“After watching his mother fight terminal breast cancer, Cort VanOstran couldn’t sit back while his Representative voted to allow insurers to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions and raise the cost of healthcare for Missouri families. Cort’s grassroots campaign focuses on the issues that matter most to the people of Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District and makes this a race to watch in November,”said DCCC Chairman Ben Ray Luján.
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To: Interested Parties
From: Amanda Sherman, DCCC Regional Press Secretary
Date: August 7th, 2018
RE: The Case Against Rep. Ann Wagner
Ann Wagner only have been in Congress for three terms, but she has taken to the DC Swamp like a duck to water. Taking full advantage of the perks of the job, Wagner has left the people of Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District with a Representative who fails to stand up and fight for their values.
From backing a health care repeal bill to supporting a tax scam that lines the pockets of large corporations, Wagner’s record amounts to one vote after another in support of powerful special interests and the Washington Republican agenda.
Cort VanOstran, a Missouri native, isn’t afraid to stick up for the people of his community. As a lawyer, he has fought to level the playing field for farmers and other hardworking Missourians. Cort couldn’t sit back and watch as Ann Wagner callously put the health care of Missourians in jeopardy, including his mother who was lost a tough battle with breast cancer. He got into this fight to put the people of Missouri before establishment politics.
In a year where the people of Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District are fed up with the status quo, Ann Wagner is in for the race of her political career and Cort VanOstran is ready to hold her accountable.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
Headline: Residents Hold Town Hall Meeting Without Ann Wagner [CBS Saint Louis, 4/21/17].
“…Other suburban Republicans who may have harder-than-usual races include Reps. Ann Wagner (R, MO-2) and Rob Woodall (R, GA-7), who represent suburban St. Louis and Atlanta, respectively. Democrats see some opportunities against Wagner…” [Sabato’s Crystal Ball, 4/26/18]
Rep. Ann Wagner: Politics Over People of MO-02
Swamp Creature
While in Washington, Ann Wagner has taken advantage of all the perks of being a politician. During her 6 years in Congress, Wagner’s net worth has increased by an estimated $2.2 million. How long would it take hardworking people in Missouri to see that kind of increase in their savings? Probably longer than two years.
Given the perks and increase in net worth, is it any wonder that after pledging to voters that she would serve only three terms, she is going back on her word? In the ultimate politician move, a spokesperson for Ann Wagner helped her backtrack saying she, “is not limiting her own term unless Congress acts.” The people of Missouri deserve honesty from their representative.
Beholden to Special Interests
Ann Wagner has become a reliable vote for the DC special interests who have backed her campaign. When it came time to vote on the GOP Tax Scam that gave 83% of the benefits to the wealthiest 1% of Americans, while increasing the deficit by $1.9 trillion, Wagner was completely on board. When big corporations wanted support for a bill that allowed internet service providers to sell their customers’ data without their permission, Wagner – who has taken $45,750 from the telecommunications sector – was a reliable yes vote.
Endangered Health Care for Families & Seniors
Instead of sitting down with the constituents who were deeply concerned about the impact of repealing health care reform and increasing premiums and out-of-pocket costs, Ann Wagner couldn’t take the time to even talk with them. Wagner stood front and center at a White House celebration after voting for Paul Ryan’s health care bill that would have taken health insurance away from 43,100 people in Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District, raised their premiums, imposed an age tax on older Americans, and done nothing to lower the price of prescription drugs.
THE PATH TO VICTORY
Having become a quintessential DC politician, selling out her voters on health care and taxes, Ann Wagner is vulnerable this election cycle.
Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District is a suburban district, and with President Trump taking just 53% of the vote here, it is the only district in Missouri that didn’t move toward Republicans in 2016. The outlook for Democrats is sure to get better from the 2016 results, given that the district is 80% suburban, a geographic makeup that has swung heavily against Republicans during President Trump’s administration. An early April poll in this district showed that Democrats led the generic ballot by 2, (46-44).
Cort VanOstran has put together a strong operation that puts the people of Missouri first. Outraising every Democratic challenger since Ann Wagner’s election in 2012, VanOstran’s grassroots fundraising is signaling the strongest challenge ever to Congresswoman Wagner.
The suburban makeup of the district, the fact that Ann Wagner is out of step with her voters, and a strong challenger in Cort VanOstran, make this a race to watch in November.
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