Raymond Reed

Raymond Reed (Democratic Party) (also known as Ray) is a member of the Missouri House of Representatives, representing District 83. He assumed office on January 8, 2025. His current term ends on January 6, 2027.

Reed (Democratic Party) is running for re-election to the Missouri House of Representatives to represent District 83. He declared candidacy for the 2026 election.^[source]

Biography

Raymond Reed was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Central Missouri in 2018. Reed's career experience includes working as a party affairs organizer with the Missouri Democratic Party.^[1]

Elections

2026

Note: At this time, Ballotpedia is combining all declared candidates for this election into one list under a general election heading. As primary election dates are published, this information will be updated to separate general election candidates from primary candidates as appropriate.

General election

The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.

General election for Missouri House of Representatives District 83

Incumbent Raymond Reed is running in the general election for Missouri House of Representatives District 83 on November 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Raymond Reed (D)

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
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Endorsements

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2024

General election

General election for Missouri House of Representatives District 83

Raymond Reed defeated Andrew Bolin and James Annala in the general election for Missouri House of Representatives District 83 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Raymond Reed (D)	76.9	14,337
		Andrew Bolin (L)	19.9	3,704
	Submit photo	James Annala (G)	3.2	596

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 18,637
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Missouri House of Representatives District 83

Raymond Reed advanced from the Democratic primary for Missouri House of Representatives District 83 on August 6, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Raymond Reed	100.0	4,596

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 4,596
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Libertarian primary election

Libertarian primary for Missouri House of Representatives District 83

Andrew Bolin advanced from the Libertarian primary for Missouri House of Representatives District 83 on August 6, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Andrew Bolin	100.0	23

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 23
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Reed in this election.

2022

General election

General election for U.S. House Missouri District 2

Incumbent Ann Wagner defeated Trish Gunby and Bill Slantz in the general election for U.S. House Missouri District 2 on November 8, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Ann Wagner (R)	54.9	173,277
	Trish Gunby (D)	43.1	135,895
	Bill Slantz (L)	2.1	6,494

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 315,666
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Missouri District 2

Trish Gunby defeated Raymond Reed in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Missouri District 2 on August 2, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Trish Gunby	85.2	50,457
	Raymond Reed	14.8	8,741

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 59,198
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Ben Samuels (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Missouri District 2

Incumbent Ann Wagner defeated Tony Salvatore, Wesley Smith, and Paul Berry in the Republican primary for U.S. House Missouri District 2 on August 2, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Ann Wagner	67.1	54,440
	Tony Salvatore	15.4	12,516
	Wesley Smith	9.0	7,317
	Paul Berry	8.5	6,888

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 81,161
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Bob Anders (R)

Libertarian primary election

Libertarian primary for U.S. House Missouri District 2

Bill Slantz advanced from the Libertarian primary for U.S. House Missouri District 2 on August 2, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Bill Slantz	100.0	384

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 384
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Campaign themes

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

Raymond Reed has not yet completed Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey. If you are Raymond Reed, click here to fill out Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.

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2024

Raymond Reed did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2022

Raymond Reed completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Reed's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Ray Reed is a Democratic Candidate for Missouri's 2nd Congressional District. At 25 years old, this product of union workers, born and raised in the suburbs of St. Louis is building a broad and diverse coalition across divisions of race, region, religion, gender, income, and age group.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Healthcare
Jobs
Justice

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Ray is running on healthcare, jobs, and justice. The pandemic has exposed the fact that healthcare shouldn't be a privilege for only those who can afford it, but a right afforded to all. The affordable care act laid the groundwork for universal healthcare and in Congress, Ray will work to build on it. A product of union workers, Ray will introduce legislation to federalize sectoral barganing for labor union which will be the largest expansion of union rights since President Roosevelt's new deal. He also supports raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. Justice isn't only about criminal justice, its also about economic justice with federalizing a fair tax code holding Wall Street accountable to their fair share; environmental justice by preserving Missouri's natural resources through a green new deal; educational justice with forgiving federal student loans and creating a K-12 policy crafted around diversity, equity, and inclusion; reproductive justice pledging to vote to modify Roe and preserving the reproductive rights indefinitely.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

