Vicky Hartzler

Vicky Hartzler
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Missouri's 4th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2011
Preceded by	Ike Skelton
Member of the Missouri House of Representatives from the 124th district
In office 1995–2000
Preceded by	Gene Olson
Succeeded by	Rex Rector
Personal details
Born	October 13, 1960 Archie, Missouri
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Lowell Hartzler
Residence	Harrisonville, Missouri
Alma mater	University of Missouri (B.S.) Central Missouri State University (M.S.)
Profession	Teacher, farm equipment dealer
Religion	Fellowship of Evangelical Churches

Vicky Jo Hartzler^[1] (née Zellmer; October 13, 1960) is an American politician who has been the U.S. Representative for Missouri's 4th congressional district since 2011. She is a member of the Republican Party. The district includes most of the western-central part of the state, from Columbia to the eastern Kansas City suburbs. Besides Columbia, it also includes Sedalia, Warrensburg, Marshall, and Lebanon.

Hartzler represented District 124 in the Missouri House of Representatives from 1995 to 2000.^[2]

Early life

Hartzler was raised on a farm near Archie, a rural community south of Kansas City. She attended the University of Missouri where she graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Education, and attended Central Missouri State University where she graduated with an M.S. in Education.

Missouri legislature

Before running for State Representative in 1994, Hartzler taught high school home economics for 11 years.^[3] Her accomplishments included leadership on legislation facilitating the adoption process. Hartzler left the Missouri State House in 2000 after adopting a baby daughter.

In 2004, after she had left the Missouri General Assembly, Hartzler served as state spokeswoman for the Coalition to Protect Marriage,^[4] which supported barring gay people from entering civil marriage contracts. Despite Hartzler's fierce opposition to the Missouri Assembly's ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment^[5] ("I don't want women used to pass a liberal agenda"), Republican Governor Matt Blunt nonetheless appointed Hartzler Chair of the Missouri Women's Council in 2005, where she served for two years.^[6]

U.S. House of Representatives

2010 election

After almost a decade out of politics, Hartzler entered the Republican primary for Missouri's 4th congressional district, held by 17-term Democratic incumbent Ike Skelton. She won a crowded seven-way primary with 40 percent of the vote.

In the November 2 election, Hartzler won with 50.4% of the vote. She is the first Republican to represent this district since 1955, and only the second since the Great Depression. She was also the second Republican woman elected to Congress from Missouri, after Jo Ann Emerson, with whom she served from 2011 to 2013. However, she is the first who was not elected as a stand-in for her husband; Emerson was originally elected to serve out the final term of her late husband, Bill Emerson. Republicans had been making gains in the district for some time; it gave John McCain 62 percent of the vote in 2008, and Republicans hold most of the district's seats in the state legislature.

She ran on a conservative platform, voicing support for tax cuts and spending cuts. She is pro-life and opposes gay marriage.

2012 election

Redistricting after the 2010 census removed Cole, Lafayette, Ray, Saline, part of Jackson and part of Webster counties from the district, adding Boone, Cooper, Howard, Randolph, part of Audrain, and part of Cass counties, and altering the boundary within Camden county, which was already divided, taking out more of it.

In 2012, Hartzler won the GOP primary with 84% against Bernie Mowinski, and then won the general election with 60.3% against Democratic Cass County Prosecuting Attorney Teresa Hensley (35.5%), Libertarian Thomas Holbrook (3.3%), and Constitution Party candidate Greg Cowan (0.9%).

2014 election

Hartzler won nearly 75% of the GOP vote in a primary contest with John Webb, then went on to win 68.08% against Democrat Nate Irvin (26.36%) and Libertarian Hershel Young (5.56%) in the general election.

Committee assignments

• Committee on Agriculture
  • Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management
  • Subcommittee on Rural Development, Research, Biotechnology, and Foreign Agriculture
• Committee on Armed Services
  • Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces
  • Subcommittee on Military Personnel
  • Subcommittee on Readiness
• House Budget Committee

In October 2015, Hartzler was named to serve on the Select Investigative Panel on Planned Parenthood.^[7]

Caucuses

• Republican Study Committee
• Tea Party Caucus
• Congressional Cement Caucus

Positions

At a town hall meeting in Missouri on April 5, 2012, Hartzler expressed doubts regarding President Barack Obama's birth certificate.^[8]

In September 2013, Hartzler voted in favor of a $39 billion reduction in SNAP Benefits (aka "food stamps"). This bill was separate from farm subsidies for the first time in over three decades, which were increased.^[9] Hartzler is a direct recipient of farm subsidies, and has received over $800,000 to date.^[10]

On November 18, 2014, during the worst early season cold snap in the U.S. since 1976, Hartzler made a joke about climate change on Twitter. "Global warming strikes America! Brrrr!"^[11] Her humorous quip was taken seriously and rebutted in detail by The Washington Post, which used data to demonstrate that her district in Missouri is an area among the most severely impacted by climate change in the USA.^[12]

Personal life

Hartzler lives on a farm near Harrisonville with her husband Lowell and their daughter.

Works

• Vicky Hartzler, Running God's Way, Pleasant Word (a division of WinePress Publishing; December 13, 2007); ISBN 978-1-4141-1124-7

References

1. "Representative Vicky Jo Hartzler (Vicky) (R-Missouri, 4th) - Biography from LegiStorm". Retrieved 25 March 2016.
2. Former GOP lawmaker Hartzler wins 9-way contest, Associated Press (August 3, 2010)
3. Purging the pain from political campaigns Murphree, Randall. OneNewsNow.com April 2008; accessed January 3, 2009
4. Missouri Begins Vote on Same-sex 'Marriage' Ban Phan, Katherine. The Christian Post. August 03, 2004. Accessed January 3, 2009
5. Lutz, Jennifer. "ERA supporters, opponents speak out". Missouri Digital News. Retrieved 23 February 2000. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
6. Former State Rep makes pitch to replace Ike Skelton in Congress September 2, 2009; accessed January 3, 2010
7. Paul Kane (October 23, 2015). "Boehner’s next select committee, focusing on Planned Parenthood, to be led by Marsha Blackburn". Washington Post. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
8. Celock, John (April 6, 2012). "Obama Birth Certificate: Missouri Congresswoman Vicki Hartzler Expresses Doubt". Huffington Post. Retrieved April 6, 2012.
9. "How Republicans Justify Cutting Food Stamps While Boosting Farm Subsidies". Bloomberg. Retrieved September 29, 2013.
10. "Hartzler Farms received federal subsidies last year". Springfield News-Leader. Retrieved September 29, 2013.
11. "Global warming strikes America! Brrrr!". Twitter. Retrieved November 18, 2014.
12. "Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler wonders why it’s so cold if global warming exists. Here’s the answer.". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 19, 2014.

External links

• Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler official U.S. House site
• Vicky Hartzler for Congress
• Vicky Hartzler at DMOZ
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Profile at Project Vote Smart
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at The Library of Congress