On Tuesday, 8th Congressional District voters will choose their next U.S. representative from an unprecedented five candidates.

Democrat Barbara Stocker, Libertarian Rick Vandeven, independent candidate Terry Hampton and Constitution Party candidate Doug Enyart are the challengers hoping to unseat incumbent Republican Jason Smith. At a time when many voters express frustration and dissatisfaction with Congress and the two major parties, third-party candidates say this could be their opportunity to break through.

"The time of the third party is certainly coming," said Enyart.

There's never been a Constitution Party member of Congress, he said, but he's hoping this year's general election changes that. Enyart describes his party as one that "lives and breathes" the Constitution, reading and interpreting it the way the nation's founding fathers intended. As a member of that party and as someone who dedicated a year and a half to studying the Constitution, Enyart said he would strongly adhere to the governing document.

Vandeven, the Libertarian candidate, said the presence of so many candidates on the ballot shows voters they have a real choice in electing their next representative. A vote for a third party is not a wasted one, he said.

Barbara Stocker

"People can dig into the details of each candidate and find one they agree with 99 percent if not 100 percent," he said.

Gridlock

Gridlock and a lack of compromise in Congress are among the reasons some of the third-party candidates say they decided to toss their hats into the ring. Hampton said until more unaffiliated candidates such as herself are elected, it will be difficult to make significant change. As an independent candidate, she said she's a citizen representative beholden only to the people of the 8th District, not special interests and party platforms. It also allows her to work with both parties to effect change, she said.

"I don't even want to say I would reach across the aisle, because there shouldn't be an aisle," she said.

Smith said he also recognizes the value in working with members of both parties. He's been in Congress for more than a year and said in that time, he's met with more than 225 members from both parties and hopes to eventually meet with all of them to find some common interests.

Doug Enyart

Many people consider Congress a "do-nothing Congress," he said, but they may not realize the House has passed hundreds of bills over the past two years.

"We have 387 bills that have passed that are over in the Senate and haven't been voted on," said Smith. "And out of those 387, 95 percent of those bills passed with bipartisan support. You don't always hear that."

While Stocker may be part of one of the two major parties, she said she explains to voters she believes in a practical frame of mind over ideology. She's a retired scientist and said such training -- to make decisions based on facts -- is something she plans to implement if elected to congress.

"[I believe in] the scientific way of thinking: to explore all the possibilities and look for ways they will work and what might be the unintended consequences," she said.

Economy

Rick Vandeven

Stocker contends Congress has missed opportunities to do more for the country. She said she believes the country is "posed for a real economic takeoff" if the government invests in infrastructure and additional education opportunities.

"I'm still harping on investment because it worked so well in the past," she said, "like when we built the interstate system and got all those jobs and enabled all those trucks and businesses to move things around. Another great investment, I think, was the G.I. Bill after World War II, which unleashed all those good minds to get started and go into business."

Making college more affordable and taking a second look at student loans, which Stocker said are suppressing education, also would have positive economic benefits, she said.

The 8th District's economy largely is centered around agriculture, and Vandeven said he believes there are opportunities in that sector to bring new jobs to the area.

"I really promoted the idea of cannabis legalization, especially in regards to industrial hemp production," he said. "I know that's not a panacea for our problems but that's a multimillion dollar a year. ... The demand is there, but right now, we're funding cartels in Mexico and Central America, and our jails are filled beyond capacity with drug offenders ..."

Terry Hampton

Smith said a common issue he hears across the 8th District is government intrusion. He said burdensome regulations affect employers and have even caused significant job losses in the district.

"Nordyne, in Poplar Bluff, when they announced that they were leaving, they cited they were leaving because of government regulations," he said. "These are common instances. We saw the last lead smelter in the country close in Herculaneum. There were several issues with that, but one of the main underlying issues was an EPA rule change, and that was 300 families that lost jobs because of regulations."

Hampton also is concerned about job losses in the district. A Robertshaw manufacturing plant in West Plains, Missouri, recently announced it would relocate to Mexico, leaving nearly 400 people without jobs. "It's frightening" to think about companies leaving the country and leaving so many without work, she said.

"We need to remove incentives for companies to move overseas and close corporate loopholes," Hampton said.

Foreign policy

While voters are concerned about issues that impact them at home, the candidates said they also are hearing a lot about foreign policy concerns. The Islamic State group in Syria -- also known as ISIS -- particularly has caught the public's attention.

Enyart said he approves of U.S. airstrikes against ISIS.

"Unfortunately, we created them. We've trained them, given them arms; we created this monstrosity," he said.

But Enyart doesn't believe the country should engage in any long-term action, instead urging quick action to wipe out the extremist group.

Vandeven also said it was important to recognize the difference between taking action to defend the U.S. and meddling in the affairs of other countries.

"We've wasted trillions of dollars, hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost, and we just keep doing the same thing over and over again. It doesn't make sense to me," he said. "I think this is a good opportunity for somebody to speak up and say 'Look, we need to really re-examine our foreign policy and what can we do to ensure our country is defended, but that we're not spending all this treasure and blood, meddling in the affairs of other countries.'"

srinehart@semissourian.com

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