Republican incumbent John Martin has won the House District 44 seat. Martin, the owner of Pro Pumping & Hydrojetting in Columbia and former youth pastor, previously won the seat in 2024, 29.4 percentage points ahead of Dave Raithel.
Martin ran on continuing the conservative social and economic issues that underpinned his 2024 campaign, as well as what he calls “common sense” values to help District 44 communities grow educationally and economically.
“As a Republican, very very much want to support our police,” Martin told the Columbia Missourian at a watch party. “We gotta have strong law enforcement, we gotta have safe neighborhoods, safe towns for our schools and our businesses to thrive. And then infrastructure — strong infrastructure is another key component of government. And then third, good education.”
In the August primary, Martin supported Amendment 4, a ballot measure that sought to require constitutional amendments brought before the public to pass in all eight congressional districts before approval. The measure failed, receiving only 19.7% of the vote. Martin also supported Amendment 5, an August primary measure that sought to eliminate state income tax in exchange for an increased sales tax. That measure received only 16.7% of the vote. Martin told the Columbia Missourian before Election Day that he respects the will of voters, even if they disagreed with him.
For the general election, Martin supported Amendment 3, a measure that sought to repeal the 2024 constitutional amendment that overturned Missouri’s ban on abortion. Missouri voters rejected Amendment 3 Tuesday night. Martin also opposed Amendment 6, a constitutional amendment that aimed to protect laws approved by voters through citizen-led ballot initiatives. As of 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, 60% of Missouri voters had approved Amendment 6.
Martin also voted to approve the redrawn 2025 HB 1 congressional map, and he supported Proposition A, a ballot measure that would have adopted the map for future congressional elections. Missouri voters rejected Proposition A Tuesday night.
Democrat Bekki Brewer ran against Martin for the House District 44 seat. Her watch party ended before the race was called, but Martin had recieved an early lead in the race, exciting the crowd. Prior to the race’s resolution, Brewer said that the race meant a lot to her.
“I think it took that time for me to build some trust, name recognition — for people to see that I wasn’t just some person trying to come in and run for office, that I was really a member of the community,” Brewer said.
Martin has run for public office three times. He lost the House District 47 race in 2022, won in House District 44 in 2024 after purchasing property in the district, and has now won House District 44 again.
