In four elections since 2002, Missouri's 24th district has twice elected a Democrat and twice elected a Republican. The district will be the site of a highly competitive race for the fifth straight election cycle. The 24th district contains roughly the southern half of Boone County. Most of the 24th's population can be found on the south side of the City of Columbia. As Columbia's population has grown in the last century, the south side has filled up with new subdivisions. Additionally, the City of Ashland in southern Boone County has doubled in population during the last 10 years to an estimated population of nearly 4,000.
Columbia, with the presence of the University of Missouri, is consistently liberal in its politics. However, the affluent young professionals that populate the south side are much less uniformly liberal than the denizens of central and northern Columbia. Boone County outside of Columbia tends to favor Republicans. Columbia has two heavily Democratic districts in the 23rd and the 25th, but the 24th is much more competitive between the parties.
The 24th elected Democrat Chuck Graham in 2002. When Graham was elected to the State Senate in 2004, the 24th elected Republican Ed Robb with 56% of the vote. In 2006, a tough year for Republicans everywhere, Robb held on to the seat by 221 votes. In 2008, Robb was not so fortune and he fell to former State Representative Chris Kelly 51%-49%.
Kelly is a well-known Boone County politician. He was elected Boone County Clerk in 1976 and served in that capacity until 1982. In 1982, Kelly was first elected to the Missouri House where he served until 1994. In his last two terms, Kelly was Chairman of the Budget Committee. After leaving the Missouri House, Kelly chaired the Missouri Labor and Industrial Relations Commission until 2000 when he was elected as Boone County Associate Court Judge. Kelly retired from the bench in 2006 and earned a return to Jefferson City by defeating Robb in 2008.
This year the Republican nominee to take on Kelly is Columbia City Council member Laura Nauser. Nauser is a mother of two who currently works in the Boone County Juvenile Office. Nauser was first elected to the Columbia City Council in 2005 where she represents a southern Columbia ward.
The 24th's balance between the parties makes this a race to watch in November. Boone County Republicans would have liked to have had Robb run again, but he elected to run for a seat on the Boone County Commission. In Nauser, however, the GOP has found a candidate with both experience and conservative credentials who appears to have what it takes to flip this seat back to the Republicans in November.
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