It doesn’t matter if you always/sometimes/never agreed with his political stances, this much I can say with confidence about retiring Congressman Sam Graves: The man made sure his district offices excelled at constituent services. Absolutely top notch in that department.
No matter which candidate gets elected to be our next Sixth District Congressman, the high level of attention to detail in the constituent services department will be hard–if not impossible–to match that of Graves and his folks.
The Landmark needed some assistance from Graves’ office a few times in the past 20-25 years, primarily over postal service problems. On every occasion the Graves’ staffer assigned to handle our case was attentive and stayed in touch through the entire process, even doing weekly check-ins if needed, to see if we were getting improved results. It was impressive.
So the race to fill Graves’ Congressional seat is already heating up. And it’s kind of like a family feud. Two Republican candidates, Chris Stigall and Nathan Willett, are products of the Graves political circle, but already some hard feelings are coming into play. Graves on Tuesday morning announced via a social media post he is endorsing his friend Chris Stigall. Then within an hour, Willett answered with a post that seems to indicate this will be quite an interesting summertime campaign.
First, the words from Graves on Tuesday: “As I enter my next chapter, I am proud to pass the torch to the next generation. My friend, Chris Stigall, is the best suited to represent North Missouri in Congress. Chris was born and raised in Missouri’s Sixth District where he and his wife, Christine, are raising their children today. He is ready to work for the people of the Sixth District. I’m proud to support him and hope you will join me.”
Then a short time later came this post on X from Willett: “For 26 years Congressman Sam Graves has represented North Missouri. He and his anti-Trump (Jeff Roe) political consultant are trying to hand pick the next person to come after him for the next 26 years. As conservatives, we don’t believe in rigging elections–he tried to with his last minute retirement announcement but I am giving the voters a choice. The people of North Missouri should get to decide their next Congressman–not the DC swamp. After we win Aug. 4, I will work to build back a relationship with Congressman Graves. Until then, I will work to earn the votes of North Missourians with our team and win all 33 counties.”
The early Stigall vs. Willett campaign is sounding a lot like a competition to see which one can pick up an endorsement from President Trump. Stigall’s campaign announcement video last week sounded a bit like it was aimed at an audience of one, with that one person being Trump. And Willett’s comment above is clearly to remind Trump that Roe once worked for a Ron DeSantis PAC, as if Trump needs a reminder about anyone who has ever opposed him.
To some it might sound silly that candidates are hoping to embrace an endorsement from a president whose approval rating among independents is lower than Richard Nixon’s at the height of Watergate. That just shows you how predominant Republicans are across the Sixth District.
Full disclosure time.
As some longtime Landmark readers will recall, nationally syndicated radio host/Congressional candidate Chris Stigall is a former uncompensated columnist on page 3 of your Platte County Landmark. Stigall was receptive when I reached out to him about writing a column, and he did so as often as his schedule allowed from mid-2009 into 2012. He even continued sending in his column–which we called Straight from Stigall–after he made the career move from morning radio host in Kansas City to the major market of Philadelphia in early 2011. After the move, the column didn’t appear every week but a majority of them, and its existence continued well into 2012.
Here’s a fond memory of that time: In July of 2011, Stigall made his way back from Philly long enough to allow some of us to roast him for a good cause. Proceeds of the roast, held at Tiffany Springs Golf Club, went to a northwest Missouri political action committee. Roasters included Jack Cashill, nationally known author; Chris Butler, financial specialist who frequently appeared on Stigall’s radio show; Paige Powers, who was the news anchor on Stigall’s show; Jeff Roe, the aforementioned powerhouse political consultant who owns and operates Axiom Strategies; and your mostly humble Landmark publisher. It was a fun night of firing good-natured arrows at one another.
I had not spoken with Stigall for years until my cell phone rang Monday morning. “I’m calling to see if I can get my job back,” he joked.
It was just a personal conversation to get caught up. Plenty of chances for a serious campaign interview at a later time.
Many folks in the local political spectrum who I respect speak very highly of Nathan Willett, currently a KC city councilman representing the Northland. I’ve been in the same room with him a time or two and heard him speak but I’ve never really had the chance to have a conversation with him. We have communicated over social media a few times in recent days. Looking forward to learning more about Willett and his candidacy.
Guy Speckman is now wondering if having a column on page 3 of The Landmark automatically means he’ll be running for Congress someday. He texted me this:
“Am I in Stigall’s column slot? Will I be in Congress after I’m done? I understand if it’s Kamler. Be honest.”
(Find Foley wondering if the local political world can get any more whacked. Email your opinion, no matter how bizarre, to ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)
