Name: Rich Gold
Age: 52
Hometown: Marionville
Occupation: Hotel owner
Position sought: Missouri House of Representatives-43rd District
Previous political experience: None listed
Website or social media page: https://www.youtube.com/@showmegoldfamily, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61575384417625
Why are you running and why should people vote for you?
Republicans have controlled the Missouri legislature for over twenty years, and rural Missouri is paying for it. They keep cutting taxes, five income tax cuts under one governor alone, and then tell our schools and hospitals to make do. The state is now spending down its reserves and cutting the services people count on.
Our schools feel it first. This year the legislature left the school funding formula about $190 million short and held education funding flat for the first time since 2017. Districts are cutting supplies and programs just to protect teacher pay.
Look at our hospitals. About a dozen rural hospitals have closed, and more than thirty others are hanging on by a thread. When one closes, a heart attack or a bad wreck means a long drive to care, and that drive can decide whether somebody lives.
Farmers are in the same boat. Inputs have skyrocketed, and a lot of them won't make a dime on this harvest. They need legislation that lets them get long-term loans, so one bad year doesn't end a family farm.
Small businesses are working hard and still losing. People can't afford to shop local when the big-box store is cheaper. When those doors close, the town loses its jobs, its taxes, and its Main Street.
I spent 20 years in the Navy, and I know what it looks like when a system fails the people at the bottom. I'm running to fix it. I'll fight for our schools, our rural hospitals, our farmers, and our local businesses. I'll tell you straight what I can do and what I can't, and I'll answer to this district, not to Jefferson City. Hold me to it.
What are your goals if elected?
I'm one voice in 163, so I'll tell you what I'll push on and what I can really get done. .
I'll work with anybody, either party, who wants to fix these problems. I won't promise what I can't deliver. I'll promise to fight for it.
What issues are most pressing for your constituency?
One word covers it: affordability. It's getting too expensive to live in rural Missouri.
When a rural hospital closes, health care doesn't go away. It gets farther and costs more. Folks pay for the long drive, the lost day of work, and the emergency that couldn't wait.
When local businesses close, nobody saves money. People lose jobs, and the ones who stay can only shop where the big-box store sets the price. Then Main Street dies.
When schools are underfunded, families pay. The state is $190 million short on the school formula this year. Some school districts right here in District 43 are on a four-day week, which means kids in those districts lose a day of education every week because the district can't afford five.
And it's already unaffordable to farm. Seed costs more. Fertilizer costs more. It costs more to plant and more to harvest. Farmers aren't going to make money this year, and plenty of them would be jumping for joy to break even.
The state keeps cutting what holds a community together, and the cost lands on the people least able to carry it. My job in Jefferson City is to make it affordable to live in rural Missouri.
