This year’s race for the Missouri House of Representatives 92nd District seat features Republican Bob Mahacek and incumbent Michael Burton, D-Affton. Burton is seeking his second term in the election Nov. 8. (See related article, Page 4A.)

Mahacek’s family has a history in trucking and transportation. He owned and operated Baron’s Express until 2016 when he sold the company — he currently works part time as a consultant and driver. He said he has done everything from the manual labor side of the industry to handling finances, sales and dispatching.

Mahacek has never run for public office before but felt this year was a chance for him to make a difference.

“I really don’t like the direction the country is going. It seems like we’re moving away from some basic American values like meritocracy, hard work, law and order and even common decency,” Mahacek said. “Instead of sitting back and complaining I wanted to get involved and try to make a difference.”

Mahacek said the main issues he has heard from constituents are crime and inflation. He said inflation has been a result of mistakes at the federal level, but it’s important going forward for state representatives to be conscious of it and to spend “Missouri taxpayer money like it’s our own.”

He honed in on one specific criminal activity as an example of how those issues could be solved.

“When criminals are going through neighborhoods and checking door handles and getting into cars, that is currently a misdemeanor. If we could bump that to a low-level felony … and if they have a gun while they’re doing this it’s even worse because then they’re committing a felony with a gun,” Mahacek said. “That would really make a big impact by letting criminals know there are going to be consequences.”

Mahacek said if he did win, his strategy would be to “attack problems, not people” and to look for points of agreement between representatives.

“If people agree on 95 percent of something and disagree on 5 percent, it almost seems like human nature is arguing about the five percent we disagree on,” Mahacek said. “If we mostly disagree, let’s see if we can find areas that we agree on.”

One bipartisan issue Mahacek hopes to see addressed is a freeze on property tax for seniors.