House Democrats want to have early elections

Intro: More than a year in advance, House Democrats may hold early leadership elections.

Lauren Stenzel has more from Jefferson City.

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Democratic Minority Floor Leader,Representative Paul LeVota, reluctantly said his party is considering holding early elections for caucus leadership positions.

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Description: "Well, we may. A lot of caucuses when they are term limited they'll have someone who is the leader or the speaker is term limited out so they're worried about the future."

This would be similar to what House Republicans did in 2007 when they elected Republican Representative Ron Richards as Speaker Elect.

LeVota said the purpose of early elections, which have been kept under wraps, would be to unite the party.

Reporting from the State Capitol, I'm Lauren Stenzel.

Intro: House Democrats are already looking to the future, considering early leadership elections more than a year in advance.

Lauren Stenzel has more from Jefferson City.

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Democratic Minority Leader, Representative Paul Levota, said the party is considering holding early elections for caucus leadership positions.

One Democrat, Representative Jeff Roorda, disagrees with this strategy.

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Description: "We made the same criticism against Republican party when they had an even larger majority than they do now that it was a little bit cheeky to say, 'I'm going to be the next Speaker,' when we haven't even gotten to general elections yet."

Roorda believes holding early elections could potentially disenfranchise incoming freshmen.

No Democrats in support of early elections would go on the record.

Reporting from the State Capitol, I'm Lauren Stenzel.

Intro: More than a year in advance, House Democrats may hold early leadership elections.

Lauren Stenzel has more from Jefferson City.

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Many House Democrats had opinions about possible early elections for caucus leadership positions, but none would go on record.

Democratic Representative Mike Talboy said he does not believe the public needs to know what happens behind closed doors concerning the caucus.

Someone who would go on record about this possibility was Republican Representative Bryan Pratt.

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Description: "It doesn't surprise me that Democrats would follow the Republican lead, if that could only happen more often down here the state would be a lot better place."

Democrats who spoke against early elections think it may be negative for incoming freshmen.

Reporting from the State Capitol, I'm Lauren Stenzel.