What you need to know: Missouri House Race – District 36

By Max Goodwin

Dave Thomas will challenge incumbent Anthony Ealy for Missouri House District 36 which includes parts of Kansas City south of 115th St and Grandview.

Anthony Ealy

Rep. Anthony Ealy was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives as the youngest ever to represent his district. He earned a law degree from the University of Missouri, attended Northwest Missouri State University for undergraduate work, and graduated from Grandview High School. He is a licensed attorney and active in several local civic organizations.

Ealy achieved results in his first term in the House. He secured $1 million from the 2025 State Budget for the Community Assistance Council near Ruskin High School. CAC will get $500,000 for operations and $500,000 for the purchase of a new building. CAC has operated out of the same building since the 1970s, helping to feed and house South Kansas Citians in need.

Ealy explained that Rachel Casey, who recently retired from being executive director at CAC, followed all required steps to be approved for funding. He says it takes developing relationships across the aisle in the Missouri House of Representatives and the Governor’s office.

“I have to work just as hard as the community,” Ealy said. “It’s not an overnight process, and it takes a long time because there are steps to it.”

Ealy also secured $250,000 for the Arts Asylum in Brookside.

Ealy was active in the 2024 Regular Session of the Missouri General Assembly. He sponsored 15 bills, including a bill that was combined with another from Rep. Chris Brown, a

Republican representing Gladstone, that provided a sales tax exemption to the National Nuclear Safety Administration in south Kansas City.
Former Senator Greg Razer sponsored the same bill in the Senate. Gov. Mike Parson signed the tax break this July. The National Nuclear Safety Administration is now expanding and the materials aren’t being taxed as a result of the bill.

“Allowing the sales tax break, there’s an incentive for that building to not only partner with local contractors, but also purchase their building equipment locally,” Ealy said.

He says he will be more outspoken if given a second term. He thinks he has the relationships in Jefferson City now to get more funding for the area.

“I’m put in this role to bring the interests of Grandview and south Kansas City to Jefferson City and to get things done on behalf of our community,” Ealy said.

Ealy said the dysfunction in Jefferson City was the biggest surprise to him in his first term. He introduced a bill to recognize May 8th as Amyloidosis Day in Missouri. Amyloidosis is a rare disease that affects organ function. Ealy’s bill passed out of the House but was stalled by filibusters.

“Essentially nothing was going to come out of the Senate at that point of the legislative period,” Ealy said.

Dave Thomas

Dave Thomas is running against Ealy as a Republican. He served in the Army from 1970 to 1973 and worked as a locomotive engineer for Union Pacific Railroad in California for 28 years. When he retired, he founded prayer rooms around California. He began an internship with the International House of Prayer and settled in Grandview.

Thomas began a journey into politics in 2015. As the Republican primary presidential election twisted and turned before Donald Trump won, Thomas said he spent that time praying for America. He shifted from candidate to candidate before feeling the sense that God was raising up Donald Trump to him. He began to embrace that and started praying for the man who would ultimately win the election.

“I started praying for Donald Trump every single day,” Thomas said, “and I haven’t missed a day of praying for him since then.”

Thomas now serves as a Republican Committeeman for Jackson County. He considers election integrity an important political issue, and says there should be a way for the vote counting process to be open and transparent to the public.

He thinks more needs to be done to ensure that “illegal aliens” can’t vote. He points to places such as San Francisco, which allows noncitizens to vote in school board races, and Washington D.C., where people who have gained permanent residency in the United States are allowed by law to vote in municipal elections. He thinks that’s a problem and doesn’t want to see it in Missouri.

“The first time that you count a person who’s a resident but not a citizen, you dilute the vote of every citizen,” Thomas said.

Thomas says his voice would be heard more than Ealy’s in the Missouri House because he’s a Republican. He wants to see Missouri produce currency with gold and silver because he thinks it would stabilize the economy. Another priority for him is to make sure public services like fire and police departments are fully funded.

“We all need the same kind of help in our lives and in our families,” Thomas said. “So I’m all in for doing the things that will benefit every person equally, and so that our communities will thrive.”