In the Nov. 3 general election, incumbent Congresswoman Ann Wagner will face two challengers – Democrat Fred Wellman and Libertarian Brandon Coulter Daugherty – to represent Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District on Nov. 3.
After a contentious legal battle, the district will follow its 2022 boundaries, which include south and west St. Louis County, portions of St. Charles County, and Franklin and Warren counties.
Wagner, a Republican, has held the seat since 2013. She is seeking her eighth term.
U.S. representatives receive an annual salary of approximately $174,000 and serve a two-year term.
Daugherty did not return a Leader survey.
Wellman, 61, of Wildwood served 22 years in the Army as an aviator and also worked in operations and the public affairs office. His time in service included four combat deployments. After retiring as a lieutenant colonel, he founded Scout Comms, a communications and advocacy firm focused on veterans and military families in northern Virginia. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he helped lead the New York Presbyterian Ryan F. Larkin Field Hospital in New York City as administrative chief of staff, later serving as senior adviser for veterans affairs and executive director of the Lincoln Project. In 2021, he organized volunteer teams to support Afghan refugees arriving in St. Louis through the International Institute of St. Louis. Since 2021, he has volunteered to foster animals with the ASPCA. From 2022-2025, he was the senior adviser for Voters of Tomorrow. He currently hosts On Democracy with FPWellman on the MeidasTouch Network. He earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the United States Military Academy in 1987 and a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard Kennedy School in 2007. He is engaged, and has four children and six grandchildren.
Wagner, 64, of Ballwin is the representative for Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District. She has served in the position since 2013. From 2005-2009, she served as the United States ambassador to Luxembourg, and from 1999-2005, she was the first woman chairwoman of the Missouri Republican Party. She has also served as the local committeewoman in Lafayette Township, and on the boards of the St. Louis Children’s Hospital, Campfire USA, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Cor Jesu Academy, Forest Park Forever and Washington University in St. Louis International Scholars Academy. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Missouri in Columbia. She and her husband, Ray, have three children and six grandchildren.
Why should voters elect you, and what are your goals if elected?
Wellman: I grew up in Kirkwood and graduated from Kirkwood High School. I went to West Point, and I spent 22 years in the Army serving this country. When I came home, I kept serving by standing up for veterans and their families. Now I’m running for Congress because families across this district are working hard and still falling behind. Groceries, housing, childcare and healthcare cost too much. I’ll fight to bring those costs down, protect Social Security and Medicare and make sure the pensions people earned are there when they need them. I believe healthcare should be affordable for everyone, and decisions about it belong to patients and their doctors. Clean water matters to every farm and every town from Chesterfield to Cuba. I’ll show up, tell you the truth and work for you. That’s the promise I made when I put on the uniform, and I’m making it again.
Wagner: I have lived in Missouri’s 2nd District my whole life, raised my family here and had my first job right here in our community where I learned the value of hard work, honesty and investing in our neighborhoods. I have the experience and integrity to effectively serve the 2nd District and make sure our Midwest values are fully represented in Congress. My top legislative priority is to lower the cost of living and make life more affordable and easier for hardworking Missouri families. As your congresswoman, I will continue to vote to lower taxes, ease prices at the gas pump and grocery stores, and help you keep more of your hard-earned dollars so you can save for your future.
What’s the biggest threat to Social Security and Medicare, and how do you believe that threat should be addressed?
Wellman: The biggest threat to Social Security and Medicare is politicians treating them like a piggy bank instead of a promise to working Americans. You paid into these programs your entire working life. You earned these benefits, and Washington has a duty to protect them. I will fight any effort to cut benefits, raise the retirement age or privatize Social Security and Medicare. We should reverse the healthcare cuts in the Big Beautiful Bill, protect Medicare’s power to bring down prescription drug costs, and strengthen Social Security by requiring the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share. I spent 22 years in the Army learning that when you make a commitment to people, you keep it. America made that commitment to our seniors. I intend to keep it.
Wagner: The biggest threat to Social Security and Medicare is out-of-control federal spending. American citizens pay into these programs throughout their entire lives, and we must ensure Social Security and Medicare remain solvent and ready to support citizens when they become eligible. While Democrats want Medicare-For-All, including illegal immigrants, I firmly believe that Medicare must be reserved to help the people it was intended to: elderly and disabled U.S. citizens. That’s why I was proud to vote for the Working Families Tax Cut, which ensured illegal immigrants cannot exploit loopholes to obtain taxpayer-funded Medicare benefits. The solvency of the Social Security Trust Fund is also a major issue, and I strongly oppose attempts to raid the trust fund to pay for unrelated and unnecessary federal programs. I stand ready to work with all my colleagues in the House and Senate to ensure Social Security remains strong for generations to come.
What strategies would you use to improve communication between your office and the district to which you serve?
Wellman: Showing up is part of the job. I will hold regular town halls across MO-2, maintain accessible local office hours throughout the district and make sure constituents can reach my staff and get a real response when they need help. I want to hear directly from the people I represent in every part of this district. That means town halls, community meetings, listening sessions and regular conversations with workers, small businesses, educators, veterans, local leaders and families about what they need from Congress. What I hear at home will shape what I fight for in Washington. The people of MO-2 deserve a representative who shows up, listens, answers questions and fights like hell for this district.
Wagner: My job is to be accessible and transparent, as well as make your life easier. I believe exceptional customer service is the baseline you should expect from me, and that’s why I’m always available to help you by listening to your legislative concerns, helping veterans get their hard-earned benefits or making sure you can navigate any issues you have with a federal agency. I communicate with my constituents in a wide variety of ways, from my weekly newsletter detailing my work on your behalf, to social media posts that update you on the work we do in Washington and in Missouri, and teletown halls, Office Hours with Ann and much more. I work every day to speak with people in every corner of Missouri’s 2nd District, and I am always here to listen to your needs.
How would you assess the nation’s election system?
Wellman: America’s elections are fundamentally sound. The bigger threat is politicians who have decided they should get to choose the voters instead of voters choosing them. That means gerrymandering districts to protect themselves, making it harder for eligible citizens to vote, attacking election workers, undermining legitimate results and changing the rules when voters deliver an answer they don’t like. That is backwards. In a democracy, the voters are in charge. We should have secure elections, fair maps, strong protections for election workers and voting that is accessible to every eligible American. We should also protect the right of citizens to take issues directly to the ballot without politicians putting their thumb on the scale. Every eligible voter gets a vote. Every lawful vote gets counted. And politicians live with the result.
Wagner: As our U.S. Constitution intended, our nation’s election system is administered by each individual state. I am beyond proud of how the state of Missouri conducts our elections. Missouri ensures each registered voter is a U.S. citizen, verifies the identity of each voter through voter ID at the polls, and quickly and accurately delivers election results the night of the election. This is how elections should operate throughout the entire country. I strongly oppose the policies of states like California, New York, New Jersey, and Illinois that outright prohibit U.S. citizenship verification and voter ID policies, and can sometimes take weeks to finalize an election result. Misguided policies like these undermine confidence in American elections. In Congress, I repeatedly voted to pass the SAVE America Act, which would ensure these liberal states conduct their elections more like we do here in Missouri.
