John Martin, 55, is the owner of Pro Pumping & Hydrojetting and often finds himself out on jobs cleaning out grease traps and hydro-jetting clogged drain lines.
One of his company’s largest clients is the University of Missouri. He has had three children graduate from MU and says maintaining state support for MU is a priority for him as a candidate for the Missouri House of Representatives.
“We have to have a strong Mizzou. That’s vital to mid-Missouri. It’s vital to our whole state and our whole region,” he said.
He says his kids are examples of how MU trains people for the workforce.
“My son graduated as a civil engineer. ... We need that for our buildings, you know, our infrastructure. And so those different professional programs, we need to make sure they’re supported, whether nurses, doctors — all those things are vital,” he said.
“I have a lot of people in my family who are teachers. I’ve had two daughters that are teachers right now. I’ve got a number of relatives who are agriculture teachers ... those programs then funnel quality people into our school districts.”
Martin, a Republican, is running to succeed term-limited Rep. Cheri Toalson Reisch, R-Hallsville, and notes that she endorsed him. Martin said education is one of three main planks of his platform.
“Look at Rankin Tech in Ashland. It just opened up,” he said. “There are young people that maybe don’t want to go and get a college degree and maybe they want to go work on cars or be a welder. We have to have that as well.”
He said he supports K-12 schools that best serve the community so he supports school choice.
“If you’re happy with your school, and your school providing good education for your children, I think that that should be supported,” he said. “But ... if a different education model ends up with better education for more kids, that’s the goal.”
The second core tenet of his campaign is public safety, noting that communities in House District 44 like Centralia, Hallsville and Ashland are “vibrant, growing communities.”
“The people like their schools there, they want to have safe environment. And then when you have that, then businesses want to show up there. And then when businesses show up to those smaller towns, then that provides job opportunities.”
His third platform goal is economic growth, which he says his experience as a small business owner has given him a unique insight into the issue.
“I want to be a leader in government where we have an economy where young families can thrive, where our taxes aren’t so high that we’re constantly sending so much into the government,” Martin said.
He added that “when government gets so big and taxes get so high, then it’s harder for the families to buy groceries and just provide for themselves.”
Martin supports cutting regulations that hurt growth.
Martin said he is a devout Christian and spent three decades as a pastor in Hallsville and Columbia. He said that his faith guides him through life and as a leader.
“It gives a person, I think, a strong what I would call common sense moral compass in their life,” Martin said.
Martin said that he is pro-life and does not think transgender people under the age of 18 should be allowed to receive gender-affirming care.
“They’re still in puberty and they’re still young,” he said. “Encouraging a person under 18 to transition is a child abuse-type situation.”
Martin grew up on his family’s farm in Centralia and was active in the Boone County Fair and Future Farmers of America.
In 2020, he helped organize the “Back the Blue, Back the Flag” rally to support troops, veterans and law enforcement. He has one of the banners from the event, decorated with dozens of messages and signatures, hanging in his company’s office.
In 2022, he ran for an open seat in District 47, losing to Rep. Adrian Plank, D-Columbia.
“I think this is going to be a better fit for me as a conservative, you know, small business owner,” Martin said of running in District 44. “The 44th has shown it’s definitely a more red district, more of a common-sense conservative type.”
