By:Jason Hancock
Missouri Independent
U.S. Rep. Sam Graves is abandoning his run for a 14th term in Congress and will retire, the Northwest Missouri Republican told the Wall Street Journal.
Graves, 62, has represented Missouri’s 6th District since 2001 and is now among a growing number of House members stepping aside ahead of the 2026 midterms.
The move confirms weeks of rumors that Graves planned to bow out of the race before candidate filing closes on March 31. It also sets off a possible mad dash of candidates eyeing a run for the safe-GOP district that spans the northern half of the state.
On Thursday, before the news of Graves’ departure was official, Republican state Rep. Mazzie Christenson of Bethany confirmed she is seriously considering entering the race.
Christenson won her House seat in 2022 by toppling an incumbent Republican in the primary. And she brings bona fide Trump credentials to the campaign: before the legislature, she worked in the Trump White House and served as a war room analyst for Trump’s 2020 campaign.
That matters because if Graves steps aside, this primary may not just be a local fight over who inherits a safe Republican seat. It could become a proxy war between Trumpworld and Jeff Roe’s political universe.
Roe founded Axiom Strategies, the Kansas City-based consulting powerhouse that has long shaped Missouri Republican politics. But after Roe’s work with Ron DeSantis’ 2024 super PAC, Trump mocked him publicly and Trump aides later warned House Republicans against hiring Roe.
The other name making the rounds is Nathan Willett, a Kansas City councilman who is already running for an open state Senate seat in Platte and Buchanan counties.
He’s a former high school math teacher, a third-generation Northlander and a Republican with a base on the southern edge of the district. He’s also proven he can raise money. Last year, a PAC supporting his run for state Senate got a $100,000 boost from Herzog Contracting Corp.
That’s significant because while Roe’s consulting firm is one of the power centers in the Graves machine, Herzog is the cash engine that has helped give northwest Missouri Republican politics its financial muscle for years.
But that doesn’t make Willett the heir apparent. In fact, some in Graves’ orbit have been working to recruit another candidate and reportedly want Willett to stay put and keep running for the state Senate.
Jim Ingram, a veteran and retired business owner from Kansas City, already filed to challenge Graves in the primary. He told Fox4 in Kansas City that a Graves retirement would likely mean more candidates in the race. There are also three Democrats filed to run: Josh Smead of Liberty and Scot Pondelick and Matt Levine, both of Kansas City.
For years, rumors that Graves was ready to step aside surfaced almost on cue, and every time he wound up back on the ballot. This time, though, the chatter landed against a different backdrop.
If Democrats take the House this fall, Graves would be headed back to the minority. And even if Republicans hold on, his grip on the Transportation Committee gavel was in doubt. House GOP rules generally cap committee leaders at six years, and Graves needed a waiver in late 2024 to stay on as chairman.