Josh Smead

Josh Smead's college internship began with a delivery of buffet tables.¹ Working as a building manager at James Madison University, he struck up a conversation with the collection's director and was offered an internship studying a television production designer's collection.¹ He subsequently cataloged drawings, paintings and photographs and digitized films from the collection.¹

A native of Harrisonburg, Virginia, Smead grew up attending JMU football games with a family full of Madison alumni.¹ He graduated there in 2012 with an art history degree and earned a Master of Architecture at Iowa State University in 2016.¹ His subsequent work included sports architecture at Crawford Architects.¹ His projects have included NFL stadiums, NBA arenas and university training facilities.²

Smead and his wife, Carly, are architects raising four children in Liberty.³.⁴ He joined the architecture, design and development business she started in 2021, becoming part of the company in 2023.² Their work includes commercial and residential projects around Kansas City.² In his 2025 introduction, he described children who generally had him up around six each morning.²

He is the Democratic nominee.⁵ His campaign emphasizes strong public schools, keeping basic health care available close to home, helping families keep their farms and creating opportunities for young people to remain in northern Missouri.³ His November opponents are Republican Chris Stigall and Libertarian Andy Maidment.⁵