KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Just days before the November 8 election, a candidate for the Missouri House of Representatives faces a municipal assault charge in Gladstone.
Independent candidate Steve West, vying for the Missouri House of Representative 15th District seat in the Northland, is facing charges for allegedly assaulted a woman who removed one of his campaign signs from a neighbor’s yard.
KSHB 41 obtained the Gladstone police report that shows the incident happened on Oct. 25 in the 600 block of NE 76th Street.
According to the report, 27-year-old Hannah Edmisten took West’s sign out of her neighbor’s yard because she did not agree with its message.
West gained national and international attention in 2018 for his racist, homophobic, Islamophobic, and anti-Semitic comments on a radio show and website. At the time, he was running for the Missouri 15th District House seat. He lost in the general election to Rep. Jon Carpenter, now a Clay County Commissioner.
Earlier this year, the Missouri Republican Party rejected West’s filing fees to run as a GOP member because of his previous comments.
— Missouri GOP (@MissouriGOP) February 22, 2022
“West’s past statements are vile and conflict with the fundamental values of our platform,” the party said in a written statement. “The Missouri Republican Party believes there is no room for hate and divisiveness and the Missouri Republican Party will not associate with anyone who promotes these abhorrent ideas.”
West’s family has also publicly denounced him and urged the public not to vote for him.
In an interview Friday, Edmisten told KSHB 41 that West has distributed flyers in her neighborhood espousing what she called “hateful rhetoric.”
“He passes out hateful flyers in our neighborhood that are homophobic, Islamophobic, transphobic, and antisemitic, “ she said. “That in all in the literature that he hands outs and leaves in our doors. That’s how I was aware of him.”
On the day of the alleged assault, Edmisten said she heard West put a flyer in her door and ring the doorbell. She then saw him put a sign in her neighbor’s yard.
“I didn’t want that near my house,” she said of West’s sign. “So I grabbed it out of my neighbor’s yard. He then ran up to me – on my front porch – and grabbed my arms and hands to wrestle the sign from me.
“He was screaming at me and so I took the sign and shoved it at him, and shoved him off of me,” she added. “The fact that someone would put their hands on me over a sign was terrifying. And if he’ll do that over a sign, imagine what else he’s capable of?”
Edmisten acknowledged that taking West’s sign from her neighbor’s yard was “petty.”
“But for him to put his hands on me over a sign was bizarre and terrifying,” she said. “I understand that what I did was not ok, but I want to give some context for this as well. West is a hateful individual. And having that person campaigning and putting up signs in my neighborhood is scary.”
Edmisten said the confrontation left her with a bruised hand. She also said a birdbath feeder in her yard is damaged.
KSHB reached out to West today. He did not return our call.
According to the police report, West said Edmisten “stole his sign by taking it out of the neighbor’s lawn and damaged it in the process.”
West confirmed to police that he confronted Edmisten and took his sign “forcibly out of (her) hands while on her property.”
When the responding officer said that wasn’t the right way to resolve the situation, West began to argue.
West now faces a third-degree assault charge in Gladstone, according to the municipal court citation.
His court date is set for December 17.
West faces incumbent Maggie Nurrenbern (D) and Adam Richardson (R) in Tuesday's election.
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