Emanuel Cleaver, Jacob Turk among candidates in Missouri congressional races

It’s Cleaver and Turk — again.

The perennial contest to represent Missouri’s 5th Congressional District continues between incumbent Democrat Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City and Republican challenger Jacob Turk of Lee’s Summit.

The familiar rivals have been going at it every two years since 2006. Turk’s best showing was in the last cycle, when he received 45 percent of the 153,635 votes cast in the nonpresidential election of 2014. Libertarian Roy Welborn, who got 3.4 percent of the votes that year, is also again on the ballot.

Elsewhere in the Kansas City area, Republican incumbents Sam Graves and Vicky Hartzler are defending their seats in the 6th and 4th districts, respectively.

Cleaver is a former Kansas City councilman and mayor who was elected to Congress in 2004. The 5th District includes much of Jackson County and part of Clay County as well as Ray, Lafayette and Saline counties.

Cleaver, 71, is a member of the House Financial Services Committee and is the ranking member of the Housing Subcommittee. He supported the stimulus package to address the recession and supported the Affordable Care Act. Cleaver is past chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus and is former senior pastor at St. James United Methodist Church.

Cleaver “has led the efforts to bring civility to the House of Representatives,” according to his website.

Cleaver’s campaign reported $1,050,466 in receipts from January 2015 through September 2016.

Turk, 60, of Lee’s Summit, is running as an outsider who would fight to reduce regulations on small businesses. He would vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act. He is a Marine veteran.

“It is time to send long time incumbent establishment politician Emanuel Cleaver into retirement,” Turk says on his website.

Turk’s campaign reported $89,923 in receipts from January 2015 through September 2016.

Welborn, of Kansas City, opposes taxpayer subsidies for health care for undocumented immigrants. He reported no campaign contributions.

Hartzler, 56, of Harrisonville, secured her seat from longtime Democrat Ike Skelton in 2010. The 4th District covers a large swath of west-central Missouri, including Cass County.

Hartzler is a former public school teacher and former Missouri state representative. She serves on the House Armed Services, Agriculture and Budget committees. She opposes citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Hartzler believes the Roe v. Wade decision was wrong and has worked for adoption reform. She opposes same-sex marriage. She advocates broadening the federal tax base and simplifying the tax code.

Hartzler’s campaign reported total receipts of $822,692 from January 2015 through September 2016.

She is being challenged by Democrat Gordon Christensen of Columbia and Libertarian Mark Bliss of Warrensburg.

Christensen, 68, is a medical doctor specializing in infectious diseases and has taught medicine at the University of Missouri. He is an advocate for veterans and has been on staff at the Harry S. Truman Memorial VA Hospital. In 1992, Christensen drew attention to suspected serial killings at the hospital. A nurse was charged, but the charges were later dropped.

Christensen describes himself as fiscally conservative but socially progressive. He has criticized Hartzler’s refusal to disavow Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for his comments about women.

Christensen’s campaign reported total receipts of $189,441 from January 2015 through September 2016.

Bliss advocates lower taxes for small-business owners and term limits for Congress. He reported no campaign contributions.

Graves is being challenged by Democrat David Blackwell of Smithville and Libertarian Russ Monchil of Cameron to represent the 6th District, which covers northern Missouri, including Platte County and most of Clay County.

Graves, 52, is chairman of the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit and is a member of the Armed Services Committee. He describes himself as a small businessman and sixth-generation family farmer.

Graves boasts that he did not vote for a stimulus or bailout during the recession. He is opposed to “out of control spending” by the federal government. Graves wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act and eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood. He is against same-sex marriage. He also wants to deny funding for presidential executive orders that restrict gun rights. Graves favors replacing the progressive income tax with a national sales tax. He wants to block the Environmental Protection Agency from imposing water regulations on farmers.

Graves’ campaign reported total receipts of $1,434,841 from January 2015 through September 2016.

Blackwell describes himself as a software developer and technologist. He was inspired to become a Democrat by Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign. He argues the Affordable Care Act has reduced increases in health care costs. He favors addressing climate change through a carbon tax or cap-and-trade system and by researching carbon sequestration. He advocates reducing the complexity of laws and regulations. Blackwell reported no campaign contributions.

Monchil reported no campaign contributions.

Missouri has five other Congressional districts.

▪ In the 1st District in St. Louis, incumbent Democrat Lacy Clay faces a challenge from Republican Steven G. Bailey and Libertarian Robb E. Cunningham of St. Louis.

▪ In the 2nd District in the St. Louis suburbs, Republican incumbent Ann Wagner of Ballwin is challenged by Democrat Bill Otto of Maryland Heights and Libertarian Jim Higgins of St.Louis.

▪ In the 3rd District in east-central Missouri, incumbent Republican Blaine Luetkemeyer of St. Elizabeth is challenged by Democrat Kevin Miller of St. Charles, Libertarian Dan Hogan of St. Peters and Constitution candidate Doanita Simmons of St. Peters.

▪ In the 7th District in southwest Missouri, incumbent Republican Billy Long of Springfield is challenged by Democrat Genevieve (Gen) Williams of Neosho and Libertarian Benjamin J. Brixey of Strafford.

▪ In the 8th District in southeast Missouri, incumbent Republican Jason Smith of Cape Girardeau is challenged by Democrat Dave Cowell of Farmington and Libertarian Jonathan Shell of Fredericktown.

This story was originally published October 28, 2016 at 6:09 PM with the headline "Emanuel Cleaver, Jacob Turk among candidates in Missouri congressional races."