Hawley rallies supporters with critique of opponent Kunce at Scott City campaign event

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley speaks to supporters during a campaign event Monday, Aug. 12, at Westrich Farms in Scott City.

J.C. Reeves ~ jcreeves@semissourian.com

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley spoke to dozens in attendance during a campaign stop Monday, Aug. 12, at Westrich Farms on Nash Road in Scott City, where he primarily focused on Lucas Kunce, his opponent in the upcoming general election.

During his speech, Hawley denounced Democratic policies, claiming the party’s officials are “trying to destroy this country”, to applause from the audience. The senator blamed Kunce, a former U.S. Marine from Hartsburg, and “his allies”, listed as President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, former Speaker of the U.S. House Nancy Pelosi and former President Barack Obama.

“He’s run for office for 20 years straight,” Hawley said. “He spends most of his time these days in Washington, D.C. In fact, he said the other day to a newspaper reporter, he said, ‘I live in D.C., where I get to go to fancy parties and stuff.’ That was a quote. My advice is, just stay in D.C. Don’t come here and trouble us, because his policies, his ideas, are the nuttiest ideas of anybody to run for the Senate in the state of Missouri in our history.”

While discussing Kunce’s policies, Hawley encouraged the audience to participate by telling him “whether you agree or not”, and led them in a rallying cry of “it’s nuts, but it’s Kunce.”

Hawley claimed Kunce wants to force citizens to switch to electric vehicles by banning gas, diesel and oil, open the U.S.-Mexico border, give amnesty to every illegal immigrant, take away legal protections by allowing criminals to sue police officers and allow men to compete in women’s sports and enter women’s locker rooms.

“Lucas Kunce says he’s for the working man,” Hawley said. “I’ve got a news bulletin for him. You can’t be for working people when you want to take away their trucks. You can’t be for working people when you want to leave our farmers stranded out in the field. You can’t be for working people when you want to take away their food.”

While Hawley focused his speech on his opponent’s policies and why he believes they’re bad for Missourians, he gave reporters insight into what his platform consists of during a post-event news gaggle.

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley speaks to supporters during a campaign event Monday, Aug. 12, at Westrich Farms in Scott City.

J.C. Reeves ~ jcreeves@semissourian.com

“We need to, No. 1, close the border so that we can secure this country. Get the illegals off of the streets, get them off of our benefits, get them off of our health care,” Hawley said. “We need to reopen American energy production to get the cost of gas and groceries down. That includes, by the way, setting farmers free to farm. Quit taking away their farms and ranches, which is what this government has tried to do — my opponent and his allies in government for years have tried to do. Allow them also to contribute to our energy independence.

“We need to take on China. They’re taking our jobs. We’ve lost millions of jobs. They’re taking our energy and our technology. We need to get after it and make sure that we are getting those jobs back. And then we need to protect women in girls sports, in girls locker rooms. This idea that my opponent has, and Kamala Harris is right with them, that they want to put men in women’s sports, is truly nutty. It is insane. There is, I would bet, nobody in the state who really supports that, and very few in the nation, and we have got to protect you. Think about how many years it took to get some basic parity in women’s sports, and now they want to blow it all up. It’s crazy.”

Hawley also said he challenged Kunce immediately after his primary victory was secured Aug. 6, to a “Lincoln-Douglas style” debate following the Governor’s Ham Breakfast at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia, without moderators. According to an article from the Missouri Independent, Kunce accepted Hawley’s challenge if the senator would agree to “specific dates and hosts for future televised encounters.”

Hawley said the Missouri Farm Bureau — which endorses Hawley’s campaign — agreed to host the debate during the state fair.

“The Missouri Farm Bureau said, ‘We will host the debate at the fair. We will host it,’” Hawley said. “Do you know what he said? He said, ‘Oh, Missouri Farm Bureau. Oh, I can’t do that. No, no, no. They’re a partisan organization. They’re no good. I can’t go. I wouldn’t go to a debate with the Missouri Farm Bureau.

“I was like, brother, farming is Missouri’s No. 1 industry. If you can’t take questions from farmers, you’re running in the wrong state. If you can’t take questions from farmers, you better go back to D.C. right now. So I just say this to Kunce, ‘If you’re watching Kunce, quit insulting Missouri’s farmers. Quit running down the Farm Bureau. Get out from behind your keyboard. It’s going to be okay. Put the keyboard down, come to Sedalia, face the people and let’s debate.’”

Ultimately, the Missouri State Fair Commission released a statement Friday, Aug. 9, saying it was “unable to accommodate any requests for political debates on the fairgrounds.” Kunce has posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, several times saying he has accepted offers from Gray Television, public television stations, the League of Women’s Voters and Fox News to debate on television while his opponent has not.

Kunce overwhelmingly defeated his four opponents during the Aug. 6 primary election, winning 67.7% of the vote. The second-place candidate, Karla May, received just 23.2%. Kunce’s political positions include implementing a universal health care system, enshrining abortion in the U.S. Constitution by abolishing the filibuster, abolishing corporate political action committees (PACs), supporting a decarbonization plan to end the use of fossil fuels in the energy and transportation sectors, reshoring manufacturing jobs, reducing military funding to increase domestic development, legalizing marijuana nationwide and supporting unions, among others.

“Break the grip of corporate power. Outlaw stock trading by judges and politicians. Rebuild and invest in Missouri. Protect our freedoms — to live our lives, to control our bodies, to raise and protect our families,” Kunce said in a post on X. “That’s my mission in this U.S. Senate race.”