Steelman wants 8th District nomination

Former state treasurer and state Sen. Sarah Steelman is the latest Republican to make an official appeal for a nomination to members of a committee who will be selecting a candidate for the 8th Congressional District.

In an email to committee members Wednesday, Steelman outlined her background along with reasons she feels she would make the best candidate to represent the district, which covers 30 counties in southeastern and southern Missouri.

"I have a record as a true fiscal and social conservative and as someone who wasn't afraid to stand up for what was right even if my party or the "powers that be" were against me," Steelman wrote of her time in the state senate and as state treasurer.

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, has represented the 8th District since 1996. Emerson announced in December she will leave Congress to head a not-for-profit organization that represents the interests of public power districts and rural electric cooperatives.

Steelman, 54, of Rolla, Mo., ran an unsuccessful campaign for U.S. Senate in 2012, losing the Republican primary to U.S. Rep. Todd Akin. Akin was defeated by Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, in the November general election.

Sixteen other Republicans, including Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder and Missouri Republican Party executive director Lloyd Smith, and a few Democrats have shown interest in receiving a nomination to become a candidate in a special election from party committees.