016. Wagner defeated Greg Sears in the Republican primary on August 2, 2016. Wagner won re-election in the November 8 election.

U.S. House, Missouri District 2 General Election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Ann Wagner Incumbent	58.5%	241,954
	Democratic	Bill Otto	37.7%	155,689
	Libertarian	Jim Higgins	2.8%	11,758
	Green	David Arnold	0.9%	3,895
Total Votes				413,296
Source: Missouri Secretary of State

U.S. House, Missouri District 2 Republican Primary, 2016

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Ann Wagner Incumbent	82.6%	77,084
Greg Sears	17.4%	16,263
Total Votes		93,347
Source: Missouri Secretary of State

2014

See also: Missouri State Senate elections, 2014

Elections for the Missouri State Senate took place in 2014. A primary election was held on August 5, 2014, followed by a general election on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was March 25, 2014. Jill Schupp was unopposed in the Democratic primary. Jay Ashcroft defeated Robb Hicks and Jack Spooner in the Republican primary. Jim Higgins was unopposed in the Libertarian primary. Schupp defeated Ashcroft and Higgins in the general election.

Missouri State Senate District 24, General Election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Jill Schupp	50.1%	28,022
	Republican	Jay Ashcroft	46.8%	26,196
	Libertarian	Jim Higgins	3.1%	1,727
Total Votes				55,945

2012

See also: Missouri gubernatorial election, 2012

Higgins was the Libertarian candidate for Governor of Missouri in 2012. He ran unopposed in his party's primary election and was defeated by incumbent Jay Nixon (D) in the general election on November 6, 2012.

Governor of Missouri General Election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Jay Nixon Incumbent	54.8%	1,494,056
	Republican	Dave Spence	42.5%	1,160,265
	Libertarian	Jim Higgins	2.7%	73,509
Total Votes				2,727,830
Election results via Missouri Secretary of State

Previous elections

Higgins ran to represent Missouri in the U.S. Congress in 1992, 1994 and 2002.

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Jim Higgins did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

Jim Higgins did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

2016

The following issues were listed on Higgins' campaign website. For a full list of campaign themes, click here.

“	Jobs and Unemployment: Promote solutions to maintain and improve our standard of living. We need to make sure the American economy is self-sustaining in order to support its people and resilient and flexible enough to meet the many challenges of the future. Government Spending: State and local government costs Texas about fifteen cents on every dollar earned. That means if you work a forty hour week, six of those hours go to support state and local government before you ever punch the clock for the feds. Since 1960, our state budget has averaged double digit growth every biennium and it’s grown by about $15 billion in just the last decade. ​Minimum Wage: Establish the current Minimum Wage as a baseline and eliminate the payroll tax. This is an important step toward mutual Agreements, Opportunity and Freewill Healthcare: Federal laws increase many of the problems they were meant to fix, they produce a host of new problems, and they render states powerless to fix anything. Centralized planning by bureaucrats simply doesn’t work. Civil Liberties: Individuals should be free to make choices for themselves and to accept responsibility for the consequences of the choices they make. Governments are forcing police to force people to make public choices the government deems “safe” or “prudent”. This is, beyond ensuring individual safety, the government enforcement arm is getting more militarized and more aggressive.	”
—Jim Higgins' campaign website, http://www.jimhiggins4congress.com/solutions.html

2012

Higgins' website highlighted the following campaign themes:

• K-12 Public Schools - Funding for K-12 makes up about 25% of the total budget. School administrators should have more flexibility in school curriculum, and should have more flexibility in providing better pay for teachers. There needs to be more innovation in education. Throwing money at the problem does not help. Parents should be able to use vouchers to send their children to the school of their choice.
• China Hub - There should be a level playing field for all business. There should not be special incentives for any particular business or industry. The state should not play favorites by granting tax incentives to specific enterprises. The state should not give special incentives for the China Hub.
• Property rights Vs. Eminent Domain - The state should be protecting private rights. Eminent domain has been abused when used for private development.
• Gun Ownership - The second amendment guarantees your right to own a gun and defend yourself. The state government should not register guns or keep records of gun ownership.
• Reduce Regulations - Special interests have too much influence over our legislators, which results in regulations that benefit special interests. The state should have a regularly scheduled review to eliminate unneeded regulation.
• I-70 Tolls - There should be no tolls on I-70. We do not need three lanes between St Louis and Kansas City. MODOT will have to get by with funds they receive now just as Missouri families have to do.
• Legalize Cannabis - Drug prohibition, just like alcohol prohibition has not worked. The high prices that occur when drugs are illegal spawn gangs and violence. Because penalties for drug offenses are so severe our prisons are overcrowded which can cause the release of truly of violent criminals. Personally I believe that drug use is foolish but people should be able to do foolish things. Government should not try to control behavior.
• Death Penalty - Missouri should join the growing number of states that have abolished the death penalty. The court system still sometimes convict innocent people. The recent advances in DNA evidence has proven that mistakes are made. The appeals system for death row inmates is actually more expensive to administer than the cost of incarceration for life.
• TIF – Tax Increment Financing - Poorly designed TIF laws have caused problems. The original purpose of TIF was to help develop marginal or blighted areas. However TIF has become a vehicle to fund projects such as shopping malls in affluent areas. The biggest winners in this scenario are the construction contractors.
• Red Light Cameras - Red light cameras are an invasion of privacy and should be discontinued. Also, red light cameras lack due process of law because they ticket the car and not the person.

Higgins submitted his biography to Ballotpedia, including his political philosophy:

“

Freedom and the free market work, not the crony Capitalism we have today. In a true free market people from all walks of life will be more prosperous and live more rewarding lives. It's naive to think that elected with the power to tax and regulate will look out for our best interest. Power corrupts. All attempts at big government have failed or are failing.

”

Campaign finance summary

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Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

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Jim Higgins campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2022	U.S. House Missouri District 8	Lost general	$0	N/A**
2020	U.S. House Missouri District 6	Lost general	$0	N/A**
2018	Missouri State Senate District 24	Lost general	$0	N/A**
Grand total			$0	N/A**
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

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Footnotes

[show]

Missouri's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Josh Hawley (R)

Eric Schmitt (R)

Representatives

District 1

Wesley Bell (D)

District 2

Ann Wagner (R)

District 3

Bob Onder (R)

District 4

Mark Alford (R)

District 5

Emanuel Cleaver (D)

District 6

Sam Graves (R)

District 7

Eric Burlison (R)

District 8

Jason Smith (R)

Republican Party (8)

Democratic Party (2)