The new member of Congress from the 4th District is Vicky Hartzler, a Republican responsible for one of the biggest upsets of 2010. She defeated 17-term Democrat Ike Skelton, the powerful chairman of the Armed Services Committee who had gotten 62% of the vote or better since 1982. Read More

The new member of Congress from the 4th District is Vicky Hartzler, a Republican responsible for one of the biggest upsets of 2010. She defeated 17-term Democrat Ike Skelton, the powerful chairman of the Armed Services Committee who had gotten 62% of the vote or better since 1982.

Hartzler has spent her entire life in rural Cass County, where she grew up working alongside her parents and sister on the family farm. Faith was a cornerstone of the household. “As farmers, we prayed for rain and when it rained too much, we relied on prayer to hope that we had a crop that year,” she told National Journal. In high school, she excelled in athletics, captained the girls’ volleyball and basketball teams, and was a member of the track team. She was also editor of the school yearbook and president of the Future Homemakers of America. After getting her bachelor’s degree in education, Vicky married Lowell Hartzler, her college sweetheart, and went to work as a high school home economics teacher. She remained in the classroom for 11 years. The trajectory of her career changed in 1994, however, when Hartzler got a phone call from a friend while she was grading papers, urging her to run to be the district’s state representative. “He asked me to think about it and pray about it, and I did,” she said. “After 30 days, I knew I was supposed to run.”

Hartzler served three terms in Missouri’s House. She counts overhauling Missouri’s outdated adoption statutes among her proudest accomplishments. The changes smoothed the adoption process. “We went through every line, every word, and we passed two major pieces of legislation,” she said. In 2000, Hartzler decided not to run for re-election after her daughter, Tiffany, was born. Hartzler and her husband live on a 1,600-acre farm outside of Harrisonville, where they raise corn, soybeans, and cattle, and run the Hartzler Equipment Co., which sells farming equipment.

In 2004, she headed the Coalition to Protect Marriage in Missouri, a campaign to add an amendment to the state’s constitution banning same-sex marriage. Despite being outspent 17-to-1 by opposition groups, the amendment passed with 71% of the vote. Hartzler also wrote the book Running God’s Way: Step by Step to a Successful Political Campaign, a detailed guide for Christian candidates published in 2008.

Hartzler’s bid to unseat Skelton in 2010 drew the attention of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who endorsed her on her Facebook page and generated tea party interest in her candidacy. In this increasingly conservative district, Skelton had relied on crossover GOP voters in the past, but in an election year that went from bad to worse for Democrats, Hartzler’s message resonated. She assailed Skelton on his votes with “the liberal leadership” for the $787 billion economic stimulus bill and an energy bill imposing caps on carbon emissions blamed for global warming. “I don’t have a ‘To Do list’; I have an ‘Undo list,” she said. “We have to undo all these destructive policies.”

The 78-year-old incumbent was wise to the threat and ran an aggressive campaign, with a full schedule of appearances allowing him to emphasize his work on behalf of America’s military as committee chairman. Hartzler tried to turn his image as a wise legislative elder into a negative, saying in her stump speech, “So many people in Washington (are) removed from rural America. Ike’s lost touch.” Skelton raised $3 million for the effort and outspent Hartzler 3-to-1. Skelton maintained a steady lead in the polls. But then in late October, Hartzler made gains and the race tightened, a sobering bit of news for Democrats who thought Skelton was probably safe. Hartzler prevailed on Election Night, 50% to 45%, with the remaining votes split by two minor candidates.