JOE DIETRICH
State Rep. Trish Gunby won today's primary in Missouri's Second Congressional District.
Update: According to final, unofficial results, Gunby took 85 percent of the vote, while Reed took 14.7 percent. Original story follows.
Missouri Rep. Trish Gunby (R-Ballwin) has defeated Ray Reed in the Democratic primary for the Second Congressional District, according to preliminary, unofficial results from the St. Louis County Board of Elections.
Gunby must now take on U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Ballwin).
With 174 of 595 precincts reporting, Gunby had a commanding lead — 85 percent to 14 percent for Reed.
Reed was hired by the policy team for then-Governor Jay Nixon when he was barely in his 20s. Later, he worked on U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill's reelection campaign. Just 25, he earned positive press from the national media, including NPR and MSNBC, as one of the first wave of Gen-Z candidates running for Congress — but came up short at home.
For Gunby, beating Wagner will likely be a far more difficult endeavor. The newly redrawn district is even more favorable to the GOP than it was two years. At that point, Wagner handily defeated Missouri Sen. Jill Schupp (D-Creve Coeur), even though Schupp raised $1.8 million.
Gunby boasts of flipping a red seat blue in a special election in 2019, and holding the seat in 2020. This fall, she'll see if the third time's the charm.
