Smith Wins Special Election in Missouri

Missouri state Rep. Jason Smith (R) easily won Tuesday’s special election for the vacant 8th Congressional district seat in southeastern Missouri, beating fellow state Rep. Steve Hodges (D) by a more than 2-to-1 ratio, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

Smith said in an election night interview that he planned to fly to Washington today with the hope of quickly taking the oath of office: “We’ve been without representation in the 8th District the last 134 days, and I’m going to stay up there until the speaker of the House will swear me in.”