Dem
51
GOP
49
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is right up there with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in believing that the main job of a senator is to grandstand, feed red meat to the base, and own the libs. Passing laws is for losers. Whether the voters of Missouri agree will be tested in 2024, as Hawley is up for a second term.
Missouri has become a fairly red state but Hawley is so over the top that he could go the way of Blake Masters, Tudor Dixon, Doug Mastriano, and some other extreme Republicans. But of course, you can't beat someone with no one. In 2022, there was an open seat and Marine veteran Lucas Kunce ran for the Democratic Senate nomination against beer heiress Trudy Busch Valentine. Valentine won the primary but lost the general election. We don't know yet if Valentine will try again, but Kunce has already announced that he is running again.
Here is Kunce's announcement. It is very hard hitting and contrasts Hawley's wealthy upbringing (elite prep school, Stanford, then Yale Law School) with Kunce's simple family background followed by service in Marine Corps. In the end he calls Hawley a coward and a fraud. Take a look:
On January 6, 2021, Josh Hawley showed us he's a fraud and a coward.
— Lucas Kunce (@LucasKunceMO) January 6, 2023
Missourians deserve a U.S. Senator who's willing to stand and fight. That's why I've decided to take him on. pic.twitter.com/VbN1SuqPFU
If this is the start, it is going to be a very nasty campaign. Although Valentine lost in 2022, Kunce will run a very different kind of campaign than she did. As a millionaire heiress, she couldn't very well attack Hawley as an out-of-touch elite. That is going to be the core of Kunce's campaign.
It is not clear how Hawley will respond if Kunce gets the nomination this time. Personally attacking a Marine Corps veteran who came from hardscrabble background probably won't work given his own privileged upbringing (his father was a wealthy banker). So Hawley may just campaign on "Democrats are socialists" and leave it at that. It could work, but if Kunce really turns up the heat on Hawley (again, assuming he gets the nomination this time), it could get very nasty. Note also that many Americans are aware that if there's any organization that's not exactly brimming with socialists and communists, it's the U.S. Marine Corps. The flags may be red, but the troops aren't. (V)