Rep. Ann Wagner will have another two years in Congress, representing Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District comprising the St. Louis suburbs.
Fox 2 News of St. Louis called the race around 12:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
Wagner, 58, defeated Democratic state Sen. Jill Schupp, continuing her district’s long-standing legacy of being solid Republican territory. Wagner’s district hasn’t elected a Democrat to Congress since 1990. Wagner was first elected to the House in 2012.
This Missouri House race was considered a toss-up by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, which also predicted voters in the St. Louis suburbs could be the ones who could help Democrats gain ground in the state.
In 2018, Wagner beat her Democratic challenger by just 4 points despite significantly outspending the contender.
Wagner’s strong support for President Trump was thought to be a weakness that Schupp could use to sway centrist Republicans and independent voters.
Schupp campaigned on painting Wagner as a “political insider” who stuck by Trump 95% of the time. Wagner, who has touted the president’s tax reforms and economic agenda, distanced herself at times from some of Trump’s more egregious statements and tweets.
Prior to her congressional career, Wagner served as the U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg and led the Missouri Republican Party from 1999 to 2005, becoming the first woman to hold that position.
