Newly elected state representatives are already on the move after their nominations in the primary election on Tuesday, Aug. 6.

District 148 Rep. Jamie Burger won the Republican nomination for the District 27 Senate seat. The race was between Burger, Jacon Turner and Chris Dinkins, with the District 148 representative pulling out the victory with 40.9%. Turner was right behind at 37.2%. Dinkins finished at 21.9%.

Burger had a dominant win in Scott County, which propelled him ahead, with 4,384 votes, while Turner won Madison, Bollinger, Cape Girardeau and Perry counties, and Dinkins won Iron and Reynolds counties. Burger said he never realized Turner had the lead at one point since he got the Scott County returns before anyone else.

“I was getting some text messages from people saying that I was behind, but I didn't know where that was coming from,” Burger said. “as far as I was concerned, I was way up, and he was chipping away at my lead. But Jacob Turner called me that night when we were giving our watch party, very respectful. He's a very good guy. Saw him several times in the campaign trail.”

He said he truly respects Turner and considers him a friend.

Burger said he was truly humbled by the number of people who worked for his campaign. He said he’s looking forward to representing the people in the seven counties who voted for him and the ones who didn’t.

He said going forward he’s going to have conversations he’s representing to get “attuned” to their needs.

No opposing candidates are running for the District 27 seat in the November general election.

District 146 Rep. Barry Hovis was nominated to continue his service in the House of Representatives. In the primary election Tuesday, Hovis won 53.93% of the ballots cast with 4,554 votes over his opponent Lucas Green, who had 46.07%, 3,890 votes in Cape Girardeau County.

Hovis said he was “honored” to be reelected to serve his last term as their district’s representative.

“I hope to continue to serve all as effectively as we can from this area. And just would continue to tell people if you have a concern or something that's important, you to please reach out and let me know,” Hovis said.

He said that now going into his “senior status” as a representative he hopes to finish up more bills.

“I hope to finish up some of the bills I filed that could affect, like the Fruitland sewer water district, I've been working on some law enforcement bills. Truth in sentencing is one I've worked on for the last three years,” Hovis said.

He said while the bill was shot down before, he is hopeful that he could get it back in play in the next legislative session.

Hovis also said that he is going to bring the interim committee on illegal immigrant crime to Cape Girardeau for a meeting in September. He said people people can actually come and see a live committee meeting.

“There'll be probably 20 reps there, depending on how many can come down, and we'll have a committee meeting on illegal immigrant crime,” Hovis said.

Hovis does not have an opponent in the general election in November.

Wolfin won the Republican nomination for the District 145 House Representative seat, which is currently being held by incumbent Rick Francis, who is term-limited. Wolfin won the race with 54.2% of the vote, 3,598 votes, against Dave Soto, who had 45.8% 3,043 votes, between Perry and Ste. Genevieve countyies.

Wolfin won Ste. Genevieve County, while Soto won Perry County.

Wolfin said he was grateful for the support he received after he won the nomination on Aug. 6. He said while there were highs and lows, “It makes it all worth it.”

"Just the amount of phone calls and texts and just the outpouring of love overall that we received afterwards, it's very surreal,” Wolfin said.

He said he thought his campaign went well, noting there was a strategy from the beginning.

Wolfin said he’s not the best at asking for money and he didn’t want to take out a bunch of PAC money or “lobbyist money". He said he self-financed the campaign, while also doing some raffles.

Wolfin said his goal and priority is gaining more knowledge about the district’s needs.

“Continue to meet with our district's leaders, elected officials, and make sure that we're under the current understanding of just the general needs of the counties,” he said.

Wolfin also does not have an opponent in the upcoming general election.