Obviously Barack Obama because I think we both approach politics and life similarly with an optimistic and hopeful outlook. But I also have to give credit to Jason Kander (former Secretary of State in Missouri). Most folks think Kander materialized in a viral 2016 campaign ad of him breaking down an assault rifle while blindfolded, but I always encourage folks to research his work in the Missouri legislature and more importantly his work since 2018 protecting our democracy and fighting for veterans. Kander is some one who always placed integrity over expediency and service over his own ambition, and I've tried to emulate that in my own race.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

Plenty Ladylike by Claire McCaskill, Promise me dad by Joe Biden, The audacity of Hope by Barack Obama, and Outside the wire by Jason Kander.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Integrity, patience, love for the community you're tasked with serving.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

To place the priorities of the community over my own personal or political ones. For a long time politicians have abused the power of this office for their own person or political gain. My first priority will be restoring honor and integrity back to this seat in Congress.

What legacy would you like to leave?

Creating a path for the next generation to get involved in our democracy and exercise their rights to vote in our democracy.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

The biggest one would have to be the first one that hit close to home and that would be the death of Michael Brown that sparked the Ferguson, Missouri protest. It happened 5 minutes away from the district I'm running for now. I remember being in high school at the time and wondering how being accused of stealing cigarets could justify a penalty of murder by an officer. I understood the community pain because like meany of them I know what its like to grow up an African American in America and feel like your voice isn't heart-- It can be a suffocating feeling.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Missouri's governor's office. After my freshman year of college, I was honored to join the policy team of Missouri's last democratic governor the honorable Governor Jay Nixon during the final year of his administration. While in the office, I worked on bill reviews, clemency applications, and boards and commission appointments.

What is your favorite book? Why?

The Bible. I know that sounds like a cop-out answer, but really whenever I'm stuck in life there always a passage I can turn to.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

Iron Man. Even dead, Tony Stark is the hero.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

Rock with you by Michael Jackson

What qualities does the U.S. House of Representatives possess that makes it unique as an institution?

Our job is to craft legislation beneficial to our districts so in a way, we're sort of like your mail man, our job is to deliver.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for representatives to have previous experience in government or politics?

It can be, but I believe the best candidate is always the one who knows the district the best, and often times, career politicians can get so caught up in the system that they forget why they ran in the first place.

What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

Misinformation: Social media is quickly becoming the way most Americans receive their news and it's the future of the news industry. Congress must prioritize regulating it and its up to the people to send folks to congress who are young enough to actually understand how these platforms work and the implications regulations will have on America in the 21st century.

If you are not a current representative, are there certain committees that you would want to be a part of?

Oversight, Judicial, Financial Services.

Do you believe that two years is the right term length for representatives?

Yes.

What are your thoughts on term limits?

For Congress, I think the people serve as the decider on term limits, with the House being up for election every two years, if folks aren't satisfied they can vote them out fairly quickly. The Senate is different. with every state having a guarantee of two senators and each of those senators having 6 years between elections, I support another check on Senate power.

Is there a particular representative, past or present, whom you want to model yourself after?

Nancy Pelosi. No doubt about it in my mind, she embodies what it means to be a truly great legislator and in my opinion is the best legislator of the 21st Century presiding of groundbreaking, unprecedented laws like the affordable care act, the fair pay act, the bipartisan infrastructure law, the Cares Act and so much more. Every legislator coming into congress to carefully study her career.

Both sitting representatives and candidates for office hear many personal stories from the residents of their district. Is there a story that you’ve heard that you found particularly touching, memorable, or impactful?

Yes, there was this mother living in Kirkwood who told me the anxiety her high schooler feels about someone coming into her school and killing her and her classmates. To be honest, I understand her plight because I'm the first candidate in the district to grow up in the school shooter era learning shooter drills before I even learned how to read. I assured her that in congress I'll be the loudest advocate to action on common sense gun control legislation and will stay in to fight until we end gun violence in America.

Tell us your favorite joke.

I don't have many jokes to tell... Ask Donald Trump, he's the political clown.

Do you believe that compromise is necessary or desirable for policymaking?

