News Feed At Wednesday morning, 99 percent of the votes were counted for
Earlier in the evening Gibbons’ elections results party took place at the Magic House in Kirkwood, Missouri, where hundreds of his supporters gathered to watch results filter in.
Gibbons said as a Senate Leader he has deeply held beliefs and positions but that in his work he strives to reach across the aisle to his Democratic colleagues to work together.
“My approach to the legislature was to always try to find common sense solutions to the problems that we are facing,” Gibbons said. “And anybody who is willing to sit down and work in a positive way to try to find that solution I am willing to sit down with.”
Gibbons said he was unsure how Missourians would vote, but he was aware that it would be a close race.
“It is a very tight election night,” Gibbons said. “I feel very good about the campaign we ran and good about the effort. It’s in the hands of the voters, so we’ll just wait to see how it turns out.”
The sentiment within Gibbons supporters in Kirkwood at large was very positive.
“I’ve known Mike for a very long time and I’m very confident that he can take this race,” supporter Ruth Jayne said. “He’s a man of integrity. People know it. He has demonstrated it over the last years in the Senate, in the House, in local politics and he’s one of the finest politicians that I’ve ever known.”
Another supporter was not as staunchly positive about the election results, but his praise for Gibbons was similar.
“I’m cautiously optimistic,” Gibbons supporter John Griesheimer said. “It’s not a good year for Republicans but anybody that knows Mike Gibbons whether you’re Republican or Democrat you know he’s the best guy out there and hopefully the voters see that. ... I think he’s got as good of a chance as anybody. In fact he may have an edge on the other Republican’s running.”
Griesheimer said he thinks Gibbons campaign was run very well and if he didn’t win it was not because of the campaign or the candidate, it was because of voter opinion.
“I think he has done everything he can do to win,” Griesheimer said. “The fact that he got every newspaper endorsement except one that endorsed in his race says a lot; it speaks volumes.”
Gibbons supporter Dave Jayne said Gibbons has stayed positive throughout his campaign.
“His opponent has got real integrity issues and those have been brought up, but other than that he has remained very positive,” Dave Jayne said. “And you know what else is nice about [Gibbons]? Even when he takes a stand that is not popular with his constituency but he knows its right he does it anyway and he’ll stand up and explain to you why he did it even though it’s not what people want to hear. He’s the real deal.”
