Jefferson County Democrat to run for 8th District seat

Jefferson County, Missouri, psychotherapist and addiction counselor Kathy Ellis has announced she will run as a Democratic candidate for the 8th District congressional seat in 2018.

Ellis, who resides in Festus, Missouri, said she was “saddened and angry” about the election of Donald Trump as president.

Ellis, a first-time candidate, said she attended the women’s march in Washington, D.C., earlier this year.

She said that experience prompted her to consider running for Congress.

Ellis said she is concerned about health care.

“Everybody needs to have health-insurance coverage,” she said.

Ellis said the Affordable Care Act should not be repealed, but needs “tweaks and major changes.”

The Democratic candidate said she doesn’t have a specific suggestion on how to fix the law.

“I am open to any kind of proposal to move it forward,” she said Friday.

She officially announced her candidacy Saturday at Jefferson College.

“What is going on in Washington has got to stop,” Ellis said in a news release. “People are dying from the lack of health care and Washington’s answer is tax cuts for the wealthy,” she said in the release.

In an interview with the Southeast Missourian, Ellis said she wants to improve public schools, which she described as the “lifeblood” of rural communities.

She described herself as “pretty much a fiscal conservative” who wants to spend tax dollars wisely.

But she added, “I am not going to give up my values of the left.”

Ellis claimed incumbent Republican Jason Smith “doesn’t listen” or respond to constituents.

She said Smith is “all about deregulation.”

Ellis said, “I don’t think that is the way to go in every single instance.”

She said the nation needs a “reasonable environmental policy.”

Ellis said she believes there is a “grassroots movement” to bring change to Washington.

She said she wants to listen to the people of Southeast Missouri.

“It is about their kids. It is about their jobs,” she said.

Ellis said she decided to announce early because “it is going to take a lot of time to get out and see people.”

mbliss@semissourian.com

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