Bill Otto, Democratic candidate for Missouri State Representative in the 65th District, is a proven leader, friend of Labor and supporter of laws that help working families.
As a veteran state representative, Otto wants to continue his work, helping overturn the anti-labor laws pushed by Republicans during the past two years, and needs our vote. The 65th District covers the city of St. Charles and northern St. Charles County.
FRIEND OF LABOR
Otto served two previous terms as a state representative. First elected in 2011, he stepped away from his House seat in 2016 to run for U.S. House, a race he lost as part of the Republican wave that swept Donald Trump into the presidency. But Otto is no quitter.
A champion of working families, Otto was dogged during his two previous terms in office, refusing to remain silent or back down on any issue concerning workers and their families.
Every year that he served in the Legislature, he filed a bill that would get rid of the generous benefits lawmakers give themselves:
- No more free health insurance.
- No more easy pension benefits while cutting the benefits of Missouri’s state workers – the lowest paid in the nation.
- No more special license plates.
He also filed a bill that would bring nonpartisan redistricting to Missouri, like Iowa, Arizona, California and an increasing number of states have adopted.
‘A CHOMPING BULLDOG’
Missouri AFL-CIO President Mike Louis says, “When Bill Otto is in the halls of our Capital, he’s a like a chomping bulldog.”
Otto says it’s important for working people to have someone representing them in Jefferson City who understands and knows what matters to them and understands what it’s like when you’re up and when you’re down.
“You don’t want someone who hasn’t a clue what life is like when your salary isn’t six figures,” Otto said.
UNDERSTANDING THROUGH EXPERIENCE
Otto understands hard times because he’s lived them. Born on New Year’s Day in 1956, his mother died when he was 15 and he was sent to live a boys’ home, where he was given food and shelter until the age of 17. Then, state law forced him out on the streets.
Through the kindness of school teachers, who took him in and helped him pick up the pieces, Otto was able to attend college and served seven years in the U.S. Navy.
He worked as an air traffic controller for 31 years and was a founding member of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) and served as a union representative at Lambert International Airport and later as president at the National level.
Otto and his wife Kathy have been married for more than 20 years and raised three sons and three daughters in Bridgeton and St. Charles County.
CARDINALS FAN
AND VETERAN ROCKER
Of course, Otto isn’t all about politics. He’s a huge Cardinals fan and has what may be every Cardinals’ bobblehead ever made. His basement walls are covered in decoupaged Cardinals news headlines.
He also has hundreds of music CDs, and a framed poster from Woodstock with authentic tickets.
Missouri House District 65 begins at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers in St Charles County, runs south through City of St Charles bordered by Droste Road, 1st Capitol Drive and Highway 70, and includes cities of West Alton, Portage De Sioux and the Orchard Farm and St Charles school districts.
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