The two candidates running for Missouri’s U.S. Senate seat in November have accused each other of distorting the other’s records. U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) faces a re-election challenge from Democrat Lucas Kunce, who grew up in mid-Missouri. The race has been contentious from the start, with the two men arguing about debates in front of numerous cameras, reporters and citizens at the Governor’s ham breakfast in Sedalia in August.
Kunce’s campaign website says Senator Hawley and his Super PAC are spending millions of dollars “on false attacks to slow down our momentum.” Senator Hawley has been campaigning across Missouri on a bus tour and visited the Route B cafe in mid-Missouri’s Boonville on Wednesday afternoon. 939 the Eagle News asked Hawley about Kunce’s statement. Senator Hawley says Kunce has outspent him 2-1, saying much of it has come in from out-of-state. He referenced Hollywood:
“All the money is coming in to try to buy this race. And boy have they spent money to buy it. But do you know what? This race is not for sale, this (U.S. Senate) seat is not for sale because it belongs to the people of Missouri. And I think in 19 days we’re going to see that,” Hawley tells 939 the Eagle News.
About 100 to 125 residents packed the Route B cafe to hear Senator Hawley speak. Some waited outside to get photos with the senator, after his talk. Senator Hawley stood in front of the kitchen and spoke to diners, employees and others inside. He blasted the Biden administration on inflation and gas prices and criticized Kunce’s positions as well.
Senator Hawley didn’t mince words, when describing the importance of November’s election. He tells the primarily blue-collar audience that there are 19 days left to save the country. A number of those in the audience were senior citizens. Senator Hawley spoke to 939 the Eagle News after the rally and reiterated what he told the audience about the election’s importance. He’s also calling for completion of the border wall:
“This is about how to save what we have built together and you look at how my opponent and (Vice President) Kamala (Harris) have tried to tear down everything we’ve built. Whether that’s Social Security, whether it’s the border wall, whether it’s the safety of our kids. They want to destroy all of it, we have to save it,” Senator Hawley says.
Senator Hawley, who grew up in western Missouri’s Lexington, is seeking his second term on Capitol Hill. He faces Democrat Kunce, who grew up in Jefferson City. Kunce’s campaign website describes him as a “different kind of Democrat”, saying that he’s on a mission to take power back for everyday people in our nation, including working families in Missouri. Kunce’s website also says Senator Hawley has not done anything to bring Missouri federal dollars, something he said former U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt (R) brought home $300-million a year. Kunce says that’s a priority, if elected.
Then-Missouri auditor Nicole Galloway was the last Democrat to win statewide office in Missouri and that was six years ago, in 2018. Rural Missouri, which was solidly Democratic through the 1970s, has been voting Republican for years, and that’s the area GOP Senator Hawley has been focusing on for much of his campaign bus tour. He’s focusing on a few issues, and hammered away at them to the Boonville audience. He’s calling for reopening American energy production and getting wages up.
Former U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D), who lost a re-election bid to Hawley in 2018, is the last Democrat to represent Missouri in the U-S Senate. Election day is Tuesday November 5.
