To reach a third term as a state representative in Missouri House District 136, Democrat Stephanie Hein will face Republican challenger Jacey Buckles.
Hein first flipped the district — which covers a large portion of southeast Springfield — in a tight contest in 2022 and held the seat by another slim margin in 2024. Now, Hein says her work is not finished because “If you’re hoping to make something better it’s not a short-term fix.”
Challenger Buckles told the News-Leader that he was motivated to run for the seat to help address problems in Springfield and contribute to the city where his children are growing up.
Stephanie Hein’s background and career
Hein was born in Rolla and graduated high school in the “really small rural community” of Hartville, Missouri. She holds both a bachelor’s
degree in hospitality and restaurant management and master’s degree in business administration from Missouri State University as well as a doctorate in educational leadership and policy analysis from the University of Missouri.
While her career in hospitality took her to St. Louis, Denver and Nashville, Hein said she has spent most of her adult life in Springfield. Here, she led MSU’s Department of Hospitality Leadership and raised two daughters with her husband.
Hein has been a member of the Rotary Club of Springfield, served on the Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau Board of Directors, and on the taskforce for the Springfield-Branson National Airport.
Jacey Buckles’ background and career
Buckles grew up in Lebanon, Missouri, where he graduated from Southwest Baptist University in 2017 with bachelor’s degrees in both economics and finance and religion and philosophy. After graduation, Buckles moved to Springfield, where he and his wife have two young daughters between the ages of 8 months and 4 years.
Since 2017, Buckles has been a partner and chief financial officer of his family’s business, FTS Heating and Cooling. He told the News-Leader that he has expanded the business from five to 25 employees in and around Springfield.
Stephanie Hein’s positions and plans
Hein told the News-Leader that a lot of her time and energy as a legislator went into serving on the House Budget Committee. Hein argues that her voice will be especially important as the state faces budget constraints that require “challenging” spending cuts.
“Show me your budget and I’ll show you your values,” Hein said. “Our state budget really shows the values of Missouri. What do we value? Where do we feel like we should be investing? And are we doing the right things?”
She says you will hear her “continue to beat the drum” to argue for funding public schools and safety nets for vulnerable populations. Hein wants the state to follow the formula set by past lawmakers to fully fund schools.
Like a majority of Missouri voters, Hein opposed Amendments 4 and 5, which werestruck down in the August primary. On Amendment 4, Hein said she understands the desire to raise standards for changing the state constitution but thinks the measure went too far in disempowering voters. Personally, Hein said, she has no issue with the current initiative process. If the amendment had passed, Hein said, political actors could “tank” a voter-led initiative by funneling campaign spending to one district.
Hein is also an opponent of attempts to eliminate personal income tax and expand sales taxes, which appeared as Amendment 5 on the August primary ballot. Hein has argued that it would burden working families by taxing necessities and told the News-Leader it would contribute to shortfalls in the state budget. She said she was “relieved” when voters struck down the measure.
On the November ballot, Hein is voting “no” on Amendment 3, which would reinstate Missouri’s abortion ban with exceptions for rape, incest, and medical necessity and constitutionally enshrine a ban on gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth.
“The whole idea that that is back on the ballot is so incredibly frustrating to many people — even if they were opposed to it in 2024,” Hein said. “The legislature has this idea that we can just override the will of the people and I think people are frustrated by that and rightfully so.”
She says that frustration led to November’s Amendment 6. The measure would make the initiative and referendum processes that voters use to get measures on the ballot a fundamental right and prohibit the legislature from repealing the outcomes of such measures without an 80% majority.
Hein is voting “yes” on 6 and called it “a good safety valve” for the will of voters.
She is voting “no” on Amendments 7 and 8 which would “create a public endowment fund with the goal of eliminating state-imposed taxes” and grant the state Attorney General the sole power to remove sheriffs from office, respectively.
Jacey Buckles’ positions and plans
Buckles also supports fully funding public schools and would like to see better pay for “frontline” workers like teachers, librarians and custodians. He would also like to see more adoption of new technologies and more priority on trade education.
His other two big priorities are public safety and cost of living.
Buckles wants to be tough on crime but also “smart on safety” according to his campaign website. He wants to strengthen sentencing guidelines and invest more resources in police departments and address staffing shortages in the Springfield Police Department. He also wants to strengthen state and local partnerships with nonprofits that address homelessness and drug addiction. Because poverty rates contribute to crime, Buckles says his public safety ideas “dovetail” with his cost of living proposals.
To lower the cost of living, Buckles has three areas where he’d like to see tax reform.
First, he’d like to reduce or eliminate sales taxes on grocery items.
“Your grocery bill is a fairly large item in your budget and that is one way the state could meaningfully impact the household budget for people,” Buckles said.
Then, he’d like to allow people to pay personal property taxes in installments or move the due date to the spring when most people are thinking about “tax season.” He’s also open to lowering personal property taxes and phasing them out after property is owned for at least 10 years. Buckles also wants to reassess fuel taxes.
In August, Buckles supported Amendment 4 and opposed Amendment 5. In principle, Buckles supports reducing income taxes but said the ballot measure lacked “a good explanation” on what would replace the revenue or how the process would work. He’d be more open to reducing taxes by raising the state’s standard deductions.
Buckles supported Amendment 4 because he thinks amendments to the state constitution should require a broader majority.
“Your state constitution is a framework of government and a statement of principles. It is not intended to answer every question,” Buckles said.
On the November ballot, Buckles says he opposes Amendment 6 for similar reasons, saying it disempowers the legislature from changing amendments passed by voters. If issues arise, Buckles said an 80% majority is “an unrealistic threshold.”
Buckles plans to support Amendment 3 in November. While he thinks the earlier version of the state’s abortion ban was too extreme, he thinks the exceptions in this version “strike an appropriate balance.”
Buckles said he would like to do more research on Amendments 7 and 8 but is “favorably disposed” to the fund proposed in Amendment 7.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Hein faces challenger Buckles in Missouri House District 136 race
