Missouri House of Representatives District 147 candidate surveys, 2022

Elections in Missouri, 2022

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This article shows responses from candidates in the 2022 election for Missouri House of Representatives District 147 who completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.

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• Click here to see Candidate Connection survey responses.

Candidates and election results

General election

General election for Missouri House of Representatives District 147

John Voss defeated Andy Leighton and Greg Tlapek in the general election for Missouri House of Representatives District 147 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		John Voss (R)	64.5	6,990
		Andy Leighton (D)	31.4	3,405
	Submit photo	Greg Tlapek (L)	4.1	450

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 10,845
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. The section below shows responses from candidates in this race who completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Survey responses from candidates in this race

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Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Andy Leighton (D)

I am pro-choice because none of us are free unless we are all free to control our own bodies and healthcare options.

We must work to bring the jobs of the future to our state - renewable energy jobs! Or our children and our country will be left behind.

We must work to reduce violent crime in our state or we will have no future. Common sense gun control measures must be an integral part of any solution.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Andy Leighton (D)

Public education at all levels. Public Health and access to healthcare. Civil rights and privacy. Renewable energy and related industries (eg., facility and transmission line maintenance, battery manufacturing and recycling). Gun regulation, public safety, and professional community policing. Conservation of natural resources for both preservation and recreation.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

Andy Leighton (D)

The assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is the first historical event of my lifetime that I can recall from childhood. I was seven years old. My oldest brother was in Vietnam and my parents were involved in politics promoting civil rights. Watching the news was a family event in our home. Some years later I heard my mother tell the story of how we were on vacation in Florida when the horrible news broke. My parents were quite concerned about traveling by road through cities on fire along the way from the Gulf of Mexico to Chicago. That event, and many other factors, contributed to my parents fighting for equal housing rights (anti-red lining in real estate). In this environment, one grows up learning that while the south had legal segregation, the north had de facto segregation which separated whites and blacks into different communities. As whites and jobs fled the inner cities to the suburbs, blacks were left behind. They simply could not get home loans to live anywhere they wanted and were directed by the real estate industry to other areas. This practice and others like it still go on today and they have effectively cheated black Americans out of the investment equity they would have otherwise earned from living in areas with better jobs and public services.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Andy Leighton (D)

I grew up mowing lawns, raking leaves, and shoveling snow - lots of snow. My friend's mother once bought us shirts that said, "I shoveled the winter of '79". It was an historic year for snowfall in the Chicago area. My first official job with an employer was with McDonald's. I worked my way from dining room cleaner to dishwasher to fry cook. I was starting to learn the grill, but the hours were hurting my grades and after three months or so I moved on. Essentially, I faced the same issue that most students and others face when working the in the food service industry. You go in wanting a part time job for 15-20 hours per week. You are thinking 3-5 hours per night a few nights a week, maybe one weekend day. Then you get scheduled to work 3pm to 11pm three nights a week after school or all day Saturday and Sunday and you are exhausted. Maybe worse, you get that schedule and by week's end you have only worked half of it or less because the work wasn't there and you got sent home. I worked my way through high school and college in jobs like that learning valuable life lessons along the way.

What do you perceive to be your state's greatest challenges over the next decade?

Andy Leighton (D)

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce Foundation just released a report on violent crime in the state called Safer Missouri Stronger Missouri. The crime statistics in that report are nothing short of a stunning indictment of Republican rule in Missouri. According their report Missouri has three of the top ten most violent cities in the entire country. The report has a lot to say about the rise of gun-related violent crimes, but precious little to offer on the solution side short of clarifying the state's second amendment protection act (SAPA). This law essentially prevents state and local law enforcement authorities from cooperating with federal authorities to solve gun-related crimes. SAPA is nothing more than a sign to criminals that reads: Welcome to Missouri. It deprives local law enforcement of precious resources needed to solve these often complicated crimes. Our greatest challenge, because of the hyper-sensitivity of opponents to gun regulation, is to pass long-lasting, effective, common sense gun regulations to make our state safer so it can grow and prosper. We are not going to just punish criminals harder to get ourselves out of this mess. Any crime reduction plan that does not include a healthy dose of common sense gun regulation is destined to fail. Every member of the General Assembly needs to read that Chamber report and have a sit down discussion with their supporters to help them understand the danger we are in if we fail to act now.

Do you believe that compromise is necessary or desirable for policymaking?

Andy Leighton (D)

Compromise is almost always required for progress to take place. Even when we agree on what a problem is, we don't always agree on the best solution. The reality is that sometimes we cannot even agree that a problem exists never mind what a solution might be. For better and worse often different parties to a negotiation will hold an issue 'hostage' so they can get something else done that may be completely outside the scope of the issue at hand. The recent gun regulations passed by the U.S. Congress is a great and terrible example. Those of us who want to see far more done on this issue at the federal level had to compromise a lot to get anything done at all. We can only hope that the majority of Americans who do want to see more will get and vote for candidates like me who are willing to do more.

See also

More about these elections:

• Missouri House of Representatives elections, 2022

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