Republican Senate candidate Josh Hawley appeared on Meet The Press Sunday where he said the election would be based on the U.S. Supreme Court confirmation. Hawley repeated what polling has shown across the nation– that Democrats launched a smear campaign against nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Hawley said Missouri voters are motivated by the proceedings and upset with how Kavanaugh was treated.
Hawley said there is a presence of mob behavior around the country in the aftermath of Kavanaugh’s confirmation. He says that is motivating Missouri voters who disapprove of the conduct. Voters across the nation have been appalled by videos of Christians and conservatives being run out of restaurants or their cars attacked on the streets of Portland as happened this past weekend.
Hawley, who leads McCaskill by one point, also took aim at her healthcare voting record pointing out that incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill, was responsible for the spiraling costs of healthcare which he pegged at 145%.
Healthcare
“I’ve had family after family in this state come up to me and say, ‘Look we can’t afford our health insurance. We’re having to get a second job, send a spouse back to work.’ It shouldn’t have to be that way,” said Hawley. “It is that way because of Senator McCaskill.”
Hawley said that as a Senator he’d vote to repeal and replace “Obamacare” with a mandate to preserve coverage for preexisting conditions. Meet The Press moderator Chuck Todd noted that Hawley, as Missouri Attorney General, has joined a lawsuit to overturn the current Affordable Care Act health care law. The states who have joined want coverage for preexisting conditions to be worked out individually with plans more attuned to the needs of those that seek it.
Hawley has said numerous times that he still favors preserving preexisting conditions, often mentioning that one of his children suffers from one. His son Elijah has a degenerative bone disease affecting his hip. The candidate told Todd he thinks it would be constitutional for Congress to pass a requirement that preexisting conditions be covered.
“Absolutely, I do,” Hawley said. “What’s not constitutional is the requirement that people buy health insurance they don’t want. But it’s absolutely constitutional to say that insurers have to cover people with preexisting conditions. Congress should mandate it.”
His message may be getting drowned out by several million dollars in McCaskill television and radio ads paid for by radical billionaire and leftist George Soros. The ads, which have been shown to be incorrect, rely on liberal newspaper editorials rather than facts for the claims, are bombarding the airwaves across the state.
The GOP-led Congress repealed the requirement that forces young people to purchase insurance as part of a massive tax overhaul package it approved in late 2017. The repeal of the individual mandate provided more than $300 billion in savings. Previously, individuals were required to buy health insurance or pay a tax multi-housand dollar penalty.
Worldview
Hawley said this election is about two different worldviews.
“You could see it with the hearings of Justice Kavanaugh,” said Hawley. “You can see it with what we’re seeing out on the streets now. The future of this country and our way of life here is at stake. And it’s incumbent on all of us to do all that we can. I’m trying to do my part to make sure that we fight for the future of this country and fight for Missouri. Claire McCaskill has not, but I will.”
Hawley and McCaskill are locked in a razor-tight race for the Senate seat McCaskill has occupied for two six-year terms. All polls have indicated the two are in a statistical tie leading up to the election November 6th though Hawley leads in many of the polls.
