Republican Fricker defeats DeFoor for Presiding Platte County Commissioner seat

In the contest for the open seat as Platte County’s Presiding Commissioner, Republican Scott Fricker defeated Democratic challenger John DeFoor Sr. to serve as the leader of the county’s board of commissioners for the next four years.

Fricker, of Parkville, won 55% of voters who cast ballots by Tuesday, gliding to victory as DeFoor garnered 45% of the vote, according to unofficial results shared Tuesday night by the Platte County Board of Elections.

Fricker, a commercial real estate broker, will come into the position with previous experience as an appointee to Platte County boards overseeing the sewer district and area industrial development.

As the presiding commissioner, Fricker has vowed to dedicate money for the Platte County Sheriff’s Office to increase starting salaries for deputies, lobby state lawmakers to place caps on property taxes and make county operations more efficient in a financial sense. He also has promised to use his sway as an elected official to put new members on the county’s health board — a governing body that has faced heavy pressure amid the COVID-19 pandemic — who will be “committed to never shutting down our economy again,” according to his campaign website.

The other two commissioners on the three-member panel are Dagmar Wood, First District, and Joe Vanover, Second District, both of whom were elected to four-year terms during the last county cycle in 2020.

Current Presiding Commissioner Ron Schieber, a Republican first elected to the post in 2014, decided not to seek re-election for a third term in 2022. Schieber, a former member of the Missouri House and resident of Platte County for roughly 30 years, endorsed Fricker to succeed him.

DeFoor, a political newcomer, faced tough election prospects as a Democrat seeking to win a countywide seat in an area of the Northland that has long been a Republican stronghold. He campaigned for the office to lower property taxes, expand public health and safety resources for the elderly and mentally ill and fully fund local libraries among other issues.

Of the six countywide elected positions, only one other was contested in the general election by a Democrat.

Republican Jera Pruitt faced Democratic challenger Rebecca Nafzinger to take over for County Clerk Nancy Armstrong, the Republican incumbent, who did not seek reelection. Pruitt handily won that race on Tuesday with 54% of the vote to Nafzinger’s 46%.

Christoper L. Wright, a Republican unchallenged for the post of County Recorder of Deeds, will replace Recorder Gloria Boyer, who declined to seek a fifth term.

Unchallenged Republican incumbents in the general election for countywide positions were Auditor Kevin Robinson, County Collector Sheila L. Palmer and Prosecuting Attorney Eric Zahnd.