Candidates for Missouri Senate District 10, which includes Callaway County, focused on families and public safety during a forum in Jefferson City Tuesday night.
State Rep. Travis Fitzwater, R-Holts Summit, and Joshua Price, an auto body shop mechanic in Audrain County, are running for the seat, which begins on its west side in Callaway County and stretches across the eastern side of the state, dipping down into St. Charles County, to include Wentzville, and reaching to the Mississippi River in Pike and Lincoln counties.
Three other candidates did not show for the event.
Fitzwater, who was first elected to the House in 2014, faces term limits there.
Price said in his opening statement that a 2019 Panhandle Eastern Pipeline explosion near his home in Mexico in part spurred him to run for office.
"My town had a pipeline explode right outside our community. That was wrong and needs to be dealt with," Price said.
Fitzwater said he was honored to serve his community in the House over the past eight years.
"I look forward to serving in the Senate. I think right now what our state needs -- we need leaders in Jefferson City," he said. "Our state is a mess and we need people who can actually go there and functionally get things done. We need to protect our kids. We need to grow our state. And we need to fight for our freedoms."
Kids across the nation are facing mental health challenges they've never had to face in the past, he said. In Lincoln County, there has been a glut of abuses against children, he added.
"They don't even have enough investigators to take care of that," Fitzwater said. "We need to prosecute crimes against children."
He said the state needs to do a better job of taking care of children.
Price said a priority for him is rural health. He lives in Mexico, where Audrain County Community Hospital closed this spring. The hospital is one of two Central Missouri hospitals operated by Noble Health System that closed in April. The other was Callaway County Community Hospital in Fulton.
"Right now, rural hospitals are going through some things," Price said. "They need some help. We need to help them serve our communities."
The Audrain County hospital is trying to get opened back up, but hasn't been successful yet, he pointed out.
Asked about personal beliefs, Price said when his conflict with constituents, he has to search for the truth.
"Sometimes what people want isn't always what they need," he said. He added a leader has to take time and focus on what needs to be done.
Asked the same question, Fitzwater said that question came up often over the past eight years.
"Often you make a decision and it bothers a handful of constitutions anti you hear from them," Fitzwater said. "Sometimes, you make decisions and they let you know about it. You have to be honest and explain why you did what you did. You have to talk to your constituents. You have to communicate. If you have concerns, you can't be afraid to talk about the differences of opinions."
The breadth of divisiveness in politics demands that the state send leaders to Jefferson City who are willing to disagree, but unwilling to write somebody off, he said.
That's why the Missouri Senate is such a mess, he continued. It has people who disagree, but are unwilling to come to the table to determine how the state can move forward.
The gas tax Missouri lawmakers passed is flawed, Price said, in large part because of the rebate portion. Passage of Missouri's gas tax included a portion that allows Missourians to fill out a form and get a rebate on the tax.
"How the rebate is implemented -- that's not something for low-income or middle-class families. That's something that hurts them," Price said. "People who are trying to put pocket change into a tank to try to get from place A to B, and put a little go-go juice in the vehicle -- that hurts them."
He explained keeping receipts complicates things for them and costs them money.
Fitzwater voted against the gas tax, he pointed out. He said general revenue was up more than 20 percent from the previous year.
"You take all those billions of dollars that we have and you prioritize it into infrastructure," he said. "That's how you do it. You don't need to raise taxes. We should be reducing taxes because our revenues are at record highs. If our revenues are at record highs and the people of Missouri spend their money better than the government does -- and we need to give more money back to the residents of Missouri."
See the District 10 forum video at https://youtu.be/8N4BUSeWV64?t=3585.