Hi there,

My name is Fred Wellman. I served in the Army for 22 years and am now the host of the On Democracy podcast on the MeidasTouch Network. I’m excited to share some big news: I’m the Democrat running for Congress in one of the most competitive swing districts in the nation.

This isn’t the email I thought I’d be sending you today. But with the government shutdown and Ann Wagner doing nothing to fix it, we need leaders who will stand up and do whatever it takes to fix it. I’m done waiting.

If you’re ready to join my campaign, can you split a donation of $25 today between The Long Run PAC and me to become one of our first 5,000 Founding Donors? If you want to learn more, please keep reading this.

A Missouri native, I graduated from Kirkwood High School and then attended West Point. In the Army, I served as an aviator and later as a public affairs officer. For much of my career I led soldiers in combat, flew helicopters in Desert Storm and Iraq, and served as a spokesman for generals leading America’s toughest and most important fights.

After retiring from the Army, I kept looking for ways to serve, founding a public affairs firm to advocate for veterans and military families, volunteering at a field hospital in New York at the height of COVID, and working with the Lincoln Project in 2020 to help beat Trump. My oath to serve our country and uphold our Constitution is sacred and endures for life.

I returned home to Missouri four years ago and once again rolled up my sleeves to help organize the thousands of donations for refugees coming to St. Louis from Afghanistan as Kabul fell.

Now, I host the On Democracy with FPWellman podcast on the MeidasTouch Network, having key conversations about how to address rising authoritarianism, inequality, and Trump’s assault on our democracy.

Meanwhile, my MAGA Congresswoman—Ann Wagner—is content to let Trump rule as a dictator. She has spent her entire career selling us out, ignoring her constituents, and getting richer. She hasn’t even bothered holding an open town hall in thirteen years.
In one of the most critical swing districts in the country, here in my home state of Missouri, this cannot continue.

That’s why I’m running.

Because working Americans are getting priced out of the American Dream.
Because our kids deserve the same rights, freedoms, and opportunities we had.
Because the time for sitting on the sidelines is over.

After two decades in uniform, I know what it looks like to fight for this country. I watched brave men and women give everything to defend our freedoms, including two of my own soldiers in Desert Storm. Their sacrifice reminds me every day that democracy is worth fighting for.

Now Trump wants to crown himself America’s first king and Ann Wagner is helping him get there. They have taken healthcare away from millions, destroyed the economy, gutted the VA, politicized our national defense, and are ripping apart our democratic institutions piece by piece.

I won’t stand by while they sell out working families. I’m a fighter – and I’m ready to take this fight to Washington. I know you are ready to fight too.

That’s why I’ll ask one more time, can you split a donation between The Long Run PAC and me to become one of the first 5,000 Founding Donors of our campaign?

I’ve got one tattoo. It says “I’m not done yet.” It was the theme of my Army retirement speech. Whenever I hit hard times and thought I was all but finished I remembered that line. I dusted myself off and got back in the fight.

I’m not done yet.
You’re not done yet.
Missouri is not done yet.
America is not done yet.

Join me.

—Fred Wellman
Democratic Candidate for MO-2