Democratic candidate for District 142 Josh Ray did not respond to the Record’s two requests for interviews. Ray is a Lebanon resident and a member of the Lebanon High School Class of 1999.
As previously reported by the Record, Ray resigned as mayor of Lebanon in 2017, “after a conflict with former City Administrator Chris Heard who also resigned.” In 2020, Ray unseated longtime Ward 3 Councilwoman LeAnn Mather in a June election and resigned in October 2021.
News stories at the time cited a move outside of Ward 3 as the reason for the resignation, and Ray’s current campaign statement reads, “After doing the thankless and exhausting work of confronting political and bureaucratic corruption, Josh returned to office as a city councilman. He moved across town (still in Lebanon, MO), where he currently resides as a quiet resident, outside of politics, focusing on his family and dogs.”
“I’m running to talk about fairness. About government that serves everyday people, not the powerful. About standing up to entrenched interests, no matter where they hide. I just need the chance to show what’s possible when someone runs with integrity, speaks the truth, and actually means it,” reads the same campaign statement.
Campaign promises made via the candidate’s social media include holding monthly listening sessions to include constituents in decisions at the Capitol and never allowing financial influences to guide policy decisions.
Of the $9,014.97 Ray’s campaign has raised this cycle, $7,755.33 was donated by Washington D.C.-based PACS, namely: Blue Missouri Nominee PAC, numbered 1 through 4, according to his Missouri Ethics Committee (MEC) eight-day report.
Ray is on the ballot as the Democratic candidate, but according to multiple posts on his campaign’s Substack, he attempted and would have preferred to run as a nonpartisan candidate.
Information on Ray’s policy positions is scarce. Social media activity indicates he opposes public money funding private schools and that he is in favor of Amendment 6 on the November 3 ballot.
