Rep. Ike Skelton, first elected to represent Missouri’s 4th Congressional District in 1976, has gone the way of Joe Manchin with his latest ad, though with a slightly lighter touch. The Congressman himself doesn’t shoot any firearms in the ad, called “Keep and Bear,” but he does tout his NRA endorsement and speak passionately about the importance of the 2nd Amendment to “rural Missouri.”
Skelton is running against Republican state Rep. Vicky Hartzler, whom he accuses of letting “government decide, not gun owners” on the issue of concealed carry. The race is rated a Toss-Up by Real Clear Politics, but there’s very little polling there. The most recent poll shows a 3-point lead for Skelton, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
Hartzler’s campaign accuses Skelton of distorting her concealed carry vote, which it says she opposed “because she felt conceal-and-carry should be the right of individual Missourians and not subjected to a referendum. She took that principled stand and was praised for doing so by gun lobbyists, gun owners and the Western Missouri Shooters Alliance.”