By the time the Tuesday election arrived, the race for SD 9 was state Rep. Barbara Washington’s to lose.
Washington faced Raytown Alderman Ryan Myers in the primary contest to replace Sen. Kiki Curls. She won by about 88 percent Tuesday.
Although there seemed to be a bit of quandary ahead of filing over just who would succeed Curls, a venerable legislator, once Washington threw her hat into the ring, supporters — from the party to Freedom Inc. — coalesced.
Don’t county Myers out in the future, however. It’s likely we’ll see his name pop back up in the capital city in the near future — especially as he kept this contest on The Missouri Times’ competitive race list.
As of the latest filings, Washington boasted nearly $85,000 in her war chest. Myers had about $3,000 cash on hand.
SD 9 has sat without a senator since early this year when Curls was appointed commissioner of the Missouri Labor and Industrial Relations Commission. The district spans much of southern Kansas City.
Washington was elected to represent Jackson County’s HD 23 in the House, where she serves as the Minority Caucus secretary, in 2018. Aside from her work in the Capitol, Washington is an attorney with a passion for juvenile justice reform and mental health awareness.
David Martin, a community activist, is the Republican nominee for the seat.
Kaitlyn Schallhorn was the editor in chief of The Missouri Times from 2020-2022. She joined the newspaper in early 2019 after working as a reporter for Fox News in New York City.
Throughout her career, Kaitlyn has covered political campaigns across the U.S., including the 2016 presidential election, and humanitarian aid efforts in Africa and the Middle East.
She is a native of Missouri who studied journalism at Winthrop University in South Carolina. She is also an alumna of the National Journalism Center in Washington, D.C.
Contact Kaitlyn at kaitlyn@themissouritimes.com.
