Haley Swaino
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
The son of late State Sen. Carl Vogel is hoping to make his mark in the Missouri Capitol come January.
Jake Vogel believes bringing his unique business experience to the Senate floor can drive positive change for the Show-Me State.
He is one of the six candidates seeking the Senate District 6 seat after Senator Mike Bernskoetter’s term is up in January 2027. The state senate district covers several Mid-Missouri counties, including Cole, Camden, Miller, Moniteau and Morgan.
Vogel’s opponents are Amber Buckles, Derrick Spicer, Todd “Ike” Skelton, Lisa Thomas and Rudy Veit.
HALEY SWAINO: What would you like voters to know about you as a person and also as a candidate?
JAKE VOGEL: Well, as a person, I was born and raised in Jefferson City, Missouri, graduated high school, Jefferson City High School in 2001. Went to college, St. Louis University, and freshman year was 9/11. So that had a profound impact on my life, and therefore, that stuck with me through college. And afterwards, graduating college, I chose, I wanted to enlist. So I enlisted in the military, U.S. Army, and I got a first, I became a first Ranger in the 75th Ranger Regiment. I did two combat tours as an assault sniper. So, therefore, what my job was, is I protected the ground force on the ground. And they trusted their lives with me. So, God willing, I made it back.
And I was blessed to come back. I was, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. I was actually given this contract to work overseas. Money dried up with the [defense contractors] Triple Canopy and Blackwater. So still looking for adventure. And then I ended up coming back and very blessed to be in family business. I’m a fifth-generation Coca-Cola franchisee, and I say that with pride because we must be doing something right here. We take care of our people. We have a lot of good tenured employees and a good team that keeps the lights on.
For me, I can serve the community. I consider myself a community servant. We actually cover a swath of Central Missouri, and four out of these counties, four out of five of the counties we’re running in, which is Cole, Miller, Moniteau, Morgan and Camden, we service four out of those five. So we have relationships with nonprofits, charity organizations, and a lot of school districts. So I built those relationships. Our guys have built those relationships, and I want to carry those on. And if I can get back to not only Senate District 6 and bring the mentality of taking care of people and building relationships, I think that’s what the Missouri Senate needs more of. I’m looking forward to doing that — making Missouri a better place to live, work, and raise a family.
SWAINO: First, thank you so much for your service. Next question here. What do you see as some of the top issues facing Senate District 6? And then what specific legislation would you introduce or support to help those issues?
VOGEL: Some of the top? Affordability’s a problem. And you go around talking to people, everything’s so expensive. Yes, obviously that’s a problem. I cannot blow smoke and say, ‘Oh, gas prices.’ There’s a lot of factors play into gas, but we did have a gas tax that I wouldn’t have voted for back in the day. People need relief where we can give them relief. I’m a small family business guy. I don’t like bureaucracy and regulation. I think sometimes our legislature has made it too complicated to start a small business. Business and competitive competition is good and helps. Just like supply and demand. It lowers pricing; it helps the consumer have options. Everything is so corporate now, including our industry. So if we were to stop, they close this place down tomorrow, and it’d be run from a big city. So anything I can protect those people to thrive, be prosperous without over licensure issues, that’s what I want to do.
SWAINO: How will you balance economic growth here in Missouri while also preserving the quality of life for people who live in Missouri communities?
VOGEL: Well, it’s a fine line, right? With the budget, it’s tough. I’m a fiscal conservative. So I want to go up to the Missouri Senate and legislature, and I want to look at it from a business lens. I’m the only business guy in this field that knows how to sign both sides of a paycheck. I think we need more business people. How to balance the budget? You can’t just send money out the door everywhere. We have to be fiscally responsible. After all, the COVID money’s dried up. We need to get back to pre-2020 spending.
SWAINO: How would you work with legislators from both parties when your constituents’ interests are at stake?
VOGEL: That’s another thing I take pride in, that skill set. So yeah, I’ll talk to anyone. I run this campaign on being respectful, honest and accessible. I know I’m in it. You know, primaries can be very cutthroat to get to the finish line. It’s unfortunate our politics has become this. I think people are tired of doom and gloom out there. We have, that’s another one of the things I always speak about. We have a statewide majority since 2012 in the legislature, or no state majority since 2012 in the legislature, statewide, since 2018. My job is to go out there and build relationships so we can maintain that conservative majority. But we spend so much time inter-party fighting, and I think we need to get along. That’s how stuff is done, building relationships in the Capitol. And if we go up there and just I’m not about ego grandstanding — if you go up there and throw sand in the gears, you’re about yourself. And that’s not what I think the people are electing you to do.
SWAINO: Next question here. How will you stay accountable to the people of District 6, if elected? How will also constituents expect to be able to keep communication with you?
VOGEL: Good question. Obviously, social media is free, but I’m old school. I’m a boots-on-the-ground guy with being a former military guy. I want to be present throughout the five counties in the district. I want to show up to the parish picnics, or church fundraisers, or events, or historical society. Every which fundraiser, fairs, everything. I like to be there in person because face-to-face is always better than text. And what we see every day — text and a lot of people hitting the keyboard. Pick up the phone and be accessible. That’s what I’m all about.
