Missouri Rep. Jason Smith, weighing Senate run, releases statewide campaign-like ad
Rep. Jason Smith, a southeast Missouri Republican weighing a run for U.S. Senate, is launching a statewide ad. It’s the latest sign he’s testing the waters ahead of a campaign.
The online spot torches the spending plans of congressional Democrats while Smith, who represents Missouri’s 8th Congressional District, calls himself a “hillbilly from Dent County.” It features images of Smith talking next to a pick-up truck, driving a truck and stacking hay bales.
“I’m Jason Smith and I’ll stand up to the liberals trying to give away the farm,” Smith says in the ad.
Smith has few reasons to run such an ad beyond building name recognition. In the solidly Republican 8th district he faces only one primary opponent, Jeremy Dennison, a pipefitter who had less than $500 cash on hand at the end of June compared to Smith’s $1.6 million.
The spot comes at a critical moment in Washington as Speaker Nancy Pelosi and top House Democrats push to pass a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill later this week. Democrats are also seeking a path to advance a spending and tax bill currently valued at $3.5 trillion that could ultimately be reduced.
Smith has been considering a Senate run for months. He met with former President Donald Trump in New York in May. A few weeks earlier, Smith held a fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
If he runs, Smith would enter a crowded Republican primary field. Attorney General Eric Schmitt, former Gov. Eric Greitens, Rep. Vicky Hartzler, Rep. Billy Long and St. Louis attorney Mark McCloskey are all campaigning.
No candidate in the Senate race has more cash on hand than Smith. Hartzler has the most of the declared candidates, with $1.4 million.
