Skip Johnson to seek District 153 house seat on Republican ticket

After an encouraging run for the Missouri House of Representatives in 2018, Jack ‘Skip’ Johnson of Gatewood says he will run again.

Johnson is the second Republican to enter the race for the District 153 seat. Incumbent Rep. Jeff Shawan of Poplar Bluff announced he will run for the state senate in District 25 - which does not include Ripley County.

Darrell Atchison of Williamsville plans to join Johnson on the Republican ticket for the August primary.

Johnson challenged Shawan in 2018 for the 153 District seat and earned 43 percent of the vote in the primary. The district includes all of Ripley and Carter counties and parts of Wayne and Butler counties.

Johnson, a driver for the Three Rivers College transportation department, attended Doniphan High School and served 4-1/2 years in the Marine Corps.

“I have no interest in a long term political career,” said Johnson. “I want to get four basic things straightened out and then happily go back to Gatewood.”

“First, I want to get our hospital back open,” he said.

Ripley County Memorial Hospital closed Oct. 15, 2018. Plans to find a new provider to replace Southeast Health were unsuccessful.

“Second, I want to get an office and jail for our sheriff’s department,” he said. “It irks me when a peace officer makes an arrest, we have to take them to another county because we don’t have a jail here. Our law enforcement deserves better than that.”

“No. 3, I want to see taken out of state law Item 116040,” he said. “... It requires every signature on a ballot initiative to be notarized. You can’t draw 300,000 in front of a notary and not be bankrupt.”

The fourth item on his list is to get ‘state agencies back under control’ and allow more decisions to be made locally.

Johnson said he encourages district residents to contact him with the views on the issues and welcomes calls at 573-996-6056.