Democrat Randi McCallian is once again running for Missouri’s 8th Congressional District seat, a swath of southeast and southern Missouri that’s been represented by Republicans since the 1980s.
McCallian admits her run against GOP Congressman Jason Smith is an uphill battle. The 8th District used to have significant pockets of Democratic voters, particularly in the Bootheel region. But Donald Trump’s emergence supercharged the district’s drift to the GOP — a trend that McCallian said hasn’t been good for people who live in the district.
“Politics is now what I do, because people deserve to have a government that is made up by them and working for them,” McCallian said on an episode of Politically Speaking. “And that's not what we have here in Missouri — or especially in the 8th Congressional District.”
Smith has represented the district since 2013, when he won a special election to succeed JoAnn Emerson. (St. Louis Public Radio has invited Smith to record an episode of Politically Speaking to talk about his record and outlook on the election.)
Smith prevailed against McCallian in 2022 by nearly 50 percentage points. When asked why she decided to run again, the Phelps County resident joked: “I'm a glutton for punishment.”
She then said voters in the 8th District should have a choice during elections.
“There is not a two-party system here. There is one party in control, and you don't have a democracy if you don't have choices,” McCallian said. “And whether we can win or not, which it'll be a while, you're still giving people a choice. You're still holding an elected representative accountable. And there are so many reasons to run, even when you can't win a seat immediately.”
Some of those reasons include making residents more aware about some of the major issues afflicting the 8th Congressional District, she said. That includes widespread poverty and a dearth of health care options for people who live in less populated counties.
She also criticized both Smith and GOP U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley for not taking greater advantage of the earmark funding system that could bring more money to the district.
“So that, again, is a double impact against my district,” McCallian said. “And if you have people like Smith voting against the CHIPS and Science Act, for example? We have a district that is set up and would be wonderful for a chip manufacturing facility. And instead, we have a congressperson who isn't fighting for us to have any jobs in the congressional district.”
Here are some of the topics McCallian talked about on the program:
- How many local leaders in the 8th Congressional District have different priorities than some state elected officials, including their opposition to getting rid of personal property taxes.
- Her enthusiasm for Vice President Kamala Harris’ emergence as the Democratic presidential nominee. “We were asking for younger candidates, and we have it now,” she said. “And as our politics have gotten a little crazier and crazier, it feels like lately this is just sort of another one of those changes that none of us have really experienced before in our lifetime. And I think it's an exciting one.”
- How running a vigorous campaign could help statewide candidates, especially if she can contribute to lower the margins of defeat in largely Republican counties.
