No matter who wins the U.S. House race for the 3rd Congressional District, the St. 不良研究所导航网址 area will be home to an additional member of Congress.
And for the first time ever, a member of the U.S. House will be a resident of St. Charles County.
The two main contenders in the district鈥檚 Nov. 5 general election race both live in the St. 不良研究所导航网址 metropolitan area:
Republican Robert Onder Jr., a former state senator, is from Lake Saint 不良研究所导航网址; and Democrat Bethany Mann, taking her second shot at the seat, is a St. Peters resident.
This would give the metro area three residents in Congress, along with the eventual winners of the races in the 1st and 2nd Congressional Districts.
And no less of an authority than St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann, who wrote a book on the county鈥檚 history, said Onder聽鈥 or Mann, if she pulls off an upset 鈥 would be the first resident of the county to ever serve in the U.S. House.
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The winner of the Nov. 5 balloting will succeed U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, who lives in St. Elizabeth, a small community near the Lake of the Ozarks. Luetkemeyer was first elected to Congress in 2008.
The district itself is a conspicuous by-product of redistricting, carving a GOP-heavy swath that stretches from parts of St. Charles, Jefferson and Warren counties out to west of Columbia and south to Osage Beach.
The district鈥檚 central, pro-GOP composition is why August鈥檚 Republican primary race between Onder and former state Rep. Kurt Schaefer, who hails from the Columbia area and had the endorsement of the retiring Luetkemeyer, was considered to be a coin-toss.
But along with getting a big boost in votes from the fast-growing St. Charles area, Onder also made good use of an endorsement from former President Donald Trump to easily defeat Schaefer 鈥 who Onder labeled as an 鈥渁nti-Trump鈥澛燫epublican 鈥斅燽y more than 10%.
Onder鈥檚 campaign said its candidate was traveling to stump for other office-seekers and was unavailable for interviews.
According to its latest filing with the Federal Election Commission, Onder鈥檚 campaign has raised about $1.65 million since January, with $900,000 coming from loans Onder made to his own effort. He still has about $160,000 cash on hand.
Mann, who garnered about 35% of the general election vote in 2022 when she lost to Luetkemeyer, has raised slightly more than $22,000 and still has about $11,600.
Onder, a staunch conservative during his days in the Missouri Legislature and a co-founder of the Senate Conservative Caucus, remains firmly planted on the right on political issues.
A physician and a lawyer, Onder, 62, has been especially active on social media in calling for defeat of Amendment 3, a statewide constitutional referendum that supports abortion rights.
Mann, 41, a technology specialist with a bachelor鈥檚 degree in chemistry, works as a sales representative for an environmental monitoring company.聽
Mann said in a telephone interview that her main goals include improving public education, expanding access to technology and protecting the environment 鈥斅爂oals that she believes transcend party politics.
鈥淔or example, everyone is concerned about clean water and pollution,鈥 Mann said.
Mann said she has been meeting with potential voters in both the suburban and rural areas of the district. 鈥淚 haven鈥檛 spent all my time in St. Charles and Boone counties,鈥 she said.
Recently, Mann has spent some time on social media, lambasting Onder for refusing to debate on the issues facing the district.
鈥淚 realize it鈥檚 an uphill battle, given the way the district has been redrawn鈥 to favor GOP candidates, Mann said in a telephone interview. 鈥淏ut people still need strong leaders to speak up for them.鈥
Other candidates in the race are William Hastings of the Green Party and Libertarian Jordan Rowden.
In two other races that involve Congressional districts that reach into the St. 不良研究所导航网址 metropolitan area, two incumbent Republicans look poised to retain their seats.
U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, will face Democrat Randi McCallian, who lost to Smith in 2022. She also ran for political office in 2020 in Colorado.
Smith is a six-term incumbent and his 8th Congressional District covers a substantial portion of Jefferson County and all of Ste. Genevieve and St Francois counties.
U.S. Rep. Sam Graves of Tarkio, a 12-term incumbent whose heavily Republican district of northern Missouri includes Lincoln County, is running against Democrat Pam May of St. Joseph.