Seven candidates are running in the Republican primary for Missouri’s 3rd Congressional District

Seven candidates are running in the Republican primary election for Missouri’s 3rd Congressional District on August 6, 2024. Three lead in media attention, endorsements, and fundraising: Justin Hicks (R), Bob Onder (R), and Kurt Schaefer (R).

Incumbent Blaine Luetkemeyer (R) is not running for re-election. Luetkemeyer was first elected to the U.S. House in 2008.

Former President Donald Trump (R) and U.S. Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) endorsed Onder. Leutkemeyer endorsed Schaefer.

As of July 2024, four major election forecasters rated the general election Solid/Safe Republican.

Onder is a physician and an attorney. He served in the Missouri Senate from 2015 to 2023 and in the Missouri House of Representatives from 2007 to 2008. Onder ran against Luetkemeyer in 2008, when Leutkemeyer defeated him in the Republican primary for Missouri’s 9th Congressional District. Onder says he disapproves of the Biden administration’s immigration policies and that he sponsored “the strongest state law in the country to fight illegal immigration.” Onder says he is pro-life and that he authored legislation which stated abortions could not be performed in Missouri “if the fetal heartbeat of the unborn child has been detected.” Onder says he would join the House Freedom Caucus if elected.

Schaefer is an attorney who worked as the general counsel for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. He previously served in the Missouri Senate from 2009 to 2017. Schaefer says he would work to eliminate illegal immigration and says the Biden administration’s immigration policies have “created a gateway for drugs and criminal activities to inundate our Southern Border.” Schaefer says his time as Missouri Senate Appropriations Committee chair gives him the experience to decrease federal spending, saying he “reformed Missouri’s welfare system [and] forced new accountability measures on Missouri’s bloated and out-of-control Medicaid program.” Schaefer says he supports Trump’s policies and that “No one will be a bigger champion for President Trump’s conservative agenda.”

Also running in the primary are Chadwick Bicknell (R), Kyle Bone (R), Bruce Bowman (R), and Arnie Dienoff (R).