YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
With Missouri’s 2026 legislative session in the rearview mirror, term-limited Sen. Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, plans to spend the summer ferrying his sons – ages 8 and 12 – to baseball games, tennis matches and swim meets.
The 43-year-old first-generation cattle farmer isn’t spending much time looking back but acknowledges there are reminders all over the area from his six years in the Missouri House and eight years in the Missouri Senate, where he served as vice chair and then chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee.
“The boys give me a hard time,” he said during a June 5 interview. “When we drive around town, anytime they see construction going on, they’ll say ‘Did you have part of that?’”
Despite their good-natured ribbing, Hough said he hopes they someday understand how the funding and projects he fought for – alongside others – impacted education, healthcare, nonprofits and more, particularly in southwest Missouri.
“I never did this job for the credit … I’ve just never believed that’s what the job is about,” Hough said. “The job is about doing the best you can while you have the opportunity to do it.”
Numerous leaders interviewed about Hough’s tenure said he was in a pivotal role at a critical juncture.
Hough led the Senate Appropriations Committee – through which all state funding bills must pass – when Missouri lawmakers were tasked with deciding how to best use millions in one-time federal pandemic relief funds.
“He was in the right place at the right time when we had all this federal funding, and he really made some concentrated investments in the future of the state,” said Will Marrs, chief political consultant with Governmental Services Group Inc.
Marrs said the economic development generated during Hough’s tenure will be felt for years.
“He’s one of the hardest working legislators I’ve ever seen, and he doesn’t quite let people know what a strategic mind he has,” said Marrs, a lobbyist who has represented the city of Springfield, Greene County and Bass Pro Shops, among others. “He’s very good at navigating both personalities and just political obstacles. He knows the process.”
Hough, aligned with then-Gov. Mike Parson’s focus on infrastructure and workforce development, said he was focused on funding “generational or transformative projects, things that will change the trajectory of this state.”
His fingerprints are on game-changing projects all over the Show-Me State, including a $2.8 billion overhaul of Interstate 70 and the widening of Interstate 44. The results of his 14 years in Jefferson City are especially visible in southwest Missouri.
In this session, Hough backed legislation to create a land bank, an effort to breathe new life into dilapidated properties. He also championed funding for public education, parks, athletic facilities, public safety, libraries, roads and bridges, wastewater treatment, healthcare and nonprofits. He supported the Jefferson Avenue Footbridge, the Springfield Art Museum, the daylighting of Jordan Creek, the Alliance for Healthcare Education and multiple buildings on college campuses.
Public school funding
Hough said protecting and funding public education was a top priority during his years in the state Capitol.
“You can blame my dad for that,” he said.
His father, David Hough, was the longtime dean of Missouri State University’s College of Education. His mother was heavily involved in the schooling of his sisters and brothers. His former wife, Sarah Hough, serves as vice president on Springfield Public Schools Board of Education.
Hal Higdon, chancellor of Ozarks Technical Community College, said Hough stopped efforts by those in his own party to cut funding for public education classrooms.
“He was also really good at killing bad legislation that would hurt our students,” Higdon said. “Of my 20 years in Missouri, I cannot think of anyone from our local delegation that has had the outsized impact that Lincoln has on the college and the community.”
Higdon added: “He saved higher ed’s bacon – and K-12’s – many times.”
He credited Hough with securing funding for multiple buildings including the new student center the Robert W. Plaster Center for Advanced Manufacturing.
With Hough’s help, Missouri State gained the authority to award doctoral degrees. Funding went up and many buildings, including new agriculture facilities, were added.
Last year, Hough led a Senate push to fully fund the state foundation formula for K-12 education, which was $300 million more than Gov. Mike Kehoe recommended and more than the Missouri House signed off on spending.
SPS benefitted from the extra funds, as did others.
“During my five years with SPS, I have found Sen. Hough to be consistently available, engaged and eager to work in a bipartisan fashion to serve the best interests of children,” said Superintendent Grenita Lathan.
Hough’s willingness to do what he felt was right, even if it wasn’t popular with members of his own party, won support from Higdon and others.
“It was his ability to think, to plan, but also his willingness to not always make friends,” he said.
Hough won the K-12 funding battle in 2025, but at the end of a heated special session – during which he opposed Republican-backed bills to redraw congressional maps at the behest of the Trump administration and weaken the initiative petition process – he was removed as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Working with Democrats
State Rep. Betsy Fogle, D-Springfield, said Hough paid a price for working across the political aisle. Fogle is running for Hough’s seat along with state Rep. Melanie Stinnett, R-Springfield.