SWAINO: Awesome. What should Missouri do — this is a question I’m asking everybody — to maybe address the cost of living? It’s a compounded question, but.
VOGEL: First we, it’s a tough thing. I understand once the money’s out of the bag and special, all the big money is gone. Everybody expects the same amounts of revenue. We are, it is a budgetary crisis, but that doesn’t affect, our constituency doesn’t care about what the internal workings are in the Capitol in the budget. We have to, again, we have to bring money back to the people in the most fiscally responsible way we can do it. And I’m not about making promises and saying, ‘Hey, if we’re going to do it up there, let’s have some backbone.’ We say we’re going to give, whether it’s education formula or certain entities or nonprofits, if we’re going to say we’re going to give money, we need to be honest, try to get the money, instead of, ‘Oh, we’ll get you,’ and cut, cut, cut. We just have to practice what we preach. And be honest there.
SWAINO: And what is your position on state taxes? Would, are you against lowering them? Raising them? What’s your stance on that?
VOGEL: I’m about lowering cutting taxes in every which way. Therefore, I’ll speak to this. I spoke to some folks last night at a forum, and I know it is a bold plan, but currently the Republican Party in the legislature has worked the income tax down. I know it is bold, but I, it’s a plan. And everyone, all of my constituents, they’re hurting out there.
Property tax. A lot of people say we don’t trust the legislature. And I say, and carte blanche, open taxes. And I say, ‘Well, we’ve had the income tax for 100 years. I don’t trust them either. I’ve never been up there, but fine to go up there.’ And in this bill, “Hancock” is protected, and there is guardrails. It is a chance. And you know what? It forces every county in the state of Missouri to drop property taxes as the tax system diversifies and is modernized to consumption tax, which I think is more of a fair tax.
Now, I would also say it’s political suicide. If you’re going to go out, slap taxes on everybody, that’s not my intention. Seniors, health care, real estate and agriculture — exempt. So it is a plan. And if the plan doesn’t work in the five years in a responsible fashion, in that five years, we’ll go back to the income tax. So I’m about chance; I’m taking the risk to move our state forward because it has been stagnant growth. We went from 16 congressional seats to eight… I’m about the future. And what we’ve had for the past hundred years, I think, is antiquated. It hasn’t moved us forward.
SWAINO: Gotcha. Why are you the best candidate for this seat?
VOGEL: Just my background, I believe. I consider myself a community servant, being engaged in the community, giving back through our products, and everything we can do to help out the schools, whether it be scoreboards. And again, I’m, I sell Coca-Cola for a living, so it’s an open, happy refreshment. So that’s how we survive in the community with the relationships that we are proud that we have built. And then my military skill set, again, people trusted their life with me, and that was my job. So I parlayed that, and taking care of the guys here, I have worked with all types of guys from every walk of life here in business and in the military. I served with people from all different types of backgrounds all over the country, so I have a knack for building relationships and taking care of people.
SWAINO: Getting to the end of the campaign trail here, you’ve obviously been to a couple of candidate forums, of course. What may be something that you don’t get asked to talk about often, that you wish voters knew about your stance, or just headed to the, headed to the ballot box? Something you wish they knew.
VOGEL: You know, I’m kind of an old school. I’m not a, I’m not an activist, not a bureaucrat, nor, everyone uses the word career politician. I’m not one; I’ve never held office. My father held office back in the day. I say that with pride for the folks who may have known him. I run the campaign. It’s me we’re talking about. He’s passed away, but he was my largest mentor of how he operated. I don’t need to grandstand, put my name on all the bills, and I want to get things done quietly. Or if I have to put my name on, I will. But he did things the quiet way. I want to do more of this and less of this. I see a lot of politicians now, and that’s kind of one of the reasons why I wanted to run; we’re lacking these community-oriented people. People yell. They always say the word fight. I don’t even like to use that word … I have fought overseas, so I just want to get things accomplished. And I’m just, I like to be called a community servant.
SWAINO: Awesome. And then last question here. Just if you want to talk to the viewers directly, what is one last thing, just message to them as they’re, if they’re maybe not sure how they want to cast their vote when they’re headed to the ballot box. What do you want them to know?
VOGEL: Well, like I said, I’m basically like your next-door neighbor. I’m a family man. I’m a husband, father. I’m a veteran, and I’m a small businessman. And I believe that an open dialog, being respectful, honest and accessible, and that’s how we drive as a communities, long as we respect each other and keep in touch. I’m a face-to-face person. I’m available anytime, and I look forward to making Missouri a better place, too. And bringing growth to the state of Missouri. A rising tide lifts all boats. I will do everything possible to bring more economic development or opportunity for people, so we can retain jobs, better job opportunities for our younger generations, so we can retain our children and our grandchildren for the future. Any type of opportunity or plan, I’m willing to entertain it and take the movement forward. I’m looking at now and forward.
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