Hard on the campaign trail, Democrat Katy Geppert, running for U.S. House District 3, has literally put 30,000 miles on her tires.
She's been knocking on doors and appearing at town hall events, and said she's willing to debate with her opponent - incumbent Republican Blaine Luetkemeyer - who hasn't accepted invitations to do so.
While pounding the pavement and shaking hands, Geppert was surprised. Soon after announcing her candidacy, She and her husband discovered they were expecting a second child.
"I didn't know I was pregnant when I decided to run," she said Wednesday.
She and her husband, Tyler Duenow, already had daughter Willa. After conversations, they decided as a family that Geppert would continue on the campaign trail.
Geppert was born in Greenville, Illinois, "the day after Christmas in 1981."
The family moved to Glen Carbon, Illinois, when she was 8 years old. She graduated from Collinsville High School and went to Quincy University, majoring in chemistry.
"I put myself through college," she said. "For a short time, I literally had five jobs."
Her first position out of college was working at an environmental testing laboratory.
"I was doing water and soil testing, mostly of nuclear power plants," Geppert added. "Looking back, I see that was very important."
She mentioned the now-closed West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton, the subject of a 2017 HBO documentary "Atomic Homefront." The landfill's contents contain radioactive waste; thus, it's an EPA Superfund cleanup site. Also, there is a subsurface smoldering fire just 1,000 feet away in a second pocket of the landfill.
"It could be a very dangerous situation because there's an underground fire," Geppert added.
Next, she found a job in pharmaceuticals, working on a process scale to bring new drugs to the market.
"There are so many things you can do with a chemistry degree," she said.
One degree wasn't enough, and Geppert earned her master's degree from Saint Louis University.
Geppert said she kept her maiden name after marriage because that's the name under which she earned her educational degrees. A main supporter, Tyler has been working in professional and community theater since he graduated from Lindenwood University in 1996. He's a winner of the prestigious Kevin Kline Award for best lighting design, and he's also involved with a production company.
"He and I met when he was directing a play my mother was in," she said, adding they've been married for about eight years.
Geppert also brings an intense interest in history to the table - particularly the early half of the 20th century.
"The scientist in me says, 'Why does that happen?' Part of why I'm so interested in history is fact finding," she said.
Geppert and her sister were greatly influenced by their early teachers.
"In high school, almost every math and science teacher was a woman," she said. "I think there was an understanding amongst all the women (teachers) that if interest (in science and math) was shown by a female student, support them."
To a 16-year-old Geppert, the Clinton impeachment trial was influential in the same way the Watergate Hearings were to other people. From those events emerged an interest in politics. She also learned elected officials must be held accountable.
"This is the first time I've run for anything, but I've always been interested in politics and social studies," she added.
When initially thinking about running for office, Geppert prepared by going to forums and candidate trainings.
"I found myself more interested in being at the table writing legislation," she said. "Literally, my job is to walk into work every day and solve problems."
She also said she's worked for corporate labs her whole career, including collaboration, money management and goals.
"It's also working with my co-workers to say, 'Where do we go next?' Or, if it didn't work out, how do we circle the wagons and figure things out?" she added.
Important issues
On her journeys, Geppert said one concern rises above.
"What I've learned by talking to people - most are very concerned about health care," she said. "The number one issue people are worried about is the Republicans' dismantling of the Affordable Care Act even more."
Connected to that, voters are concerned about getting health insurance despite "previous" medical conditions, and keeping the ability to insure their children until age 26.
They also are concerned about the potential elimination of unions. A right-to-work bill was presented to voters which would have ensured private sector workers no longer had to join a union or pay a fee if their workplace was unionized. The measure was signed into law last year, but labor groups blocked its enactment through a petition drive that placed the measure on a statewide ballot. Voters firmly rejected it with a "no" vote of about 67 percent in the August primary election.
Geppert said, growing up in a union family, she also opposed the failed measure. She has been endorsed by the AFL-CIO of Missouri, the Saint Louis Labor Council and the Service Employees International Union Missouri/Kansas State Council.
Her father worked for AT&T, and her mother was a teacher.
"My parents had stable incomes and excellent benefits. They had paid vacations," she said. "There are lots of things unions have fought for that people have been able to benefit from."
The middle income class is shrinking, and elimination of unions will offer those workers less protection, Geppert added.
Fulton Sun readers also asked about the efficacy of the Trump cuts. Geppert questioned those tax cuts, saying the $40 or so she receives a month is being spent on higher gasoline prices.
"And the tax cuts will create a $1.5 trillion deficit over the next 10 years, as projected, and they're not making adjustments in spending," Geppert said. "We certainly need to figure out how to make the (federal) budget work. I'm 36 years old with two kids; the deficit matters to the world."
Readers submitting questions for the canceled debate asked about Trump's proposed Space Force, a fifth branch of the country's military.
"The Air Force already has the capacity of satellite monitoring," she added. "I do not think we need another branch of the military. It's creating more bureaucracy."
There are many issues near and dear to Geppert's heart, and if elected, she said she will have plenty of contact with constituents, including at town hall events. She plans to travel back and forth to Washington, D.C., as necessary, but her family is in Missouri.
Geppert added she feels the nation's future will be bright.
"I think it's on a pause," she said. "It's stopped at the rest stop for awhile, but we'll get on the highway again. I want to make sure there is positive change in the world. We have so many people who are so smart. We need to get away from negativity, stop and take a breath."
(The same invitation to interview with U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer has been extended to his office by the Fulton Sun.)