Kander, Blunt make repeated visits to Cape in hot Senate race

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jason Kander has made a habit of campaigning in traditionally Republican Cape Girardeau.

Kander visited with more than 30 students and other supporters at the University Center on the Southeast Missouri State University campus Monday, the third campaign stop he has made in Cape Girardeau in the past three weeks.

A recent poll showed the race between Kander and U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., is "statistically tied," according to a Kander news release.

Democrats and Republicans have said the tight race could help decide the balance of power in the Senate.

For his part, Blunt has made several campaign stops in Cape Girardeau and Jackson so far this year, including two in August. Blunt's campaign staff has not indicated whether the senator will make another campaign stop in the Cape Girardeau area before the election.

Sen. Roy Blunt

Elected to the Senate in 2010, Blunt previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives for seven, two-year terms, starting in 1996.

Kander is on an eight-day, "get out and vote" campaign bus tour of the state that began Monday in Caruthersville.

After meeting with supporters, Kander said Democrats and Republicans in Missouri recognize "we need a new generation of leadership." He said, "The people of Cape Girardeau really understand how badly we need change in Washington and that we are not going to get that change until we change the people that we send there."

In his campaign, Kander has stressed his experience as an Army veteran.

In television ads, Blunt has painted Kander as too liberal for Missouri.

But Kander, who is Missouri's secretary of state, said he doesn't toe the party line.

"I always make decisions based on what is best for my state. If my party disagrees, so be it. It is not something that concerns me," he said.

He said, "Whether it is the Iran deal or bad trade agreements or whether it is the fact that I support a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution, there are several areas where I disagree with my party, but it is simply because I am just doing what I believe is right."

With the FBI reopening its investigation into Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's emails, Blunt called on Kander over the weekend to "immediately return the $500,000 donation Hillary Clinton recently sent to Missouri to help his campaign."

But Kander said Clinton never donated that money to his campaign.

"It is just another lie by the Blunt campaign. The Clinton campaign is spending money on its own in Missouri," he said.

Reacting to the ongoing FBI investigation, Kander said, "Sen. Clinton made a mistake with a private server for her email."

He said he agrees with Democratic and Republican lawmakers who have called for FBI director James Comey "to release all the relevant emails so the American people can see what they contain."

Kander added, "I trust the integrity of the FBI's investigation."

FBI investigators want to review emails of longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin. Those emails were found on a device seized during a sexting investigation of former New York congressman Anthony Weiner, Abedin's estranged husband.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

University Center, Henderson and Normal avenues, Cape Girardeau, Mo.