Count Republican Rep. Vicky Hartzler among the possible candidates to replace Roy Blunt in the U.S. Senate in 2022. If elected, she would be only the third female elected to the Senate from Missouri and the first Republican woman.
“Definitely we are looking very seriously at it,” Hartzler said, according to “The Missouri Times.” “We’re very excited about the opportunities to bring compassionate, effective, strong leadership perhaps to more Missourians.”
Hartzler said she’s not ready to make an official announcement but is spending time getting counsel about the open seat. Her journey to Congress came with the surprise defeat of 34-year incumbent Democrat Congressman Ike Skelton. She is the second Republican woman elected to Congress in Missouri.
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“I did a lot of praying and thinking about running for Congress,” she said ”I was very concerned about the direction our country was going in and the leadership in Congress and how our representative was casting his vote with Nancy Pelosi and policies that we did not believe in here in Missouri. I felt like it was time to step back in and make a difference.”
Hartzler, who is 60, is a former teacher and has a farm in Cass County along with her husband. They raise corn, soybeans and wheat on their farm, along with a cow-calf operation. They also own a farm implement company, Hartzler Equipment, in Harrisonville.
Hartzler remembers the night her political career began in the early 1990s. Her state representative, then for HD 124, was retiring, and a family friend called her husband, Lowell Hartzler. She watched him look over at her and nod, unable to hear what was being said on the other end of the line.
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“You’ve got the wrong Hartzler,” her husband said before handing over the phone. So she became the “right Hartzler” and rose to the occasion, becoming one of just a few Republicans to hold that seat. Now, with another open seat, Hartzler has another decision to make. But for her, it’s no longer about being the “right Hartzler” but the candidate God has chosen to run for the seat, she said.
She remains one of the most popular political figures in Missouri. She won re-election in 2020 with about 67% of the vote to her opponent’s 30% and actually increased her total by 3 percent from 2018. In the Aug. 2020 Republican Primary, she beat other candidates with 77 percent of votes.
–Dwight Widaman | Metro Voice