Kansas City-area Democrat Lucas Kunce will face Sen. Josh Hawley in November for Missouri’s U.S. Senate seat.
Kunce beat Missouri state Sen. Karla May, a veteran of the Missouri General Assembly and St. Louis politics, according to the Associated Press. Unofficial vote totals Tuesday night show he won with about 67% of the vote.
Kunce is an attorney and a U.S. Marine veteran who grew up in Jefferson City, Missouri. He graduated from Yale before going to law school at the University of Missouri-Columbia. As a member of the Marine Corps, Kunce served in Iraq and Afghanistan and was later stationed at the Pentagon. He lives in Independence, Missouri.
The contest was over so early that many of the people at Kunce’s watch party at the Truman Memorial Building in Independence, Missouri, didn’t even know their candidate had won. (Kunce lives only a couple of blocks away from the building, the same place where President Harry Truman used to vote.)
Kunce’s victory sets up a difficult battle to unseat incumbent Sen. Josh Hawley in November.
When Kunce took the stage, he hit on familiar themes: his Marine Corp service, his mid-Missouri roots and his hard-scrabble upbringing. He said Hawley has forgotten his small town roots.
“The job of a U.S. Senator isn’t to rule us, it’s to represent us,” Kunce said. “To serve communities like the one I grew up in and invest in us so that we have the resources to live our own lives. That’s why we’re here tonight.”
Shortly after the race was called, Hawley took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to challenge Kunce to a debate next week at the Missouri State Fair.
Congrats to @LucasKunceMO - now let’s debate. Next week. MO State Fair, Sedalia. Thursday AM right after the Governor’s Ham Breakfast. No fancy studio or moderators. Just the two of us on a trailer. Lincoln-Douglas style. I’ll bring the trailer. I’ll even let Kunce go first
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) August 7, 2024
Kunce said he would be happy to debate at the State Fair — but first Hawley has to agree to four other televised debates. “We want debates that everyone in Missouri can watch, not just some trailer in the middle of a field on a Thursday morning," he said.
This is Kunce’s second try at the United States Senate.
In 2022, Kunce got an early start and raised a lot of money. But Trudy Busch-Valentine entered the Democratic primary late and beat Kunce 43% to 38%. Busch-Valentine was trounced in the general election by Sen. Eric Schmitt, who was state attorney general at the time, 55% to 42%.
Kunce announced he would challenge Hawley on Jan. 6, 2023, the second anniversary of the Capitol insurrection. In his announcement video, Kunce called Hawley “a fraud and a coward” after video surfaced of Hawley running through the Capitol, fleeing the rioters.
Kunce has once again proved to be a prolific fundraiser. Federal campaign finance reports show he has $5.7 million cash on hand as the general election campaign gets underway. But the road to victory will be tough — for the past several election cycles Republicans have won by large margins in statewide races.
Hawley goes into the general election with $8.8 million in the bank, according to Federal Election Commission reports.
Early polls show Hawley leading Kunce by nine to 12 points.
Democrats hope an amendment that would overturn Missouri’s near total abortion ban makes it onto the November ballot. That could drive more progressives to the polls and give Kunce a better chance of unseating Hawley.
Supporters of the amendment in May turned in 380,000 signatures for verification to the secretary of state. The verification process is ongoing. Roughly 171,000 signatures are required.
