Dean VanSchoiack seeks re-election for Missouri House District 9 seat

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) -- Missouri State Rep. Dean VanSchoiack is running for re-election to represent House District 9.

VanSchoiack was born and raised in Savannah and is a sixth-generation resident of Andrew County.

He has served six years representing the district, and this will be his final term.

VanSchoiack said rural health care is the biggest issue facing people in District 9.

"We have a group that has put together a network of hospitals and healthcare facilities," he said. "Hospitals such as Mosaic and Cameron Regional are being hubs, and then the other healthcare facilities that are branch offices feeding into those hubs. It’s a networking process of sharing information."

Protecting property rights will be VanSchoiack's top priority if re-elected.

"Making sure eminent domain is used very little, and when it is used, that people are paid appropriately for the land that is taken from them through eminent domain. We must prefer the utilities and the government negotiate fairly with landowners," he said.

VanSchoiack said he fully supports funding schools in Missouri.

"We have fully funded the Foundation Formula. We have fully funded transportation. We have reinstalled the career ladder and raised minimum teacher pay," he said. "In the time I have been in the legislature, we’ve done all of those things to help our schools out."

Abortion will appear on the November ballot. This would repeal Amendment 3, which was passed by voters in 2024. It amended the state constitution, providing for the fundamental right to reproductive freedom, including abortion. 

VanSchoiack is in favor of Amendment 3.

"The law that we have right now allows abortion up until the time of delivery; that's ridiculous. It’s too much," he said. "We need to go back to the first trimester and only in certain cases. Those are spelled out in Amendment 3."

The amendment also mentions gender transition procedures for minors. VanSchoiack said children need to be protected when it comes to gender transition procedures.

"Protecting children from being transgender, mutilate their bodies while they're children. If someone wants to make the decision, that should be done as an adult and not a child," he said.

KQ2 Noel Hardin will have a full breakdown on Proposition 3 ahead of the election.

Data centers has been a hot topic across the country. According to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, there were roughly 50 data centers established in Missouri by the 2020s.

VanSchoiack has been doing research on data centers, and attending meetings that talks about data centers.

"I'm studying the data center issue, I serve on the utilities committee," he said. "We had a committee meeting on data centers two weeks before the end of session to hear about data centers on what they are and what they do. I have looking into the data centers, I have gone to the meeting at Mozingo for the data center proposed in southern Nodaway County."

For his last term, VanSchoiack wants to educate the freshman representatives for Northwest Missouri.

"We want these freshman to hit the ground running so they know what there doing. I'm only going be here for one more term, and so we want them to be ready to go when they take over the leadership for Northwest Missouri," he said.

VanSchoiack says it's an honor and pleasure to serve the people of District 9.

"I really appreciate it. As I said I look at it as giving back to people who made my career in agriculture, in auctioneering and real estate possible," he said. "I'm giving back by serving them in legislature."

Election Day will place on Tuesday, Nov. 3. To find information on candidates and propositions feature on the ballot visit KQ2.com/voterguide.