Five candidates are vying for Missouri’s 8th Congressional District, currently represented by Republican Jason Smith.
Republican Gordon Heslop is challenging Smith in the Aug. 4 primary. Democrats Chris Reichard and Frank A. Barnitz are also facing off in the primary. The party winners will face Libertarian Rebecca Sharpe Lombard, who runs unopposed, in the November election.
The 8th Congressional District covers the eastern half of Jefferson County, including Arnold, Herculaneum and Festus.
Smith has held the seat since 2010. He was reelected in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024.
Members of Congress receive an annual salary of approximately $174,000.
Democratic candidate Chris Reichard did not return a survey for the voters guide.
Republicans
Smith, 44, of Cape Girardeau is currently the U.S. representative and a Dent County cattle rancher. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri in Columbia in 2001 and earned a juris doctorate from Oklahoma City University Law School in 2004.
Heslop, 74 of Rolla is a retired accounting professor. He earned a doctorate in accounting, a bachelor of laws, a master’s degree in commerce, a master’s degree in business communication and a certificate in commerce. His spouse is Maria.
Why should voters elect you, and what are your goals if elected?
Smith: Southern Missouri deserves a representative who never forgets where he comes from or who he works for. I grew up in a single-wide trailer in Salem, raised by a family that taught me faith, hard work and responsibility. Those values guide me every day in Congress. Voters should elect me because I deliver results. As chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, I wrote and spearheaded The Working Families Tax Cuts in Congress and delivered the largest tax cut in American history for working families, small businesses and farmers. We delivered on No Tax on Tips, No Tax on Overtime and for seniors. My priority will always be the folks back home that I represent, and I will continue fighting to lower taxes, make health care more affordable, strengthen rural economies, secure the border, defend our conservative values and make government work for the American people – not the other way around.
Heslop: Because I am focused on the health of the middle class, which is largely being ignored but which is vital to American prosperity. My policy includes affordable housing, ending tariffs, the provision of health screenings, saving Social Security, reducing education costs and massively increasing trades education for six-figure jobs.
What unique opportunities would you champion for your district if elected?
Smith: Missouri’s 8th District faces unique challenges and opportunities, and my focus is on advancing initiatives that directly strengthen our rural communities. I will continue fighting for policies that put more money back into the pockets of working families, that support small businesses, that ensure a level playing field for our farmers so they can continue to feed the world, and that increase access to health care and lower costs for patients. I will continue to prioritize strengthening oversight of federal agencies to rein in waste, fraud and abuse; and protecting Social Security and other federal programs to ensure Missourians receive the benefits they are owed, especially our veterans. Infrastructure improvements — such as broadband expansion and safer roads — are also key opportunities for long-term growth.
My goal is to ensure southern Missouri has a strong voice in federal decisions and that national policies reflect the needs of rural communities.
Heslop: Improved rural health services, including mobile services, further processing of agricultural output, intensive production of vegetables and fruit like the Netherlands does.
Do you believe Missouri’s current, redrawn congressional maps are contiguous and compact or gerrymandered? Please explain your answer.
Smith: I believe Missouri’s current congressional maps are contiguous and compact, as required by our state constitution and confirmed by the courts. They were drawn by the elected Republican majority in the General Assembly, signed by the governor and upheld against partisan challenges. These maps better reflect the will of Missouri voters, who consistently support conservative priorities and Republican leadership statewide. The redrawn lines fix some of the jagged, inefficient boundaries from previous maps and deliver fair representation without unconstitutional manipulation. Claims of gerrymandering are typical Democratic complaints from those unhappy that the maps align with how Missouri votes. Our delegation should represent the people’s choice, not activist redraws that ignore reality.
Heslop: The districts have been gerrymandered, but not in the ridiculous way they have in some other states. Kansas City should not have been split up into three different districts.
Democrat
Barnitz, 58 of Lake Spring is the owner of the cattle ranch Barnitz Farms Inc. He also owns Networth Feeds and Feeding, Briarwood Cabins LLC and Barnitz Holdings LLC. He graduated from Rolla High School and attended Southwest Missouri State, now Missouri State University, in Springfield. He served in the Missouri House from 2001-2005; the state Senate from 2005-2010; and the Dent Phelps R-3 School Board for a total of 12 years. He served on the Missouri Cattlemen’s Foundation Board from 2008-2018 and the University of Missouri Extension Council from 1994-1998. He has served on the Salem Memorial District Hospital Board since 2024. Barnitz and his wife, Lisa, have two daughters and four grandchildren.
Why should voters elect you, and what are your goals if elected?
Barnitz: Having been in the legislature previously, being an active community member, being a business owner and raising a family, I am able to have the opportunity to see the daily responsibilities of all our communities, and I am able to understand the way the legislative system works from the inside. I have many goals to achieve but my main focuses are on education, health care, affordability and national debt. Education: our public schools are the backbone of our country and should be protected. Health care: every American should have a basic standard of health care. Affordability: policies need to recognize the impact on our citizens regardless of income status. National debt: as a member of the Missouri Legislature, I served on the committee to balance our state’s budget; our national budget needs to balance as well.
What unique opportunities will you champion for your district if elected?
Barnitz: By understanding the way that government funding and the legislature work, I will be able to facilitate bringing federal funding and grants back to the 8th District. These funds/grants will give the 8th a chance to have more infrastructure projects and bring real change to the district. Being able to connect our agriculture communities with different marketing opportunities for individual farmers and co-ops. Also having the opportunity to bring back sustainable long-term investments that will work with our communities, not against them.
Do you believe Missouri’s current, redrawn congressional maps are contiguous and compact or gerrymandered? Explain your answer.
Barnitz: Since the 8th Congressional District was unchanged, I can only give my opinion; however, the redrawn districts in the current map I believe are gerrymandered. By breaking up these urban areas and thrusting them into groupings of largely rural districts, their voices are diluted. In my opinion, district maps need to be drawn in a way that, both geographically and socially, the majority and minority feel accurately and effectively represented.
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