Asbridge prepares to deploy, remains in race

As Ryan Asbridge prepares to deploy, he counts on volunteers to help run his campaign.

By Erin Gregory

Published Sept. 22, 2008

Ryan Asbridge, the Republican candidate for Missouri's 25th district House seat, announced Friday that he has been activated for duty by the U.S. Naval Reserves and will ship out before Election Day.

Asbridge said he would remain in the race against Mary Still, the Democratic candidate for the seat. Although the date and location of his assignment are classified, Asbridge's campaign confirmed that he would likely be out of the country for the duration of the general election season.

The 25th district includes Columbia, and Democrat Judy Baker, who is running for representative of Missouri's 9th U.S. Congressional district, currently holds the seat.

Asbridge said he would have to rely on the help of his supporters to continue his campaign in his absence.

"Obviously I won't be able to have the face-to-face contact with voters that I would like to be able to have, but that doesn't change who I am or what my campaign is about," Asbridge said. "It does not change what I stand for. The only thing that changes is that I won't be able to make that stand for myself. I will have to rely on my supporters to make that stand."

Still said she does not believe Asbridge's departure will affect the way she runs her campaign.

"Ryan has run a very low-key campaign," she said. "I am not sure if his presence or absence from the race will make much of a difference to the dynamic of the campaign."

Still said she wanted to make clear to the voters of Columbia that she respects his service and wishes him "a safe and speedy return."

That return, according to the Asbridge campaign, will be before the start of the January legislative session. If elected, Asbridge said he wants voters to know he will be ready to lead.

"I stayed in the campaign because the fact is that according to all indications, I will be back from where I am going in time to lead in January," Asbridge said. "If I didn't think I would be back in time, I would have withdrawn, but as it stands I feel it was appropriate to stay in the race."

It is unclear how the Asbridge campaign will look in the months leading up to Election Day. Asbridge has some experience with running a campaign while overseas - he was also called up for service during the primary election, which he ran and won unopposed. 

Asbridge said he hopes his general election campaign will look fairly similar.

"When it comes right down to it, I know what we were planning to do," he said. "Obviously I don't have any direct supervision or control over the campaign and I won't know specific details."

Asbridge's campaign manger, Yancy Williams, said Asbridge will be relying on his volunteers "meeting people and spreading his message" while he is overseas.

This is not the first time a candidate has campaigned while overseas. During the 2006 election season, Rep. Jason Brown, R-Platte County, was in Iraq on a tour of duty with the Army Reserve. Brown was successful in his re-election bid.

Ultimately, Asbridge said his decision to remain in the race and have his volunteers carry on his stead was a matter of principle.

"In a democracy, people need to have a choice between candidates," he said. "They need to have competing ideas to choose from."