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Haefner announces campaign for state Senate

OAKVILLE, Mo. – State representative Marsha Haefner announced her bid for state senate Wednesday night at her and her husband’s plant nursery, For the Garden, in Oakville in South St. Louis County.

Haefner has served as the representative of District 95 since her election in Nov. 2010 as a Republican, and with her final term beginning in 2016, she wanted to remain in state politics.

“I really like my job in the House, and it was a decision either I just stay in the House, finish one more term and just be finished, or maybe go ahead with this senate run and continue my work a little longer,” she said Thursday.

Haefner
Haefner

Senate District 1, currently represented by Democrat Scott Sifton and comprising of parts of St. Louis County, is expected to be a combative district with Sifton running for attorney general in 2016. The district is usually not solidly blue or red and spans a large portion of St. Louis County, so Haefner says she does not plan on running on social issues. Her campaign will instead focus on the economy, education and children’s services, an issue in which she has specialized over the past year and half.

“My only answer to that is I just have to be myself,” she said. “People can look at my record, people can hear what I’ve accomplished and people can determine if I’m the right person to fill this spot.”

The representative also sits on the House Budget Committee and cites her experience working with the health industry and streamlining health care costs around the state as evidence of fiscal responsibility.

“With my experience on the budget committee and as the appropriations chair, I have a lot of insight on how we spend taxpayer’s money,” Haefner said.