Moseley and Macpherson win in Wright, Hardwick wins senate race plus Amendments 4 and 5 fail

Election results are in from the Tuesday, Aug. 4 primaries as many voters made their voices heard at the ballot box.
Wright County

A few local Wright County contested Republican races were decided on Election night.
Doug Moseley will be Wright County’s next presiding commissioner after he defeated Nathan Culver, 2,387-1,609. Moseley is set to take over for Zach Williams, who decided to not run for another term.
With Associate Circuit Judge Lynette Veenstra retiring, two Mountain Grove attorneys went head-to-head in the Republican primary.
Jason MacPherson defeated Ryan Morris, 2,593-1,505.
There were several competitive Republican committee races in Wright County.
Shawn Irby defeated Cheryl Black for Mountain Grove Commiteewoman, 509-421.
Robert Wallace edged Terry Kelley in the Pleasant Valley Commiteeman race, 281-263.
Nathan Culver won the Gasconade Committeeman race with John Jacobs, 410-169.
Unopposed Republican primary winners in Wright County include Lori Jones (Circuit Clerk, 3,614); Loni Pedersen (Clerk, 3,535); Amanda Hoffman (Recorder of Deeds, 3,528); John Tyrrell (Prosecuting Attorney, 3,540); Shelly Chadwell (Collector, 3,688); and Lisa Hensley (Treasurer, 3,520).
Local Legislature
Locally, a lot of eyeballs were on the State Senator District 16 Republican primary race featuring Wright County’s own Hannah Kelly.
Kelly was able to defeat eventual winner Bill Hardwick in Wright County (2,538-1,255) and Laclede County (2,073-2,061), but Hardwick would make up ground in Dent, Phelps and Pulaski counties. (The Wright County Journal has yet to receive breakdown results from those counties.)
Hardwick picked up 11,030 total votes and defeated Kelly, who had 7,865 votes. Don Mayhew (5,659) was third and Philip Lohmann (1,034) was fourth.
Hardwick will now face Democrat Virginia Staabs in November, who won her unopposed primary race with 5,009 votes.
In unopposed local state representative races, incumbent Republican State Rep. Melissa Schmidt (District 141) won with 7,256 votes and Democrat Darrel (Mike) Swofford had 1,015 in his primary.
In District 143, Bennie Cook won his unopposed Republican primary race with 6,360 votes. Marsha Snodgrass won the Democrat side with 1,184 votes.
As for the nearby District 129 Republican primary, local Stan Coday finished in second place with 2,228 votes. Will Worsham won the race with 3,040 votes and Levi Lansdown was third (1,429).
Democrat John Gray won his primary (1,149).
Statewide Races
Both Amendments 4 and 5 failed after more than 80% of voters cast a “No” vote on their ballots.
Amendment 4, that involved all eight districts needing to approve possible ballot initiatives, failed 1,122,748-275,040.
As for the income tax Amendment 5 race, 1,165,085 “No” votes were cast to 233,309 “Yes” votes.
Amendment 1 involving a renewal of an existing tax for state parks and soil and water conservation passed, 1,141,865-245,778.
Amendment 2 that pushes Jackson County to vote for an assessor passed, 1,042,413-312,713.
In the race for U.S. Rep. District 8, incumbent Republican Jason Smith defeated Gordon Heslop, 94,468-15,367.
Chris Reichard defeated Frank Banitz in the Democrat primary, 15,334-12,999.
Libertarian Rebecca Lombard was unopposed (728).
In the Missouri State Auditor’s Republican primary, incumbent Scott Fitzpatrick defeated Jerry Wistrand Jr., 549,997-93,012.
Quentin Wilson beat Gregory Upchurch on the Democrat side, 325,648-154,346.
Libertarian Dustin Coffell was unopposed (6,716).
Other County races
Over in Texas County, Scott Long won the presiding commissioner race, 2,805-936, over Chance Bland in their Republican primary. Democrat Lee Kern (630) was unopposed.
Erin Smith defeated Heather Stark-Reynolds, 2,498-1,145 in the Republican primary for Circuit Clerk.
In the Republican committee races for Texas County, Terry Brown defeated Anthony Milone, 354-95, for Burdine Township.
Jackson Township went to David Scantlin, 166-58, as he defeated Edward Walton.
Mike Baker beat Sanford Nagel, 590-181, for Piney Township.
As for the committeewoman race there, Julia Pounds defeated Dee Dee Butler, 619-171.

