Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander made a short stop at Callaway Electric Cooperative Saturday to talk to a group of people on his "#FixCongress" bus tour.
"We won't change Washington until we change the people we send there," he said.
Kander, whose term as secretary of state is ending, said he is campaigning to become a United States senator representing Missouri. He will face off against Cori Bush, Robert Mack and Chief Wana Dubie in the Democratic primary Tuesday. If he wins, it is likely he would go up against incumbent Sen. Roy Blunt in November.
"I'm like the rest of Missourians - I look at what's going on in Washington, and it's clearly completely broken. And it bothers me," Kander said.
Kander lives in Columbia and is a former Army captain who served in Afghanistan following 9/11. He indicated there should be more people with military experience.
"My job over there was to do anti-corruption and anti-espionage investigations. When I got to Jefferson City as a state legislator, I found that there's actually plenty of corruption work to do there, too," he said. "At a time when you have the fewest amount of veterans in Congress since World War II, it is apparent that you need more folks who have volunteered for something in their life that is more difficult than a re-election campaign."
Kander thinks his experience in Missouri government and his military training would benefit Missouri residents in the Senate.
"It's really about having the courage to stand up and do what's right, regardless of your party or special interests want you to do. You just do what's right for Missouri and Sen. Blunt has demonstrated that he can't do that," he said. "Once you've been willing to put your life on the line to get something important done for your country and putting your job on the line to get something important done for your country, it's really not difficult."
Kander said some of his work as Secretary of State has increased jobs. He said he would like to continue that work as senator.
"The Missouri Manufacturing Jobs Act helped us add close to 20,000 jobs in the past five years. But that's about closing in on jobs here and growing jobs here. It's a very different approach than Sen. Blunt," he said. "I think the right approach is to focus on Missouri jobs."
Kander said he wants to focus on issues that affect the middle class and talked about the differences between him and Blunt on higher education.
"One of the biggest issues facing folks here in Fulton, whether they are students or just families is paying for college," he said. "Sen. Blunt has said that the reason students have debt coming out of school is because of their lifestyle during school. That makes me think it's been a little while since he's been in a dorm room and perhaps he thinks the extra bowl of Ramen is putting them over the top - and I know that's not true."
Kander said he would like to address how students and families can pay their student loans.
"I know families are struggling to pay for their kids and their grand kids to go to school," he said. "We need to make it so you can refinance a student loan and cap the interest rates on student loans. We have to make college more affordable. Middle-class families are going to struggle under this debt for a generation."
Kander was willing to address issues about police shootings around the country.
"We have to make sure that we are giving law enforcement the resources to protect the community and also to make sure the community feels safe so that level of trust exists," he said. "Building that trust makes everyone in the equation feel much more safe."
Kander ended his stop in Callaway County by addressing a divide in the U.S. Senate and talked about how to amend that.
"We have a group of people in Congress who don't have a common sense of mission or purpose and are more focused on themselves," he said. "We need to get back to having people who understand that even if you have different backgrounds, or different perspectives, you have a common purpose you can work toward."