Kalena Bruce, a cattle farmer from Stockton, launched her candidacy for Missouri’s 4th congressional district Wednesday, billing herself as a “conservative outsider.”
Aside from managing the family farm, Bruce is a CPA who owns and operates an accounting firm in Bolivar where she focuses on small businesses and federal tax law. She touted her agriculture expertise and ties to former President Donald Trump in her announcement with a promise to “clean up Congress.”
“Sending a career politician to Congress to clean up the messes caused by career politicians is like asking a cow to clean up its own mess,” Bruce said. “As a product of rural Missouri, I’ll never stop fighting for our rural way of life.”
“As farmers, our legacy and livelihood are under constant attack from liberal politicians and bureaucrats who want to tax and regulate us out of existence. I will never back down when it comes to protecting the hardworking families who feed our nation.”
Bruce is a 5th-generation farmer whose Stockton farm comprises about 3,500 acres and includes a 650 head commercial cow-calf herd of black and red Angus cattle. She served on the Missouri Farm Bureau’s Young Farmer and Rancher Committee where she had the opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C., and meet with Trump.
Her campaign announcement video includes a 2019 clip of Trump praising Bruce, saying: “Kalena, I want to thank you and all of those incredible people that you represent and just keep up the great work.”
Bruce has also served as the American Farm Bureau Federation Young Farmer & Rancher committee chair and president of a local county Farm Bureau board. She’s a member of the Agriculture Leaders of Tomorrow and serves on the board of the American Foundation for Agriculture. Bruce also was part of a recent McCloy Agriculture Leaders Mission to Germany.
“I cannot sit idly by while self-proclaimed socialists, radical liberals, and RINOs continue to erode our freedoms in Congress,” Bruce said. “I will fight to clean up the corruption in Congress to ensure that we are not the last generation of free Americans. As a conservative outsider, farmer, job creator, mom and wife, I’m ready to take on the squad and their socialist agenda.”
“I don’t want my daughter to grow up in a hollowed-out America where we only talk about how great our nation used to be,” she said.
Aside from Bruce, state Rep. Sara Walsh, former Boone County clerk Taylor Burks, and Cass County associate commissioner Ryan Johnson are running for the 4th congressional seat. Sens. Caleb Rowden and Rick Brattin are also considering bids.
Missouri’s 4th congressional district — as it stands now — is a large and diverse expanse of the state, from Columbia sweeping west to just below Kansas City, stretching down to Pittsburg and Lebanon, and settling north of Springfield. It includes both Whiteman Air Force Base in Johnson County and Fort Leonard Wood in Pulaski County.
Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler has represented the district since 2011, but she is running for U.S. Senate.
Kaitlyn Schallhorn was the editor in chief of The Missouri Times from 2020-2022. She joined the newspaper in early 2019 after working as a reporter for Fox News in New York City.
Throughout her career, Kaitlyn has covered political campaigns across the U.S., including the 2016 presidential election, and humanitarian aid efforts in Africa and the Middle East.
She is a native of Missouri who studied journalism at Winthrop University in South Carolina. She is also an alumna of the National Journalism Center in Washington, D.C.
Contact Kaitlyn at kaitlyn@themissouritimes.com.
