McCaffree, Alexander offer different priorities in Missouri Senate District 28 race

Published 5:12 am Wednesday, October 28, 2026

With Election Day approaching Nov. 3, candidates Mike McCaffree and Sam Alexander are making their final push to win Missouri Senate District 28, emphasizing different approaches to representing the nine-county district.

McCaffree (D), a Nevada businessman and former school board member, is emphasizing public education, health care and housing, along with a willingness to work across party lines.

Alexander (R), an emergency physician with a background in farming and skilled trades, is focusing on rural health care, local control and ensuring Jefferson City responds to the needs of communities back home.

Both candidates said they have been busy traveling the district and meeting voters as the campaign enters its final weeks.

“Very good, very, very busy,” McCaffree said of his campaign. “The district covers a lot of territory and so we’ve been getting out and we’re in usually campaigning six, seven days a week.”

Alexander said his campaign has remained busy since the primary, with as many as seven events in a single day.

“We don’t take anything for granted,” Alexander said. “I’m a hard worker, and we worked, worked really hard during our primary, and we’ve been more busy afterwards.”

More on McCaffree

McCaffree brings nearly three decades of small-business ownership and 17 years of school board service in Nevada. He said his public education experience has shaped his priorities, especially the need to support teachers and keep them in the profession.

“Public education, health care, and housing have been three of my top priorities through the whole campaign,” McCaffree said.

His wife is a teacher, and his children attended public schools in Nevada. McCaffree said Missouri needs to do more to support educators, noting that teacher pay remains a concern.

“Our teachers are paid next to last in the nation,” McCaffree said. “I think we need to do better, take better care of our teachers.”

McCaffree also pointed to teacher turnover as a reason to invest more in schools.

“We’re losing a lot of our teachers,” McCaffree said. “We need to work better to support our schools.”

He said schools, hospitals and housing are essential to the long-term health of small communities and argued that state policies should better reflect their needs.

“We’re in a very, you know, moderate, conservative-leaning district,” McCaffree said. “But I think we got to, you know, our schools, our hospitals, our housing, are three core components of every community.”

McCaffree said he would work with lawmakers from both parties if elected.

“I absolutely will,” McCaffree said when asked about bipartisan cooperation. “I’ve got a lot of friends that are Republicans. I want to maintain those friendships, and I will work to do that.”

Learn about Alexander

Alexander’s background has taken him from farm work and dairy farming to medical school and emergency medicine. He said working in a variety of jobs, including auto mechanics, plumbing, electrical work, framing, roofing, welding, and machining, has given him a broad understanding of the challenges working people face.

“I tell people, every job that I’ve done in my life has prepared me for this, to represent the people of this district and the Senate,” Alexander said.

He said those experiences have helped him understand how people earn a living and what communities need from their elected officials.

“I really want to represent the people of this district,” Alexander said.

Alexander said he wants to change the relationship between state government and local communities, arguing that lawmakers should listen more closely to county and municipal leaders.

“I think, too, for too long, Jefferson City thinks that we work for them, and I’m gonna let Jefferson City know that we need to be working for the people and for the counties,” Alexander said.

He said county commissioners, committee members and other local officials should have a significant voice in shaping state policy.

“We need to hear from them what they need in their counties, and that’s what I’m going to represent in Jeff City,” Alexander said.

Health care is another major priority for Alexander, who said his experience as an emergency physician has given him a firsthand understanding of the importance of maintaining hospitals in rural communities.

Alexander said he began practicing emergency medicine at age 21 and worked at Bothwell Regional Health Center during his residency at Truman Medical Center. He said he has seen how important hospitals are not only to patients but also to the economic stability of the communities they serve.

“There’s nothing more important in a town than having a hospital,” Alexander said.

He said losing local hospital services can force residents to travel to larger cities for treatment, where they may also spend money that otherwise would have stayed in their home communities.

Alexander said hospitals also help attract physicians to rural areas because doctors need local facilities to support their practices.

“If you don’t have a hospital, you’re not going to be able to get the higher-quality physicians that don’t want to practice in a town where they don’t have a hospital available to back them up,” Alexander said.

Alexander said he plans to speak with hospitals throughout the district about their needs and hopes to work shifts at the facilities after his first year in office.

“I want to make sure that we have medical care and make sure that it’s affordable in the rural areas,” Alexander said.

While both candidates identify health care and the future of rural communities as important concerns, they approach the Senate race from different professional backgrounds and emphasize different aspects of state government.

More from both

McCaffree points to his experience as a small-business owner and school board member as preparation for addressing education, housing and community needs through bipartisan cooperation. Alexander emphasizes his medical experience, varied work history and commitment to giving local officials a stronger voice in Jefferson City.

McCaffree, who has lived in the district his entire life, said he wants to see its smaller communities continue to grow and prosper.

“We love the district and we just want to see our, you know, our small communities continue to thrive,” he said.

Alexander said he would bring the experiences of the people he has met throughout his life to the Senate, with a focus on ensuring state government serves the residents it represents.

Chris Howell can be reached at 660-530-0146.