Absolutely, Every politician I've worked for has a long career of working both with opposing members of their own party and of the other party to get things done. We should always fight for our stances, but at the same time, we can't let them blind us of the progress to be made.

The Constitution says that all bills for raising revenue must originate in the House. What role would this power play in your priorities if elected?

It means that early on in my tenure in congress, we have an opportunity to literally put our money where our mouths are and add amendment to forgive federal student loans, reinstate the child tax credit, and pursue every single democratic priority of the last 25 years.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Campaign finance summary

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

Raymond Reed campaign contribution history
Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	Missouri House of Representatives District 83	Won general	$6,995	$747
2022	U.S. House Missouri District 2	Lost primary	$66,307	$45,938
Grand total			$73,302	$46,685
Sources: OpenSecrets, Federal Elections Commission *This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in Missouri

A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Missouri scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.

External links

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Officeholder

Missouri House of Representatives District 83

Website

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Footnotes

↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on May 17, 2022

Political offices
Preceded by Sarah Unsicker (D)	Missouri House of Representatives District 83 2025-Present	Succeeded by -

[show]

Current members of the Missouri House of Representatives

Leadership

Speaker of the House:Jon Patterson

Minority Leader:Ashley Aune

Representatives

District 1

Jeff Farnan (R)

District 2

Mazzie Christensen (R)

District 3

Danny Busick (R)

District 4

Greg Sharpe (R)

District 5

Louis Riggs (R)

District 6

Ed Lewis (R)

District 7

Peggy McGaugh (R)

District 8

Josh Hurlbert (R)

District 9

Dean VanSchoiack (R)

District 10

Bill Falkner (R)

District 11

Brenda Shields (R)

District 12

Mike Jones (R)

District 13

Sean Pouche (R)

District 14

Ashley Aune (D)

District 15

Kenneth Jamison (D)

District 16

Chris Brown (R)

District 17

Bill Allen (R)

District 18

Eric Woods (D)

District 19

Wick Thomas (D)

District 20

Mike Steinmeyer (R)

District 21

Will Jobe (D)

District 22

Yolanda Young (D)

District 23

Michael Johnson (D)

District 24

Emily Weber (D)

District 25

Patricia Mansur (D)

District 26

Tiffany Price (D)

District 27

Melissa Douglas (D)

District 28

Donna Barnes (D)

District 29

Aaron Crossley (D)

District 30

Jon Patterson (R)

District 31

Ron Fowler (R)

District 32

Jeff Coleman (R)

District 33

Carolyn Caton (R)

District 34

Kemp Strickler (D)

District 35

Keri Ingle (D)

District 36

Anthony Ealy (D)

District 37

Mark Sharp (D)

District 38

Martin Jacobs (D)

District 39

Mark Meirath (R)

District 40

Chad Perkins (R)

District 41

Doyle Justus (R)

District 42

Jeff Myers (R)

District 43

Kent Haden (R)

District 44

John Martin (R)

District 45

Mary Steinhoff (D)

District 46

David Smith (D)

District 47

Adrian Plank (D)

District 48

Tim Taylor (R)

District 49

Jim Schulte (R)

District 50

Gregg Bush (D)

District 51

Mark Nolte (R)

District 52

Bradley Pollitt (R)

District 53

Terry Thompson (R)

District 54

Brandon Phelps (R)

District 55

William Irwin (R)

District 56

Michael Davis (R)

District 57

Rodger Reedy (R)

District 58

Willard Haley (R)

District 59

Rudy Veit (R)

District 60

Dave Griffith (R)

District 61

Bruce Sassmann (R)

District 62

Sherri Gallick (R)

District 63

Tricia Byrnes (R)

District 64

Deanna Self (R)

District 65

Wendy Hausman (R)

District 66

Marlene Terry (D)

District 67

Tonya Rush (D)

District 68

Kem Smith (D)

District 69

Scott Miller (R)

District 70

Stephanie Boykin (D)

District 71

LaDonna Appelbaum (D)

District 72

Doug Clemens (D)

District 73

Raychel Proudie (D)

District 74

Marla Smith (D)

District 75

Chanel Mosley (D)

District 76

Marlon Anderson (D)

District 77

Kimberly-Ann Collins (D)

