Meet the Candidates: State Representative – District 143

Editor’s Note: Incumbents and candidates for opposed races at the county level and the District 143 State Representative race have been asked to submit a short article regarding themself and their campaign. This week’s incumbent and candidate are competing for the office of State Representative – District 143 in the General Election on Tuesday, November 3, 2026.

Incumbent Bennie Cook – Republican:

Background

I am a sixth-generation rural Missourian. We live on a family farm outside Houston, where my wife and I strive to instill in our children the importance of faith, family, hard work and serving others.

Before being elected State Representative, I served as a commissioned Deputy Sheriff with the Texas County Sheriff’s Department and volunteered as Emergency Management Director for Texas County and the City of Houston. I served as Director of the Texas County Food Pantry and Salvation Army before joining Congressman Jason Smith’s team as a field representative and constituent specialist.

For six years, I have represented the 143rd District in the Missouri House and currently serve in house leadership as House Republican Conference Chair. I am a Deacon at Oak Hill Christian Church, Secretary of the Houston Lions Club, Chair of the Texas County Shop With a Hero Program and serve on the Texas County Farm Bureau Board.

Serving Rural Missouri

One of the most important parts of serving as State Representative is helping the people I represent. I cannot solve every problem or guarantee an outcome, but I can listen, work hard, communicate with state agencies and do everything I can to help.

We accomplished a lot this year. I helped pass major public safety legislation strengthening our criminal laws and holding repeat and violent offenders accountable. We expanded pharmacy services and rural healthcare access and passed legislation bringing more accountability and an appeals process to decisions affecting our students.

I have worked directly with students on legislation so they can see how an idea becomes law. For six years, I have also hosted the Capitol Christmas Choir Program, giving students an opportunity to perform at the State Capitol and showcase our rural schools.

Bringing our tax dollars back home is another important part of my job. That includes $3 million for Shafer Road serving the George O. White State Forest Nursery, continued funding for Belle’s water infrastructure and funding for the Cabool Community Center/YMCA. Working with Texas County Memorial Hospital and Phelps Health, my team has also helped secure state appropriations and grants supporting patient care and healthcare access.

There is still work to do, and that is why I am seeking a fourth and final term. Rural Missouri needs a strong voice in Jefferson City from someone who lives here, raises a family here, goes to church here and understands our way of life.

Strengthening and Protecting Rural Missouri

We need to keep reforming welfare so it helps our elderly, disabled and families who truly need assistance while helping those who can work return to the workforce and become self-sufficient.

I will continue standing for life, defending our Second Amendment rights and protecting our constitutional freedoms.

Improving rural healthcare remains a priority. We need to support our hospitals, pharmacies, EMS providers and healthcare professionals while recruiting and retaining more healthcare workers. Rural Missourians deserve quality healthcare close to home.

Strong schools are important to rural Missouri’s future. We are blessed with great teachers, administrators and staff in our public schools, which are often the heart of our small towns. We need more education dollars reaching classrooms and decisions made as close to our students as possible. We also have great private Christian schools and homeschool families. No matter where children are educated, parents know them best and should have a strong voice in their education.

Public safety remains a priority. We need consequences for repeat and violent offenders while providing treatment opportunities for those who truly want to overcome addiction. We must also support our law enforcement officers and first responders.

Rural Missourians should have a voice when decisions affect their land and communities. We need to protect rural Missouri as technology changes. Artificial intelligence is moving fast, and we need common-sense protections for people’s privacy, jobs and personal information. We must also be careful about large data centers and their impact on farmland, water, electricity and natural resources. There needs to be protections involving Flock cameras and license-plate readers. We should not give up our privacy and individual freedoms because technology makes it easier to track people and collect information. The Government needs limits.

In Conclusion

Serving the 143rd District has been one of the greatest honors of my life. I am asking for the opportunity to serve one final term in the Missouri House. I humbly ask for your prayers, support and vote on Tuesday, November 3, 2026. I will keep working hard, standing up for our rural values and making sure Maries, Phelps and Texas counties have a strong voice in Jefferson City.

Candidate Marsha Snodgrass – Democrat:

My name is Marsha Snodgrass. I’ve been married to my husband, Bill, for 49 years; yes—when I commit—I stick with it. We have two children and four grandchildren.

I live on a farm northwest of Rolla in Phelps County. While my husband worked away from home for the railroad, I raised our children; worked on the house that we built together; gardened, canned and preserved the food that I produced; and at the same time raised cattle for 30 years. Yes—I am a bit of a survivalist. I am never put off by something being difficult—resilience is built into my personality. My ancestor fought in the Revolutionary War and then came to Missouri with his wife—before Missouri was ever a state, so my roots run very deep. I feel that Missouri is in a crisis between the data centers and the fact that we are cutting school funding to the point of losing our small rural schools, and that is what pushed me to run for office this year.

I started school in Saint James and I graduated from Newburg High School, so I understand the struggle of small schools. I believe that our schools are the glue that holds our rural communities together. I will fight to fully fund our public schools. One way to do that is to pass a bill that says that every school who receives taxpayer money through the voucher system has to meet the same criteria as public schools—the same testing, the same qualifications, the same regulations. To me that is just common sense, but at this point they do not.

I live on a small farm in the country and I love the quiet serene country life, and I know that everyone who lives in rural Missouri does too, which is why I oppose data centers. I do not want to see our communities destroyed by large data centers coming in, drying up our wells, vampiring off of our electric grid and in the process driving up electric bills, and poisoning our streams and rivers, and that is just a few of the problems these centers bring. I have talked to hundreds of Missourians in the last months and I know that others do not want that either, which is why I am fighting against them. I have been working with a group of people in Phelps County, meeting with the commissioners to try and get a six month moratorium. I was at THE PEOPLE‘S HEARING ON AI DATA CENTERS in Jefferson City to get a moratorium for the entire state, and I will be at a Deflock meeting in Vienna on October 15, to support the people in their cause. Why? Because it’s all related.

As a representative I could do so much more! I could work with like-minded people in Jefferson City to get that moratorium for six months. I could end the tax breaks of data centers. I could work to create barriers, which would make Missouri not so inviting for data centers. If you send me to Jefferson City as your representative, I will work my tail off for you for the next two years. I will fight for and with you for your schools and to keep data centers out of your communities!

Also—I will not run again—I am a one time special. If you want me—vote now!