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Below were results as they came in on election night.
 

Bill Hardwick has won the State Senator District 16 Republican primary race as all 72 precincts have reported with 25,588 total votes cast.

Bill Hardwick 11,030
Hannah Kelly 7,865
Don Mayhew 5,659

Philip Lohmann 1,034I was unable to recruit Laclede County election results.

But our friends at The Laclede County Record have them on their website.

View the breakdown at https://www.laclederecord.com/stories/aug-4-2026-election-unofficial-res... an update on the Secretary of State website....
As of 10:01 p.m. and with 64 of 72 precincts reporting in the State Senator District 16 race

Bill Hardwick 8,147
Hannah Kelly 7,338
Don Mayhew 4,342

Philip Lohmann 898All 12 precincts have reported in the State Rep. District 129 Republican race

Will Worsham wins with 3,040 votes
Stan Coday 2,226
Levi Lansdown 1,423
 

All 12 of nearby Webster County has their unofficial totals reported. These are the final numbers there of interest. The .pdf of Webster County is available at wrightcountyjournal.com

State Rep. District 129 (Webster totals only)
Stan Coday 251
Will Worsham 241
Levi Lansdown 115

Presiding Commissioner
Alan Rost 326
Susan Johnson 152
Mark Clifton 131

Circuit Clerk
Stephanie Vestal 419

Teri Myers 179Wright County results are in as of 9:27 p.m.
A .pdf is posted at wrightcountyjournal.com

Presiding Commissioner
Doug Moseley 2,387
Nathan Culver 1,609

Associate Circuit Judge
Jason MacPherson 2,593
Ryan Morris 1,505

Mountain Grove Commiteewoman
Shawn Irby 509
Cheryl Black 421

Pleasant Valley Commiteeman
Robert Wallace 281
Terry Kelley 263

Gasconade Commiteeman
Nathan Culver 410

John Jacobs 169It's really tight in the competitive State Senate District 16 Republican race...
With 45 of 72 precincts reporting
Hannah Kelly 6,126
Bill Hardwick 5,552
Don Mayhew 2,444

Philip Lohmann 616As of 9:19 p.m.
Update in the nearby State Rep. District 129 race
With 6 of 12 precincts reporting...
Will Worsham 1,419
Stan Coday 1,162

Levi Lansdown 677Time for an Amendments update as of 9:13 p.m. with 829 of 3,235 precincts reporting

Amendment 1
311,675 Yes to 79,366 No

Amendment 2
292,010 Yes to 38,805 No

Amendment 4
301,583 No to 91,749 Yes

Amendment 5

321,250 No to 72,489 Yes As of 9:09 p.m.
A flip in the leaderboard for State Senate District 16 with 30 of 72 precincts reporting

Hannah Kelly 4,053
Bill Hardwick 3,491
Don Mayhew 1,322

Philip Lohmann 364Nearby Texas County results are in: .pdf of results to be posted at wrightcountyjournal.com
In competitive races....As of 9:02 p.m.

Presiding Commissioner (R)
Scott Long 2,805
Chance Bland 936

Circuit Clerk
Erin Smith 2,498
Heather Stark-Reynolds 1,145

Burdine Township Committeeman
Terry Brown 354
Anthony Milone 95

Jackson Township Commiteeman
David Scantlin 168
Edward Walton 58

Piney Township Commiteeman
Mike Baker 590
Sanford Nagel 181

Piney Township Committeewoman
Julia Pounds 619
Dee Dee Butler 171

Nearby Webster County results are in and the .pdf of the unofficial results are on our website, wrightcountyjournal.com.

Not all of these precincts are in as of yet.

Of note:
Webster County Presiding Commissioner
Alan Rost 326
Susan Johnson 152
Mark Clifton 131

Circuit Clerk
Stephanie Vestal 419
Teri Myers 179

State Rep. 129th District
Stan Coday 251
Will Worsham 241

Levi Lansdown 115Update as of 8:51 p.m.
19 of the 72 precincts reporting for the State Senate 16 race
Bill Hardwick 2,236
Hannah Kelly 1,515
Don Mayhew 1,019

Philip Lohmann 288As of 8:38 p.m.
10 of the 72 precincts reporting for the State Senate 16 race

Bill Hardwick 1,160
Hannah Kelly 408
Don Mayhew 404

Philip Lohmann 128The following thread features election results for the area and in the state as they become available on Tuesday, Aug. 4.

As of 8:22 p.m.