Southeastern Missouri is where I spent much of my young life. This area makes up Missouri's eighth congressional district. It is a politically conservative, generally rural area located south of the highly populated greater St. Louis area. The eighth district is represented in the United States Congress by Representative Jo Ann Emerson. Emerson was first elected in November of 1996. Because she displays good homestyle characteristics and represents her constituents' views, she has held the position ever since. (1)
Emerson, as a representative of a generally conservative area, represents those conservative views in Congress. Her bio on the U.S. House's official website says, "she is a leading advocate for farm families and the promotion of America's agriculture, hunger relief, pro-life issues, and access to safe, affordable prescription drugs." A little over a year ago in Congress, Emerson fought against a plan called the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) (see video below). The NAIS was a proposed USDA program unpopular with Southeast Missouri farmers. The program would have attempted to require mandatory disease traceability of animals. In short, it was a proposed program that, she argued, would, among other factors mentioned in the video clip below, threaten the privacy of the livestock owners. Fighting and voting against programs such as the NAIS shows that Rep. Emerson pushes for policy in Congress that benefits the people of her district. Congressional representation such as this has built trust with her constituents as their Representative.
When Election Day comes around, it's obvious that voters want to know that the Congress-person for whom they vote is “one of them.” This concept is known as adhering to the area’s “homestyle.” The eighth district of Missouri is an area where livestock owners, farmers, and recreational hunters make up a good portion of the population. As a politician who is always preparing for future elections, Emerson makes sure that the people in her district not only know who she is, but feel that she is truly "one of them." Emerson makes time for an annual tour of rural Missouri farms. A small-town Missouri newspaper reports, "Emerson, who is a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee of Agriculture...said the farm tour is just one way she keeps in touch with state-of-the art methods being used to make Southeast Missouri competitive in markets around the world." (2) The picture below was taken from one of her farm tours. It represents Jo Ann's homestyle: out in the pasture with a water bottle in hand, discussing farm issues with a land owner as she looks out over the fields.
No Congress-person is perfect. As noted by a prior competitor of hers, Tommy Sowers, whom she beat in the last election, "since Jo Ann Emerson took office, our district has lost an estimated 16,000 jobs as over 150 plants have closed or laid off workers." (3) While this is a dark spot on Emerson's record, the good homestyle characteristics she displays, and the way she has represented her district in Congress since 1996 helped her beat Sowers in the last election. As for the future, I believe that Emerson will be re-elected until she chooses to step down. Her constituents hold her accountable, and as long as she represents their views she will stay in office.
Jo Ann Emerson has represented the eighth Missouri district for almost sixteen years. The people of her district trust her. She has earned this trust by acting according to her district's desires in Congress and by showing rural Missouri that she's one of them!
