By Ben McCarthy
Democratic incumbent Emanuel Cleaver, 82, is running for re-election against Republican nominee, and Missouri State Senator, Rick Brattin, 46, in Missouri’s Fifth Congressional District race. After a series of legal challenges this year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month that Missouri must revert back to the older Congressional District boundaries used most recently during the 2024 election.
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D)
Rev. Emanuel Cleaver, 82, was first elected to Congress in 2004 after serving as the first Black mayor in Kansas City (1991-1999), a city council member (1979-1991) and a pastor for the United Methodist Church on St. James Street.
Cleaver discussed with the Telegraph his feelings about campaign issues and the current administration.
“A lot will have to be done to undo the lawlessness that Trump has created,” Cleaver said. “There’s been so much damage done to the economy, and to our resources.”
Cleaver’s campaign website highlights many accomplishments in securing federal funding for the Fifth district: from $850,000 for Grandview’s Farmers Market, to more than $2.3 million for KCPD (including cruisers, tactical equipment, and crime lab upgrades). Since 2022, Cleaver has reportedly secured nearly $109 million in federal funding for Fifth District projects.
Cleaver said earmarks such as these represent less than 1% of the federal budget and dismissed concerns that the spending contributes significantly to the country’s national debt, which soared past $40 trillion in August.
“You bring in a little pittance into the local coffers, and you maintain a relationship with your district,” Cleaver said. “The national debt has doubled under this president – and how much
have they spent targeting this district?”
“We should have paid down the debt, but instead we’re spending like drunken sailors,” Cleaver said.
The Congressman is especially concerned with government expenditures with the ongoing situation in the Middle East and the war in Iran.
“How many billions have been lost on an illegal war in Iran?” Cleaver asked. “The Constitution is clear, Congress must approve all wars.”
Cleaver says policy will begin to change immediately after the election, if the Democrats can secure a majority in the House or Senate.
Cleaver’s desire to run for reelection was buttressed when he attended President Trump’s inauguration in 2025. Although initially reluctant to attend, he says he is now thankful that he was in attendance to see what he describes as “the most dangerous sign” he has seen in his lifetime.
“There was Elon Musk and so many of these other oligarchs behind the president during his address,” Cleaver said. “This is the season of the oligarchs – they are multi-billionaires and trillionaires.”
He points to the federal contracts that Musk and others have been given as needing more oversight and examination, as a top priority in 2027.
Rick Brattin (R)
Rick Brattin, 46, was first elected to the Missouri State Senate in 2020. Born and raised in Greenwood, Missouri, Brattin graduated from Lee’s Summit High School and joined the U.S. Marine Corps after witnessing the September 11th attacks. A former four-term member of the Missouri House of Representatives, Brattin quickly positioned himself as the “MAGA” candidate earlier this year in a crowded Republican field and expressed his unwavering support in advancing President Trump’s legislative platform.
Attempts to reach Senator Brattin for additional comment over the past week were unsuccessful, though he spoke with the Telegraph during the primary.
Despite the changes in the Fifth District map, Brattin’s message to Jackson and Clay County voters has not changed since his campaigning over the summer.
He describes his record as “100% pro-life,” and has vowed to fight to “eradicate funding for all abortion providers” once in Congress. In December 2014, he garnered national headlines when he proposed House Bill 131, legislation that would require Missouri women seeking abortions to obtain written consent from the father of the fetus, except in cases of “legitimate rape.” He promises his first term in Congress to be just as active.
“I’m going to look at the abortion drugs being sent through the mail,” Brattin said. “And then a Constitutional Amendment to protect life.”
On top of his pro-life platform, Brattin said he was equally committed to a long-term war in Iran.
“They wished to destroy us and Israel,” Brattin said. “We took out all the leadership there – mowing the lawn, so to speak.”
At the five-month mark of the Iran War in July, Brattin said he continued to “hope” not to see boots on the ground (the war enters its ninth month next week).
“We may take over the Strait [of Hormuz],” Brattin said. “If that’s what it takes to bring stability.”
In the Missouri legislature, Brattin sponsored legislation imposing penalties on companies that hire individuals without checking their immigration status, while also pushing to ban sanctuary cities. In March, he proposed Senate Bill 1616, a bill that would require all individuals to submit proof of citizenship to receive food stamps and government health care. He said he would also support the White House’s efforts to build a border wall, fully fund ICE, deport all undocumented individuals, and end all policies that have encouraged illegal immigration into the country.
Brattin has served as the Chairman of the Missouri Senate Education Committee and plans to continue his fight against “wokeism” in schools. He sponsored legislation to ban books with “visual depictions of sex acts” out of Missouri school libraries.
