Incumbent Sam Graves running against Gina Ross in U.S. House 6th Dist. race

Thanks for joining us, i'm alan van zandt.

We start tonight with a look at one of the races we'll be voting on next week.

Sam graves has been representing northwest missouri in the u.s. house of representatives since for nearly two decades.

He's running for his 6th district seat for the 10th time.

Opposing him, someone running for her first office, but no novice to politics.

<<(alan van zandt reporting) democrat gina ross knows she's got a tough hill to climb to oust 9 term incumbant sam graves out of his u.s. house 6th district seat.(sot: gina ross, dem.

Candidate for u.s. house dist.

6 "one of the challenges is he won't debate me.

If we had a debate, it might make it not so challenging.")the platte county woman is an assistant professor at kansas city kansas community college.

She has 3 grown children and considers herself a people person while saying graves has lost touch with the people he's supposed to represent.

(sot :ross: "i know he's a millionaire.

People base everything on money, but people vote, not money, and i'm rich in spirit.")ross cites her experience in working as an assistant to former governor claire mccaskill.

She says she also understands the coronavirus pandemic, having gotten seriously sick from it.

(sot: ross: "the virus is totally real.

I had it in march.

I got my two negatives in may.

It takes a while to recover.")for 9 term incumbant same graves, he says part of the reason for his success over the years is listening to people in his district.(sot: rep.

Sam graves: "this is my home.

This is where i come back to every single weekend, whether it's getting out and talking to constituents or moving around the district or farming with my family, i come back every weekend.")graves says much of his time this last year has been focused on the coronavirus and how washington can help.(sot: graves: "we need a covid relief package, the next relief package.

What we don't need is checks going to illegal immigrants.

We don't need money being used by states in horrible financial shape due to very bad decisions their legislatures have made.")some have asked graves how much longer he'd like to stay on the job in washington.

He says he continues to be proud to represent missouri's 6th.(sot: graves: "i was born in this district and i know the people here and i know what they expect.

That's something i've always drawn on and how i was raised and that's how i determine what the district supports.)>>