Mike Kelly

Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly of Butler said he wants to continue representing the nearly three quarter of a million people who reside in the 16th Congressional District in Western Pennsylvania for two more years.

Kelly, 73, announced Monday that he is running for his seventh term in 2022.

“I like representing the Pennsylvania 16th district,' Kelly said. “I like where I live. I like to be able to go to Washington, D.C., with the values from here instead of getting them from D.C. We like to know somebody is going to Washington to represent the values we come from. It's a privilege to represent the 705,687 people in the district.”

The 16th district includes all of Erie, Crawford, Mercer and Lawrence counties and the western half of Butler County.

Kelly defeated his most recent challenger Kristy Gnibus by over 18 points in 2020.

Not all district voters are conservative or will vote for him, but all of them are entitled to representation in federal government, he said.

To his critics, he said elections provide the means for change.

“We the people elect everybody who represents us on every level. There's not another model of government that allows people to get involved in policy making,” Kelly said.

He said voters should make their decisions based on the policies supported by representatives and candidates, and how those policies impact them, their family and their community.

People who don't vote because they believe their votes don't matter are doing a disservice to those who served in the military to protect American rights, especially the right to vote, he said. All voices must be heard in the country's representative government, he added.

Kelly serves on the House Ways and Means Committee and the health and oversight subcommittees.

If re-elected, he said he would be the longest serving member of the committee.

“It has the most jurisdiction of any other committee — tax law, health care, trade, oversight, Social Security policy,” Kelly said.

If Republicans win the majority in the House, he said he will become chairman of the oversight or health committees, which he serves on now.

If elected, Kelly said he would continue to advocate for trade policies that protect Cleveland-Cliffs, the country's only producer of grain-oriented electrical steel used in transformers, from foreign imports

He said he has had discussions with trade officials in the Department of Commerce over restrictions he said don't do enough to curtail those imports.

“I'm still fighting for it. The restriction are not strong enough. My conversation with them was not pleasant. I was very critical,” Kelly said.

He said he wants to preserve the 1,400 jobs at Cleveland-Cliffs and protect the country from relying on foreign counties for needed goods.

“It's a lesson we should have learned from COVID. If you're relying on someone else in some other part of the world to protect us, you're a fool,” Kelly said. “I don't know why America would go outside the country to ensure our electric infrastructure. We are the last producer in America of this product. I don't want any foreign product hanging from any pole.”

In addition, Kelly said a proposal to redistrict, or change the boundaries of the congressional districts in the state, is expected soon.

He said it's important for voters to know what district they live in.