User:Muhibm0307/sandbox/Jewel Kelly

Jewel Kelly, Jr. (born August 26, 1974) is a U.S. Air Force Veteran, real estate agent, and small business owner who has announced his run in the Democratic primary for the 2022 U.S. Senate election in Missouri.

Early life and education
Kelly was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Rantoul, Illinois. He is the eldest of 18 siblings, the youngest of which was born with cerebral palsy. He became the first person in his family to graduate college, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in speech communication from the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign. He later earned a Master of Arts from Olivet Nazarene University in 2002. After completing his military service, Kelly returned to school to complete his MBA of Legal Studies at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law in 2018.

Career
Two months following the September 11 attacks, Kelly joined the U.S. Air Force as a Commissioned Officer, serving as an aircraft maintenance and logistics planning officer. Kelly served for ten years, obtaining the rank of Captain before retiring in March 2011.

Kelly's first job was working in a manufacturing plant that made dashboards for Chrysler called Rantoul Products as a Molding Press Operator. Kelly’s career experience includes working as a licensed real estate agent through Coldwell Banker Realty and as small business owner. Shortly after retiring from the U.S. Air Force he has worked for GE Healthcare as a Project Leader and as Director of Service since 2013.

Political positions
Jewel Kelly describes himself as moderate, and many of his policies center around changing how the U.S. budget is spent, with his slogan "Change Comes When Budgets Change".

Education
Kelly has remarked that the U.S. Department of Education's budget is less than 1/9th of the U.S.'s Defense budget, and was recently cut 12% compared to the 2018 budget. Kelly seeks to increase federal spending on education.

Veterans affairs
As a veteran, Kelly has advocated for an increase in the United States Department of Veterans Affairs's budget, both to prevent deaths by suicide and homelessness.

Healthcare
Kelly questions the legality of Universal Healthcare, and pledges to make smarter policies for American healthcare.

Social services
Kelly wants to increase the budget for the Health Resources and Services Administration, whose budget was cut by $939 million in 2019.

Personal life
Jewel Kelly and his wife, Caren, live in rural Jefferson County outside the town of Festus, Missouri. They have three daughters. After their daughter, Camryn, died by suicide in 2018, Kelly and his wife founded the Fighting Chance Foundation, a mental health and suicide awareness non-profit that connects communities to local mental health resources and promotes Mental Health First Aid Classes. Kelly is a devout Christian.