Candidates running for the Republican spot on the November ballot for the U.S. 7th Congressional District seat are Grayson Hunt, incumbent Congressman Eric Burlison and John Casey. Congressman Burlison declined to participate. Casey did not respond to multiple requests for him to participate in the interviews.
The winner of the August 4 Primary Election will face Democrat Missi Hesketh and Libertarian Kevin Craig in November.
This interview and others for the August 4 Primary Election were coordinated and carried out by the Informed Voter Coalition. Members of the coalition are: Be Civil, Be Heard, Drury University’s L.E. Meador Center for Politics & Citizenship, Ozarks Public Broadcasting, Leadership Springfield, League of Women Voters of Southwest Missouri, Missouri State University, NAACP Springfield, Ozarks Technical Community College’s Social Sciences Department, Rosie, Show Me Christian County, Springfield Business Journal, Springfield-Greene County Library District and Springfield News-Leader.
Candidates were asked the same questions developed by the Informed Voter Coalition and given the same amount of time to respond. Candidates were not given the questions in advance, and the order of candidate interviews was determined by random drawing.
Pamela Shaver, a member of the League of Women Voters of Southwest Missouri, asked the questions.
Grayson Hunt
Shaver: Thank you very much for joining us. Let's begin by having you introduce yourself and tell us why you decided to run for this office. You have one minute.
Hunt: So, my name is Grayson Hunt. I'm running for Missouri 7th Congressional District. I'm very eager to run for this position because I've always had an enjoyment in politics and a desire to really bring about change. The reason I decided now is because legally you have to be 25 to run in the House of Representatives for Congress, and I really want to see congressional term limits get passed. I really want to know that, moving into the next generation, our future and our kids, they can see that there's different representation that can lead the way for them. I think that's really important as we evolve, as time changes that we're cycling out old ideas with new thoughts and ideas. And that's one of my biggest reasons I want to bring about that new change to really bring about a better economy, health care system, all the things above, but really holding accountability where it, where it matters most. And that's where our legislation is, the laws that are made for us every day.
Shaver: Purchasing a home has become beyond reach for many people in your district, with first time buyers struggling to compete with out-of-state equity groups and institutional investors who buy homes for cash and turn the properties into rentals. How do you feel about using the legislative process to stop or restrict this practice? Do you have other ideas to make housing more affordable for your constituents?
Hunt: Yes. So, it is really important that we eliminate corporations from doing this mass buyout of homes that families need. I myself had went through the process of trying to get a mortgage and buy a home. Rates are really high. They're almost unaffordable. Sometimes they're almost impossible to even obtain a mortgage, and that alone, then you make it more difficult by not having the properties themselves be available. So, we need to look at finding ways to lower those interest rates back to where they have been years ago where it was one time affordable, now it's 7, 8, 9, 10%, because that's unrealistic when we're talking $150(000) to $500,000. It's a lot of money. And so, we need to pass legislation that is going to eliminate and tighten those restrictions on corporations from buying out small homes, buying out a lot of community properties, making it a lot harder for families to have affordability in their community. Because that makes prices go up. The less availability there is, it makes it harder and more expensive for them to buy those properties, the very few that are left. And I live in Willard, so I see a house up for sale one day and within three days it's purchased. People are quick and eager to buy the homes, but they have to be available. And so, I think that's going to be the biggest step in the right direction alongside making them more affordable in general.
Shaver: Immigration and border security have been major national issues. What is your position on federal immigration enforcement pathways to legal status for long term undocumented residents and the treatment of asylum seekers.
Hunt: So, I am very much a strong proponent in a secure border. We need to ensure that we are vetting out criminals from that legislative process coming into our country. I do think that in a lot of ways, we do have a lot of problems when it comes to illegal aliens coming in. You have the drug trafficking, sex trafficking, the list kind of goes on and it is pretty rough and it's bad. And then you do have a lot of people here that are trying to find those legal pathways and that are struggling to find those legal pathways because we've made it very difficult or it's a very long wait list or it's a long, drawn-out problem. The biggest thing that we can do from a legislative standpoint is tighten the illegal immigration, border security, and then we also need to make it actually feasible for people trying to pursue citizenship here. We need to give them that ability to do that in a very quick, strict, firm way because there needs to be a pathway. That's what our country was built on was immigrants. So, it is important that that pathway is there, but we need to make sure that the process in and of itself is very strong because if we don't have a strong immigration system, our economy, our communities, all of it kind of starts to fall apart. And that's why that's very important. It all does tie in together at the end of the day. But I really do believe that we just need to have a very strong vetting process when it comes to having people become legal citizens of the United States.
