As one of two chambers in Congress, the U.S. House of Representatives plays a key role in U.S. policymaking. On Tuesday, Nov. 5, Meadville residents will have the opportunity to decide whether they want to once again send 12-year incumbent Rep. Mike Kelly to Washington D.C. or send Democratic candidate Preston Nouri instead.
Editor-in-Chief Anna Westbrook, ’26, sat down with both Kelly and Nouri to ask about their top priorities and how they plan to best represent Pennsylvania District 16.
These interviews have been edited for length and clarity.
Anna Westbrook: Why are you the most qualified candidate to represent your district?
Preston Nouri: I’ve been born and raised here in western PA. I get to see western PA and Erie in the five and a half counties that we represent in a very nuanced way. My family lives up and down this district. We’ve been here about two generations.
Just watching what has happened here in the greater last forty years of the Rust Belt — people here leave due to a lack of opportunities and immobility. People are now choosing between the only place they’ve ever called home and the future that they deserve.
I understand that intimately. I had to make that choice. I went down to D.C., I worked at the State Department, I worked in the House of Representatives and most recently I finished up at the Pentagon at legislative congressional oversight.
In an area like western PA, that has desperately needed a champion to come back to bring a future to it, I’d believe I’m qualified to do that. I was doing that at the Pentagon and I was able to do it for Uncle Sam, so I’d much rather be able to do it for my people in western PA. We’ve had Mike for the last 12 years and don’t really have anything to show for it. With my experience over at the Pentagon, my commitment and connection to this district, and the ability to know how to get dollars in the appropriation process rolling, Western PA is going to have a better future under me.
Mike Kelly: Resumes are pretty important. We have two candidates for the office, one who has absolutely no resume, nothing that you can go back on and say this is somebody that should be considered to be handling all the different things that take place as your congressional representative for Pennsylvania 16.
I’ve been there 12 years, also on one of the most important committees with Ways and Means because we have jurisdiction over many different aspects, including taxes, health care, social security, numerous things. Been there, done that. Subcommittee chairman for tax policy. SIn these positions that we’re in, you need to take a really good long look at what people have done, where they have been in their life. I’m a father of four, a grandfather of 10, I run my own business. I just have more on-the-ground experience and more experience in life than my opponent. When you’re going to hire somebody to represent three-quarters of a million people at a federal level, you should probably consult with somebody who’s actually done it. There’s a big difference between the two of us.
Westbrook: What do you believe to be the most pressing issue facing your district today? If elected, what would your top three priorities be within the first six months?
Nouri: It’s jobs. It’s bringing money and opportunities back. You know, GE and Zurn, before they folded, we had about 35,000 jobs in Erie County alone, and they’re all gone. Those were $50,000 to $250,000 jobs that really put food on the table, put roofs over people’s heads, allowed people to stay in the area. We see our healthcare infrastructure, especially in a lot of rural communities, being bought up by some of these weird healthcare conglomerates. We see our education suffering.
We’ve got a real opportunity here with the legislation that already has been set aside. Being able to do that in a real way is something that I aim to do in the next six months.
Additionally, try to focus on trying to deal with costs. The last four years we’ve seen costs rise 25%, 12% due to inflation and another 13% due to corporate price gouging. What it comes down to is making sure that we’re able to hold corporations and monopolistic influence accountable so that people aren’t getting screwed over at the grocery store. And then making sure that people have more money in their pockets to be able to deal with it. One of the biggest reasons why I started running is I’ve got friends and family here working 65 to 70 hours a week. Being able to fill that gap as the federal government here and making sure we start setting up authorities and getting those in place is what I hope to be able to do in six months and then hopefully the next year and a half after, be able to run some of those to ground.
Kelly: Well, I think everybody’s primary situation right now is the fact that they’re looking at the dependence we have — we weren’t dependent on anybody in the world for energy. Inflation is a result that nobody could possibly deal with right now and say, “I think I can handle this.” It’s off the charts. We went away from relying on domestic energy. We went offshore to get it, and that’s driven the price of everything up. You cannot possibly look at where we are right now blessed with so many different assets and when it comes to our own energy supplies and make a determination that we are not going to rely on those, we are going to cap those off and we’re going to go to other people around the world to supply it for us.
So you look at inflation. Everything costs more than it did, more than you expected those things that you have to have. It’s not an option. That includes going grocery shopping or energy. We’ve seen inflation take off at a level that nobody’s seen in half a century.
The other thing is immigration. We have seen unprecedented levels of illegal immigration coming into the country. We’re missing about 375,000 children who came here and we’ve lost track of. Who knows what situation they’re in.
So three main issues: immigration, inflation and domestic energy. I think those are three things that affect every single person.
Westbrook: Is there anything about your campaign that you hope college students pay particular attention to?
Nouri: I am not too much older than most of them (Nouri is 25). I am from this area, committed to it, graduated from University of Pittsburgh, have a lot of friends who have gone to Allegheny, Gannon, Penn State, and a lot of them had to leave western PA to find any kind of real employment. One thing I really want to do is tell college students that it’s still up to them. The amount of work and the energy that students are putting into this future here is not going to be forgotten. They’re not going to just get absolutely crushed under the amount of crushing student debt. I’m trying to be representation for the future, especially since I understand exactly where they are.
Kelly: Their education. Education gets everybody ready for life. What is it that you’re studying? How do you think it’s going to help you as an individual? As part of the most incredible experiment ever — it’s self-government — how is it getting you ready for that? There’s no other place in the world like America, and that’s because of what we’ve done as a country from our initial foundry. The safety and security of our homeland is critical. The education of our youth is absolutely necessary in order to maintain the most incredible experiment ever. People are looking to the next generation to take over. The question is, “Are we putting them in the best position we could to face a world that’s changing dramatically?”
A there’s global issues. I don’t think the world’s ever been more unstable— no matter where you look right now, it seems that there’s an upheaval. How strong are you to face those stiff winds that are blowing our way?
Westbrook: How do you plan to incentivize people raised in the area to stay and to attract new people to settle down in the district?
Kelly: People would usually go where they can find a job. They can usually go someplace where they find that they have stability, that it’s very safe to be. Education is always a big part of where people go. Healthcare is a big part of where people decide to live.
At this point in my life, I’ve had a pretty good look at what things are important to people. I think we look at education today — and especially public education — we say, “Is the future generation getting the same opportunities we had in the past? Are we encouraging that?” The biggest rise in education right now is homeschooling. That really is a result of the pandemic. We see people now questioning curriculum and questioning textbooks and thinking, “What is it that we’re trying to get our children ready for?” The youth represent 25% of our total population but 100% of our future. If you’re not getting those ready for the future and put them in a place where they can be in a safe situation — it’s really critical to do. I think we’ve kind of lost sight of that.
There’s no other place in the world like America, but right now, because of the incredible number of people who come into our country illegally, we’ve really lost track of what makes us safe and secure.
Westbrook: Is there anything else you want to add?
Nouri: There’s 24,000 college students here in this district between our eight universities. Students in this district will be the deciding vote. And it’s just trying to tell students and then show people, especially younger folks, how much power they do have in the electoral process.
Kelly: There’s usually more than one issue that’s important to people. People should look at the different things on the table right now. If you’re a one-issue person, the question is: How does that fit into the overall safety and security of the U.S. as we go forward? I say, “Well, you need to take a look at the whole situation before we make a judgment of what’s important, what’s not important.” What is it that you look going into the future, America’s future, that you’re going to be willing to do or you’re going to be prepared for?
