Two candidates – Republican incumbent Jason Smith and Democrat challenger Randi McCallian – are running for a two-year term in the 8th district of the United States House of Representatives. Read their thoughts on local issues.
Jason Smith
As a seventh-generation Missourian and fourth-generation family farm owner, I’m proud to represent the values of our state. I come from humble roots; my dad worked as an auto mechanic and a preacher, and my mom worked at a factory so that we could have health insurance. I grew up in a single-wide trailer until high school, when we upgraded to a double wide. I was the first in my family to graduate college, and I’m still paying off the student loans I took out today. That’s why I feel so passionately about fighting for the working class families, farmers and small businesses in southern Missouri. We truly live in God’s country and I’m blessed by the honor to represent this district.
What is the greatest need in the 8th Congressional District?
The biggest issue facing the folks here is the cost-of-living crisis that has seen prices rise over 20 percent since Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took their oaths of office. Between rising costs on groceries, gas and essential goods, hardworking Missourians are feeling squeezed. This crisis caused trillions in reckless spending that Washington Democrats passed when they had one-party rule and overregulation from Washington bureaucrats.
I’m fighting to bring relief by stopping the explosive spending growth, eliminating unnecessary regulations and advocating for pro-family, pro-growth policies that keep more money in people’s pockets. The best way for us to achieve this is to elect Donald Trump as our next President of the United States.
What will you do to encourage the development of internet access in the district?
Expanding broadband access is essential for southern Missouri’s future. High-speed internet is vital for health care, education and job opportunities, especially in rural communities. But for four years under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ leadership, we have seen this administration consistently ignore the needs of rural Americans.
By contrast, when Donald Trump was president, we were able to make substantial progress on creating rural broadband. With Trump Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, I led a roundtable in 2017 to highlight innovative approaches to rural broadband and we authorized over $10 million for the expansion of rural broadband in Howell, Oregon and Ozark Counties in 2019 and then later that year helped secure $41.6 million in funding for rural broadband in Missouri and southern Iowa.
By electing Donald Trump, I am hopeful we will once again get unelected Washington bureaucrats focused on extending this lifeline to rural families.
What steps can be taken to attract more jobs in the 8th Congressional District?
Supporting small businesses is key to job growth in Missouri. Washington doesn’t create jobs; our local businesses do. By reducing taxes and cutting out bureaucratic red tape, we can give entrepreneurs the breathing room to grow and hire more workers. In the Trump tax cuts, we created a small business deduction that put small businesses on a level playing field with large corporations, but Vice President Harris says she wants to eliminate this important provision.
We also need an “all-of-the-above” approach to energy, harnessing oil, gas, coal and renewables, which will help reduce costs and power businesses in Missouri. In Congress, I’m focused on common sense reforms that prioritize Missouri’s job creators over federal interference.
Randi McCallian
I am running for U.S. Congress because I value representation that works for the benefit and success of the American people; I am frustrated that our current Congressman works for corporate profit and greed. I am a wife and mother of two young girls; I believe in medical liberty and privacy from government overreach. I have a master’s degree in public health and know that efforts to restrict reproductive health care are dangerous. I have 20 years of experience working in health care and education with children and families, directed multi-state programs to expand rural healthcare access and won’t quit fighting for us to have the jobs, health care and education that we deserve in rural areas – especially in our district.
What is the greatest need in the 8th Congressional District?
Our greatest need is representation that focuses on investing here in our district. Our family, friends and neighbors in Missouri’s 8th District face the lowest median wages in the state, the highest rates of poverty and food insecurity and the greatest loss of health care access. We’ve seen our economic opportunities dry up, our infrastructure is crumbling and we are dead last for life expectancy.
We deserve representatives that unite us around common goals that benefit the common good, such as increasing access and affordability of health care and advocating for good paying jobs in their district.
What will you do to encourage the development of internet access in the district?
I will continue to draw attention to the fact that the Biden/Harris Administration has made plenty of funding available for our entire rural district to have high-speed internet. Now it is the role of your local government officials (city and county) to develop a plan, identify the company or people who will do the work and request the federal funding to get it done.
Our district is well below the nation’s average in having access to high-speed internet, we need to demand better of our local government – and be sure to elect people who actually want to get important work like this done.
What steps can be taken to attract more jobs in the 8th Congressional District?
Our district has had the same Congressional representative for 11 years, and during this time we have continued to lose jobs more quickly than other rural districts in Missouri and across the nation. Our first step needs to be replacing current leadership with people who see the reality here at home and want to do better for us.
For example, the 8th Congressional District would be a great location for a computer chip manufacturing facility. We have plenty of space, hardworking folks and water to cool the facility… but our representative voted NAY on the CHIPS & Science Act – so he certainly won’t be advocating for us to have a facility in the 8th; we deserve someone who will actually work for our district. We could have good-paying jobs through investment in health care access in our district.
By expanding the ability for down-stream health care providers like nurse practitioners, physician’s assistants and midwives, we could improve access to health care in our district AND add good paying jobs. Additionally, having access to high-speed internet opens opportunities for more people to find work online, and will improve our access to specialty health care providers and mental health services.
*An attempt was made to the Missouri Libertarian Party to obtain responses from candidate Jake Dawson. No information was received.
