VanOstran will announce Wednesday for Wagner’s congressional seat; Dunaway also announces

July 11--Updated at 6:45 pm with more candidates announcing

WASHINGTON --Cort VanOstran, a 2014 graduate of Washington University Law School, will officially announce on Wednesday his Democratic candidacy to challenge Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Ballwin.

He said he opposes Wagner's votes to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, and that he criticizes Wagner for not having town hall meetings in Missouri's 2nd District to explain that vote, and others. The U.S. House earlier this year voted to repeal and replace Obamacare, but the Republican-led Senate has struggled to pass its version of that overhaul.

VanOstran, who practices law with Gray, Ritter and Graham, teaches at Washington University's law school. He is 28, single and lives in Clayton. He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard.

VanOstran grew up in Joplin, the son of a single mother who died of cancer last year. He said she had bought health insurance on the Obamacare exchange, and he said he's running in part to ensure that people like her continue to get health-care insurance.

He said the experience of growing up in a single-parent household is why he is a Democrat.

VanOstran is one of several potential Wagner challengers, as national Democrats, who have largely ignored the seat in recent elections, have made contesting the 2nd District one of their focuses in 2018.

St. Louis School Board member Bill Haas, a former candidate for St. Louis mayor who won the Democratic nomination for the 2nd District in 2008 before losing in the general election, has said he is considering running again for the seat. So has Mark Osmack, 35, an Army veteran who served two tours in Afghanistan, who works for Deloitte, the audit and consulting firm; and Sam Gladney, 33, a lawyer and Army and Iraq War veteran.

Kelli Dunaway, an assistant director of legal professional development at Bryan Cave LLP, previously announced she would run as a Democrat. The mother of two received a law degree from UCLA and an undergraduate degree from Southern Illinois University. She was a field organizer for Barack Obama's 2008 campaign and a California Democratic Party delegate.

"As a lifelong advocate for equal rights and -- most important -- a mother of two, I feel a strong responsibility to work for change at both the district and national levels," Dunaway said. A press release from her campaign said she had received the endorsement of Wagner's 2016 opponent, Bill Otto.

VanOstran told the Post-Dispatch Tuesday that he has talked with Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, about his challenge. VanOstran said that he will reveal several endorsements at his official announcement. He'll start raising money on Wednesday, he said.

Wagner has a formidable campaign treasury and political network. Citing family reasons, she surprised many last week when she said she would not challenge Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., next year, and seek re-election to the House.

Wagner is expected to report having more than $3 million on hand at the end of June, with the ability to raise a lot more through an extensive statewide and national political network. She has been a top official in both the state and national Republican parties, and has held leadership whip positions in the Republican majority in Congress.

But VanOstran told the Post-Dispatch that "it's not surprising that Congresswoman Wagner has a lot of money in the bank because she is a creature of Washington, and all that entails."

___

(c)2017 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Visit the St. Louis Post-Dispatch at www.stltoday.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.