Shaver: The Department of Government Efficiency has proposed significant cuts to federal agencies and programs. Which cuts do you support and are there any you oppose? How would you protect programs that benefit southwest Missourians?
Hunt: So, the majority of the programs that they're cutting, it appears, with a lot of the different government agencies that they have, that you could say, you know, we didn't even know this was a thing or maybe this was an investigative team. However, that might be, I think a lot of the cuts maybe were necessary, but I don't think maybe should have been at the cost of a lot of jobs for people directly. I don't believe in just cutting a blank check for somebody or writing out a check for a part of the government for them to not fully do that job, especially when we're talking about government efficiency and accountability, then we really want to see accountability. And I don't, I personally don't think in the past year we've really seen that. I think a lot of people are frustrated. And so, I'm all for efficient government change when it comes to limiting that spending. As a conservative, we believe in less government. We want less government in people's pockets and in their hands. But at the same time, we don't want to cut anything that's going to be like Medicaid or SNAP benefits, what protects our southwest Missouri residents. Making sure that we actually have our Social Security plan in place. And it's strong and it's effective. I know a lot of talks about that going into next year. They're saying that it's questionable. Money might not be there. And that's some, that's some pretty iffy stuff to be thinking, especially when you think the government has so much money, and they're passing these spending bills, and they're moving things from one country to another. We've got to start investing that back into our people first, and that's going to be really where that efficiency is going to come from in holding that accountability at the government level.
Shaver: How would you approach United States trade policy, including tariffs on imports from China and other trading partners? What impact do you believe current tariff levels have on businesses and consumers in southwest Missouri?
Hunt: Well, as we all know, tariffs, although that cost does get put on to the manufacturing companies, it then gets passed down onto the purchaser buying those items. So, realistically the tariffs, although it might be profiting the federal government more money, it is costing Americans more money to be doing the transactions in and of themselves. That's why it's really important that we really focus on just bringing those jobs here and that we really focus on incentivizing that if we aren't already laying the groundwork out for it. We have made a lot of strides in bringing more American jobs back into our country. But I think there's a lot of opportunity that we're still missing out on. I think that we could rely a lot less on having to make and trade with China if we just did it here. Would it be more expensive? Probably for a short period of time until we make sure we have all of the things that we need to make all the things that they do. But at the same time, we don't want the United States to turn into a huge country of just factories, literally every block. You know, that's not what I want to see. I'm very anti-data center. I don't want to see anything, you know, take over our conservation state. But I also want to see our state lead and in especially in job growth. That's a really big opportunity here. There's a lot of room that we can really grow in that. And I would really love to incentivize so that they can bring those jobs in, bring apprenticeships in and really drive that work ethic for the American worker.
Shaver: The current administration has at times actively opposed the promotion of renewable energy like solar and wind, despite the proven benefits and public support. What are your views on renewable energy and making these alternatives more affordable for average Americans?
Hunt: I think it's really important that we have alternative options, especially when it comes to wind, solar. They are great substitutes. I know a handful of people are talking about nuclear energy being where we might move to next. I'm not really sure. It's an idea. I don't know long term effects of that. And that's what I always think about when I think about decisions like these. What are the long-term effects that these could have, the long-lasting effects that could be made onto our residents and our communities? So, when I really think about how can we change and limit that, I really have to sit back and analyze for a moment what can we do differently? How can we maybe go about the situation a little different? Solar and wind energy aren't going anywhere. They're there. They're effective. We just need to incentivize. And we need to make sure that we utilize them when it makes the most sense. I think we need to look at all of our alternative options, and we need to keep them all on the table so that we're the most efficient when it comes to utilizing our energy sources here in America.
Shaver: Grayson, that concludes our interview. Thank you very much for taking time to talk to us.
Hunt: Of course.
