Jotte Sees Congressional Campaign Just Getting Started

The clock is ticking.

With a month before voters go to the polls August 7 to decide the fate of primary candidates, time is running out to march in parades, shake hands and kiss babies.

Ann Wagner, a Ballwin Republican who has been campaigning for the nomination in Missouri's 2nd Congressional district—which includes Chesterfield—for more than a year, has recently put her second campaign advertisement on television.

And now the other Republican candidate for the nomination, Dr. Randy Jotte, has his ads on the air. The pair are aiming to replace U.S. Rep. Todd Akin (R-Wildwood) who is aiming to run for U.S. Senate, against U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill.

Jotte, an ER physician and former Webster Groves councilman lauched his campaign in January from Chesterfield, at the Faust County Park in the Carousel House. His wife is an attorney.

Jotte launched his advertising on cable TV this month, as the primary campaign heads into its closing stretch.

Read why another emergency room doctor thinks Jotte needs to go to Congress.

Patch sat down with Jotte at The Daily Bread Cafe in Des Peres this week to talk about the economy, health care, and his uphill race for the nomination.

The Economy

Jotte's interview coincided with the release of recent employment figures, which showed 80,000 new jobs, but a steady unemployment rate at 8.2 percent.

Jotte said Americans should look at what we do best, and try to sell it to the world, even if it means products aren't always made domestically. "It’s ok if we build things overseas, it’s a matter of being able to sell them overseas and bring profit back to the U.S."

Health Care

If Jotte had a magic wand, he said his reform of the health care system would generally revolve around making it "patient-centered", would put emphasis on using health insurance to cover serious issues, like broken bones, or a cancer diagnosis. He added that free market reforms would give patients more certainty on medical costs.

The Opposition

Wagner's position as frontrunner in the primary race has seemed like a certainty to political observers for months. Her fundraising prowess has matched and surpassed those in the U.S. Senate race at times, leaving some to suggest she was in the wrong contest.

Eventually, Republican Ed Martin, who was challenging Wagner for the nomination, switched to the state attorney general's race, just a few days after Jotte entered the running.

Wagner has the backing of Republican notables like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, along with being watched closely by the National Republican Campaign Committee.

Wagner was a co-chair of the Republican National Committee during a Bush administration.

But Jotte sees an opportunity in all of this.

"A lot of people are deeply dissatisfied with what the establishment has brought us," he said. "We all saw the debt crisis last summer, which we’ve really accomplished nothing on that and I think people are ready for a changing of the guard. There are assets of being part of the establishment, there’s certainly great liabilities."

Jotte sees himself as part of an effort to restore statesmanship to the process of government in Washington, D.C. But he knows he has to get there first.

"My goal is to let people know they have alternatives in this race."

But the clock is ticking.

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