Missouri House of Representatives District 78

Missouri House of Representatives District 78 is represented by Marty Joe Murray (D).

As of the 2020 Census, Missouri state representatives represented an average of 37,793 residents. After the 2010 Census, each member represented 36,880 residents.

About the office

Members of the Missouri House of Representatives serve two-year terms with term limits.^[1] Missouri legislators assume office the first day of the legislative session, which is the first Wednesday after the first Monday in January at 12:00pm.^[2]

Qualifications

See also: State legislature candidate requirements by state

To be eligible to serve in the Missouri House of Representatives, a candidate must meet the following qualifications:^[3]

“

Citizen of the United States
Resident of the state 1 year next preceding election

...

At least 24 years of age
Qualified Missouri voter for 2 years before election
Resident of the district which he is chosen to represent for 1 year before election

...

Is not delinquent in the payment of any state income taxes, personal property taxes, municipal taxes, real property taxes on the place of residence as stated in the declaration of candidacy
Is not a past or present corporate officer of any fee office that owes any taxes to the state
Has not been found guilty of or pled guilty to a felony under the federal laws of the United States of America
Has not been found guilty of or pled guilty to a felony under the laws of this state or an offense committed in another state that would be considered a felony in this state

...

In addition to any other penalties provided by law, no person may file for any office in a subsequent election until he or the treasurer of his existing candidate committee has filed all required campaign disclosure reports for all prior elections^[4]

”

Salaries

See also: Comparison of state legislative salaries

State legislative salaries, 2024^[5]
Salary	Per diem
$41,070.14/year	$132.80/day

Term limits

See also: State legislatures with term limits

The Missouri legislature is one of 16 state legislatures with term limits. Voters enacted the Missouri Term Limits Act in 1992. That initiative said that Missouri representatives are subject to term limits of no more than four two-year terms, or a total of eight years.^[1]

The first year that the 1992 term limits impacted the ability of incumbents to run for office was 2002.

Vacancies

See also: How vacancies are filled in state legislatures

If there is a vacancy in the Missouri General Assembly, the governor of Missouri must call for a special election without delay. The election mandate is sent to the county or counties in the legislative district.^[6]

See sources: Missouri Cons. Art. III, §14 and Missouri Rev. Stat. tit. III Ch. 21 §110

District map

Redistricting

2020 redistricting cycle

See also: Redistricting in Missouri after the 2020 census

Missouri completed its legislative redistricting on March 15, 2022, when the state’s Judicial Redistricting Commission filed new state Senate district boundaries with the secretary of state.^[7] Missouri was the 43rd state to complete legislative redistricting. The House Independent Bipartisan Citizens Commission unanimously approved the state House’s district boundaries on Jan. 21.^[8] These maps took effect for Missouri’s 2022 legislative elections.

The Senate Independent Bipartisan Citizens Commission failed to submit proposed maps to the secretary of state's office by the December 23, 2021, deadline. Therefore, responsibility for developing Senate district boundaries was assumed by the Missouri Judicial Commission for Redistricting.^[9] The judicial commission released their final plan and sent it to the secretary of state's office on March 15, 2022. The commission’s chair, Missouri Appeals Court Justice Cynthia Lynette Martin, said in a press release, "The Judicial Redistricting Commission’s work has been thorough and labor intensive, and was purposefully undertaken with the goal to file a constitutionally compliant plan and map well in advance of the commission’s constitutional deadline to avoid disenfranchising voters given the candidate filing deadline and the deadline for preparing ballots."^[10] Scott Faughn of The Missouri Times wrote that "The biggest difference in this map and that previous map is that it shifts the weight of some of the districts from rural weighted districts to evenly split districts and even enhances the suburban influence inside several republican seats." He added, "the new map produces 7 solid democratic districts, and 3 likely democratic districts. On the republican side the new map produces 18 solid republican districts, and 3 more likely republican districts," with two competitive districts when the current incumbents no longer seek office.^[11]

The House Independent Bipartisan Citizens Commission unanimously approved new state House district boundaries on January 19, 2022. Fourteen of the commission's 20 members were required to approve the plan. If the commission was unable to agree on a redistricting plan by January 23, 2022, authority over the process would have transferred to the Missouri Judicial Commission for Redistricting.^[12] In a press release issued after the map was finalized, commission chair Jerry Hunter said, "I want to personally thank all of the commissioners for the hard work that was put in by the commissioners and, obviously, as all of you know, the supporting individuals that have been instrumental to helping get this map done on both sides – on both the Democratic and Republican sides."^[13] Rudi Keller of the Missouri Independent wrote, "Of the 163 districts..., there are 38 where Democrats should have the advantage, 97 where Republicans are dominant and 28 districts with past election results showing less than a 10% advantage for either party."^[12]

How does redistricting in Missouri work? In Missouri, congressional district boundaries are drawn by the state legislature. These lines are subject to veto by the governor.^[14]

In 2018, the voters passed a citizens’ initiative called Amendment 1 that reshaped the redistricting process; in 2020, the voters narrowly passed a legislatively referred initiative called Amendment 3 that reshaped the process again.

Two distinct politician commissions are ultimately responsible for state legislative redistricting, one for the Missouri State Senate and another for the Missouri House of Representatives. Membership on these commissions is determined as follows:^[14]

“

Missouri’s congressional districts are drawn by the state legislature, as a regular statute, subject to gubernatorial veto. The state legislative lines are drawn by two separate politician commissions — one for state Senate districts, one for state House districts. For each commission, each major party’s congressional district committee nominates 2 members per congressional district, and the state committee nominates 5 members; the Governor chooses 1 per district per party and two per party from the statewide lists, for a total commission of 20.^[4]

”

Missouri House of Representatives District 78
until January 3, 2023

Click a district to compare boundaries.

Missouri House of Representatives District 78
starting January 4, 2023

Click a district to compare boundaries.

Elections

2024

General election

General election for Missouri House of Representatives District 78

Marty Joe Murray defeated Jim Povolish in the general election for Missouri House of Representatives District 78 on November 5, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Marty Joe Murray (D)	88.4	9,788
	Jim Povolish (R)	11.6	1,280

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 11,068
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Missouri House of Representatives District 78

Marty Joe Murray defeated Jami Cox Antwi and Jessica Pachak in the Democratic primary for Missouri House of Representatives District 78 on August 6, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Marty Joe Murray	57.4	2,570
		Jami Cox Antwi	31.5	1,409
	Submit photo	Jessica Pachak	11.1	497

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 4,476
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Missouri House of Representatives District 78

Jim Povolish advanced from the Republican primary for Missouri House of Representatives District 78 on August 6, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jim Povolish	100.0	169

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 169
= 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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