“There are a lot of things that Sen. Hough and I disagree on from a political perspective. He is a proud conservative,” she said. “However, I do think his ability to vote against his party when it benefitted the people who trusted him enough to send him to Jefferson City is something that all of us – regardless of political party – would benefit from learning.”
Ryan DeBoef, partner in lobbying firm Hahn DeBoef LLC, said Hough excelled at “finding creative ways to put together a majority” to pass legislation, even if it meant reaching out to Democrats.
He recalled how Hough figured out a way, in a tighter budget year, to pass a core funding increase for Missouri State and accomplish a project sought by families at the Greenwood Laboratory School on that campus.
“He has not backed down from conflict ever,” DeBoef said. “And so it didn’t bother him to ruffle a few feathers to get things done that he thought were worth the fight.”
DeBoef, whose firm represents the city of Marshfield, said southwest Missouri isn’t the only place to benefit from Lincoln’s leadership. There have been projects in Kansas City, St. Louis and the rural areas.
“I’ve worked with him on some no-glory sewer infrastructure projects that you’ll never go to a groundbreaking on, that won’t be named after anybody, and Lincoln always took those projects very seriously,” he said. “He understood the impact that will have on a community.”
Hough is term-limited. His immediate plans involve working the farm.
“I am looking forward to being home more,” he said.
He recalled driving to St. Louis for a meeting and receiving a video – shot by his father – of his oldest son hitting his first home run in a Little League game.
“I wasn’t there for that,” he said. “I don’t even remember what the meeting was that I thought was so important that I needed to go, but it takes a lot more out of you than you think.”
Hough said he hasn’t ruled out running for public office again and still believes in conservative principles. But, he argued there is little room for diversity of thought within the political party right now.
“The Republican Party has to change,” he said. “This isn’t the Republican Party that I started with.”
Asked what change he wants to see within the party, Hough said collaboration.
“I want to see people opening their minds to conversations that might be tough to have but make you better,” he said.
Hough added: “We are better when we work together instead of just saying ‘We’re the supermajority, we’ve got more Republicans than anybody else, we can do what we want.’ I just think that’s wrong.”
Healthcare, nonprofit funding
In the healthcare sector, Hough secured funding for a CoxHealth urgent care in Branson, a youth behavioral health center in Springfield and the Alliance for Healthcare Education – a partnership between CoxHealth, Missouri State, Ozarks Tech and SPS – to address workforce shortages.
“Sen. Hough has consistently demonstrated a clear vision for strengthening our region through education, workforce investment and support for critical healthcare programs,” said Amanda Hedgpeth, executive vice president and chief operating officer at CoxHealth, in a statement.
Hedgpeth said in addition to the alliance, Hough sponsored a Senate bill in 2019 for the Workforce Incentive Grant Program called Fast Track that has provided funding for adults seeking higher education.
“In 2022, he worked to extend and broaden the program,” she said. “The Fast Track program has been a powerful driver in workforce development, especially in healthcare across the state.”
Clay Goddard, market president in southwest Missouri for Centerstone, was running the Springfield-Greene County Health Department when he first worked with Hough. He said Hough was an early supporter of public funding to address mental health, substance abuse and related issues.
“He has a heart for community service and has the ability to distill complex issues down to their root cause,” Goddard said. “Having someone involved in the public discourse with that skill set is pretty critical.”
Hough said his proudest legislative win was the creation of the Missouri Fire Fighter Critical Illness Pool. It created a trust fund to provide financial support, early cancer detection programs, wellness initiatives and mental health support for first responders.
Hough backed funding for area nonprofits including a homeless shelter at Victory Mission and Ministry, a teen center for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Springfield Inc., and Care to Learn, which meets students’ health, hunger and hygiene needs.
In 2026 alone, Hough supported more than $20 million for groups involved in the arts, poverty, children and family issues, substance abuse and literacy, among others.
“Sen. Hough’s leadership and advocacy played a vital role in helping us meet critical needs,” said Krystal Simon, CEO of Care to Learn, in a statement. “His support, alongside that of many current and former state leaders, has helped make a meaningful difference in the lives of more than 900,000 K-12 students throughout Missouri.”
Janet Dankert, president and CEO of the Community Partnership of the Ozarks Inc., said Hough prioritized the needs of southwest Missouri families.
“Sen. Hough played a key role in directing state investments toward community priorities – funding that organizations like CPO rely on for programs in housing, prevention, early childhood, mental health and community development,” she said, in a statement.
Brian Fogle, a longtime nonprofit leader and executive in residence at Drury University, said Hough was approachable, worked hard and put the needs of his constituents above party and politics.
“History will be kind to Lincoln when we look back at what he was able to do, being in the right place at the right time,” he said.
“I will always be grateful to him for approaching things in a bipartisan way about what benefitted our state, not who gets the credit.”
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