District 78

Marty Murray (D)

District 79

LaKeySha Bosley (D)

District 80

Elizabeth Fuchs (D)

District 81

Steve Butz (D)

District 82

Nick Kimble (D)

District 83

Raymond Reed (D)

District 84

Del Taylor (D)

District 85

Yolonda Fountain Henderson (D)

District 86

Jeff Hales (D)

District 87

Connie Steinmetz (D)

District 88

Holly Jones (R)

District 89

George Hruza (R)

District 90

Mark Boyko (D)

District 91

Jo Doll (D)

District 92

Michael Burton (D)

District 93

Bridget Moore (D)

District 94

Jim Murphy (R)

District 95

Vacant

District 96

Brad Christ (R)

District 97

David Casteel (R)

District 98

Jaclyn Zimmermann (D)

District 99

Ian Mackey (D)

District 100

Philip Oehlerking (R)

District 101

Ben Keathley (R)

District 102

Richard West (R)

District 103

Dave Hinman (R)

District 104

Terri Violet (R)

District 105

Colin Wellenkamp (R)

District 106

Travis Wilson (R)

District 107

Mark Matthiesen (R)

District 108

Mike Costlow (R)

District 109

John Simmons (R)

District 110

Justin Sparks (R)

District 111

Cecelie Williams (R)

District 112

Renee Reuter (R)

District 113

Phil Amato (R)

District 114

Vacant

District 115

Bill Lucas (R)

District 116

Dale Wright (R)

District 117

Becky Laubinger (R)

District 118

Mike McGirl (R)

District 119

Brad Banderman (R)

District 120

John Hewkin (R)

District 121

Bill Hardwick (R)

District 122

Tara Peters (R)

District 123

Jeff Vernetti (R)

District 124

Don Mayhew (R)

District 125

Dane Diehl (R)

District 126

Jim Kalberloh (R)

District 127

Ann Kelley (R)

District 128

Christopher Warwick (R)

District 129

John Black (R)

District 130

Bishop Davidson (R)

District 131

Bill Owen (R)

District 132

Jeremy Dean (D)

District 133

Melanie Stinnett (R)

District 134

Alex Riley (R)

District 135

Betsy Fogle (D)

District 136

Stephanie Hein (D)

District 137

Darin Chappell (R)

District 138

Burt Whaley (R)

District 139

Bob Titus (R)

District 140

Jamie Gragg (R)

District 141

Melissa Schmidt (R)

District 142

Jeff Knight (R)

District 143

Bennie Cook (R)

District 144

Tony Harbison (R)

District 145

Bryant Wolfin (R)

District 146

Barry Hovis (R)

District 147

John Voss (R)

District 148

David Dolan (R)

District 149

Donnie Brown (R)

District 150

Cameron Bunting Parker (R)

District 151

Steven Jordan (R)

District 152

Hardy Billington (R)

District 153

Keith Elliott (R)

District 154

Lisa Durnell (R)

District 155

Matthew Overcast (R)

District 156

Brian Seitz (R)

District 157

Mitch Boggs (R)

District 158

Scott Cupps (R)

District 159

Dirk Deaton (R)

District 160

Vacant

District 161

Lane Roberts (R)

District 162

Robert Bromley (R)

District 163

Cathy Loy (R)

Republican Party (108)

Democratic Party (52)

Vacancies (3)

[bio-1] Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on May 17, 2022

[1]

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Raymond Reed

Biography

Sponsored legislation

Elections

2026

General election

General election for Missouri House of Representatives District 83

Endorsements

2024

General election

General election for Missouri House of Representatives District 83

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Missouri House of Representatives District 83

Libertarian primary election

Libertarian primary for Missouri House of Representatives District 83

Endorsements

2022

General election

General election for U.S. House Missouri District 2

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Missouri District 2

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Missouri District 2

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Libertarian primary election

Libertarian primary for U.S. House Missouri District 2

Campaign themes

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

2024

2022

Campaign finance summary

Scorecards

See also

External links

Footnotes

Information about voting

2025 Elections

2026 Elections

2024 Election analysis

Trending

Public Policy

Information for candidates

Get Engaged

Services

Additional analysis

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