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March 17, 2024 |  By: Rudi Keller - Missouri Independent

Justin Hicks adds to growing list of hopefuls in Missouri GOP’s 3rd District primary

election

By Rudi Keller - Missouri Independent

State Rep. Justin Hicks on Monday joined the increasingly crowded field seeking to replace U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer in Missouri’s 3rd Congressional District.

Hicks, a Republican from Lake St. Louis, is a first-term lawmaker, a veteran and an attorney. His entry into the GOP primary makes him the eighth candidate to seek the nomination. 

Two Democrats, Bethany Mann of Wentzville and Andrew Daly of Fulton have filed in the Republican-leaning district. A Libertarian candidate, Jordan Rowden of Vienna, is also filed.

“Washington is broken,” Hicks said in a news release announcing his candidacy. “Congress is filled with career politicians who only know soundbites rather than real solutions, so we keep getting the same bad results.”

The 3rd District runs through all or part of 16 counties, from the Lake of the Ozarks to the Mississippi River. Almost half the population is in eastern and northern St. Charles County, the southern half of Boone County and the western half of Jefferson County.

Luetkemeyer said in January that he would not seek a ninth term in the U.S. House. Since winning election to Congress in 2008 by 2.5% of the vote in the old 9th District, Luetkemeyer has never received less than 63% of the vote and has averaged 67% over the past five elections.

That Republican strength makes the seat attractive and the best-known candidates who have entered the race so far are former state Sen. Kurt Schaefer of Columbia, former state Sen. Bob Onder of Lake St. Louis and current state Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman of Arnold.

Other filed candidates are Arnie C. Dienoff of O’Fallon, a self-styled public advocate who testifies regularly on bills before the legislature; Chad Bicknell of Arnold, who failed in a bid for a state House seat in 2020; Kyle Bone of DeSoto, came in third in a state House primary in 2018 and Brandon Wilkinson of Fenton, who is making his first bid for public office.

In the news release announcing his candidacy, Hicks said he blames lack of action in Washington for crime, inflation, failed border policies, poor educational outcomes and high healthcare costs.

“We need to elect people who understand the issues and challenges facing the average American,” Hicks said.