Representative Mike Revis thanks Labor for its support in his election victory

Revis, who ran on a pro-worker platform, flipped the deep red 97^th House District to blue in a major win for working families

By SHERI GASSAWAY

Correspondent

Festus, MO – Missouri House Representative Mike Revis paid a visit to the Jefferson County Labor Club recently to deliver a heartfelt thanks to members for their help in his historic victory earlier this month.

The Fenton Democrat with union roots made national headlines by flipping a key Missouri House seat in a district that President Donald Trump won by 28 points in the 2016 election. It’s the 35^th legislative seat Democrats have flipped nationally since Trump’s inauguration.

Revis, who was motivated to run by last year’s passage of so-called “right-to-work” legislation, won the Feb. 6 special election for the 97^th House District seat by a 52-percent margin over his Republican contender. The seat was left vacant by worker-friendly Republican John McCaherty who resigned in September.

“This is the first Labor group to move forward with its endorsement of my campaign and to get the wheels turning,” Revis told a packed house at the Feb. 12 Jefferson County Labor Club meeting. “It’s great to be back here, and I owe so many in this room my thanks.”

FROM A UNION FAMILY

Revis, a procurement manager at Anheuser-Busch, comes from a long line of union family members. His father recently retired from Carpenters Local 97 after 40 years in the trade and his mother and sister are union teachers at Rockwood Summit High School. His maternal grandfather and three uncles were union carpenters with a combined 200 years of experience in the trade.

“With your support, we were able to win back a seat for Labor and start momentum in this state to show that we are going to stand up and fight and make sure Labor’s voice is heard,” he said.

UNION VOLUNTEERS

Revis said that two weekends before the election, about 50 union brothers and sisters turned out for a canvassing event in the district.

“I thought, ‘Wow! We can’t do better than that.’” he said. “And then the weekend before the election, we had about 100 from the Labor community who showed up for a door-to-door lit drop. I just wanted to give everyone a huge thanks and say let’s do it again in November.”

LATE REPUBLICAN CHALLENGE

Former Arnold City Councilman Phil Amato announced that he will be running in the 97th District 97 as a Republican. Amato said he planned to formally file as a candidate Feb. 27.

The district includes portions of Arnold, Fenton, High Ridge and South County.