Scot Pondelick

Scot Pondelick served in the U.S. Army from 2003 to 2011. He earned an associate degree from Green River Community College in 2012.[1]

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am Scot Pondelick. Three-time Army Combat Explosive Ordnance Disposal (Bomb Squad) veteran, nonprofit leader, and community organizer.

In the Army I spent a total of 38 months deployed to Iraq in combat, disarming IEDs, training Iraqi Army and police bomb squad units, collaborating with every three letter government agency and our foreign allies on processing bomb-making materials and tactics.

After the Army, while attending college, I collaborated with other Veterans to create an event that brought together all the services offered to Veterans and their family members. The event was called "The Veterans Resource Fair". This event grew into a massive annual community event hosting over 130 different service providers and drawing 1,500+ Veterans and family members annually. It was such a great resource for our Veteran communities, we understood the need for it to be more than just an event.

Our nonprofit, Nineline Veteran Services, was born from the need to make the resource fair into a daily service. It ran on a hub-and-spoke model, connecting multiple services to veterans and their families.

After managing The Resource Fair for 6 years and 3 years as CEO of Nineline Veteran Services, I needed to step away to address the multiple injuries sustained during military service. I found myself training service animals with a nonprofit called "The Battle Within". Their program "Dogs 4 Valor," is a free Train-the-Trainer program for Veterans and first responders

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?

Defense to democracy: America is the land of freedom and justice for all, or at least it was. We have an administration that blatantly ignores court orders, issues pardons to anyone giving "business" to the Trump family, and a Supreme Court taking "gifts," or what normal people see as bribes from billionaires to corrupt our civil liberties. We must prevent further damage, restore integrity to America, and hold EVERYONE involved accountable no matter what party, political position, or how rich they may be.Economy/Trade: Everything costs more because decisions were made in Washington that North Missouri is paying for. Tariffs, cuts to rural services, hospital closures -- those are policy choices. I am here to make different ones. Blake Hurst put a cost to those tariffs: $10,500 per farm per year. That is a real farmer doing the math on whether he keeps the land. I will not vote for trade policy that treats Missouri farmers as acceptable losses. We must confront anti competitive behavior and enforce antitrust laws within our agriculture and meat packing industries that cost consumers more money while our farmers get less.Medicaid / Medicare: 170,000 Missourians are at risk of losing medical coverage. Twenty-nine rural hospitals are on the brink of closure. I will NOT cut Social Security or Medicare. Full stop. People paid into these programs throughout their entire working lives. They are not a budget line; they are a promise. Removing the cap on Social Security taxes and expanding Medicare to all Americans, everyone would have access to comprehensive care, lower prescription drug costs, and capped out-of-pocket expenses.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Veterans: While leaving the military, I witnessed first hand the failures of the transition process and experienced the extreme bureaucratic difficulties of applying for benefits from the VA. We were promised: “Those who serve will be cared for when we return”. We have fallen short of that promise and with this administration cutting 80,000 VA employees has only made it worse. No Veteran should be homeless, no Veteran should have to struggle alone with PTSD, it’s time we deliver on our promise.

Campaign websitePondelick's campaign website stated the following:Veterans: Sending Americans into harm's way is the gravest decision any government can make. When we send people to serve, we owe them a country worth coming home to. Yet our government has cut 80,000 VA positions nationally, making it harder for our veterans to access the services they need. Scot will champion the fight to fully fund and restore the VA. He will also work to expand the VHA's Office of Rural Health to ensure that rural veterans have the same access to quality care as anyone else.Healthcare: Over 170,000 are projected to lose their Medicaid coverage because of cuts made by Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill. At the same time, 29 hospitals in Missouri are at risk of closure due to insufficient revenue. Scot will restore funding for Medicaid and Medicare, and propose changes to streamline enrollment and renewal processes for people who qualify. He will fight for federal funding to prevent hospital closures, and pass legislation preventing private insurers from underpaying for hospital services —without passing those costs onto consumers.Cost of Living: Across northern Missouri, families are being squeezed by rising prices for groceries, housing, fuel, childcare and healthcare, all while public services are being cut to pay for tax breaks for billionaires and wealthy corporations. Scot will fight for policies that lower everyday costs, including ending the tariffs placing an undue economic burden on Missouri families and farmers, and he will invest in public services so the people in northern Missouri can breathe easier.Agriculture: Missouri farmers are struggling to shoulder the amassing costs of Trump's reckless trade policies. Blake Hurst of the Missouri Farm Bureau determined that Trump's tariffs are costing farmers thousands of dollars per farm per year, and Trump's Iran War has caused significant supply chain disruptions. Scot will not allow the government to continue treating rural farmers as acceptable losses; he will strengthen the farm safety net that helps farmers weather unstable markets, and support policies that increase fair competition so farmers can access the supplies they need.Democracy: Democracy is under attack across the United States. Here in Missouri, 350,000 people exercised their democratic rights to sign a petition challenging the Republicans' gerrymandered Congressional maps, yet our state government ignored the will of the people, disregarding precedent to deliberately delay the results. Scot will support a constitutional amendment prohibiting gerrymandering practices, and will fight to protect voting rights and create stronger safeguards against voter suppression and election interference.Foreign Policy: Trump has engaged us in a war with Iran without Congressional oversight or approval. As a 3-time combat veteran, Scot personally understands the cost of sending American service members into harm's way, and believes it should only be done as a last resort, not as a president's vanity project. He will never support a war without a defined objective or honest explanation of the stakes— Scot Pondelick's campaign website (July 20, 2026)Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.