E-mail
PrintCOLUMBIA — Democrat Steve Gaw announced in a release Friday that he will run for the 9th District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Gaw, a former speaker of the Missouri House and former chairman of the Missouri Public Service Commission, will run against 25th District state Rep. Judy Baker of Columbia and Marion County Presiding Commissioner Lyndon Bode in the Democratic primary.
If elected, Gaw said he will work to voice the middle-class concerns of his district to Congress.
“This is an opportunity to do something for the people of this district and bring some common sense to Washington at a time that I think it really needs it,” Gaw said.
Important issues he will address include: strengthening the economy, working for a balanced budget, ensuring that soldiers receive proper equipment and benefits, creating a more efficient health care system and improving the quality of and access to education.
Gaw said Congress needs to do whatever it can to ensure the country’s economic stability in the future.
“If the economy continues to weaken, we’ve got a real crisis,” he said.
Gaw plans to campaign throughout Missouri’s 9th District, allowing as many voters as possible to get to know him.
Gaw said having lived and worked in Missouri and the 9th District for most of his life gives him a great connection with residents’ concerns. He was raised in Randolph County, received a bachelor’s degree in physics from Truman State University in 1978 and graduated from the MU Law School in 1981. Gaw and his wife and daughter currently live on a farm in Callaway County.
“This district is very diverse,” Gaw said. “It has some very important rural issues, and I’m very familiar with that.”
Gaw served in the Missouri House of Representatives from 1992 to 2001; he was speaker of the House from 1996 to 2001. In 2000, he lost the race for Missouri secretary of state to Matt Blunt, who would later become governor. He served on the Missouri Public Service Commission until his term expired in 2007.
Comments