As Missouri voters head to the polls Nov. 6, the Republican majority in the U.S. Senate could come down to Missouri as Democrats desperately try to hold the seat.
President Trump made his eighth appearance since taking office in Missouri Thursday night at the Columbia Regional Airport in support of Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley (R).
Josh Hawley Friday in Kansas City. Photo: Metro Voice
Trump is scheduled to return to Missouri on election eve Nov. 5 in Cape Girardeau to support the candidacy of Hawley for the U.S. Senate, signaling the White House is all in for the U.S. Senate race in Missouri.
Vice President Mike Pence spoke at HyVee Arena (formerly Kemper Arena) in Kansas City on Friday, November 2, in support of statewide candidates in both Missouri and Kansas. Hawley also spoke at the event.
Hawley Holds Narrow Lead and McCaskill’s Pro-Abortion Hypocrisy is Exposed
After beginning his campaign last year behind by double-digits, Hawley has fought back and holds a narrow lead in the polls over incumbent Senator Claire McCaskill-(D). Both candidates are criss-crossing the state to seek and persuade undecided voters. The Real Clear Politics average of polls shows Hawley leading McCaskill by 2 percent, well within the margin of error. Individual polls have him up by as much as 4.
The Missouri race for U.S. Senate is seen as pivotal for Republicans who seek to hold their narrow majority. Hawley has made Supreme Court nominees, which are confirmed by the Senate, a key issue in his campaign. McCaskill voted against the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Hawley has said, “I will fight for the Supreme Court,” and voiced his support for the Kavanaugh confirmation, calling Democratic failed attempts to block his confirmation a “circus.”
After the historically consequential confirmations of President Trump’s nominees, Justices Gorsich (2017) and Kavanaugh (2018), Trump has secured a conservative 5-4 majority, something no other Republican president in modern history has achieved.
After the historically consequential confirmations of President Trump’s nominees, Justices Gorsich (2017) and Kavanaugh (2018), Trump has secured a conservative 5-4 majority, something no other Republican president in modern history has achieved.
With liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg in her mid 80s, the prospect of another Trump nominee to the Supreme Court has led Democratic Senate Minority leader, Senator Charles Schumer, to signal a radical response.
If Democrats gain the majority in the Senate during next Tuesday’s elections, Schumer has indicated he might refuse to even hold hearings for any additional nominees that President Trump may nominate in the next two years, hoping that Democrats can regain the White House in 2020.
Hawley was called “a proven pro-life candidate” by Susan Klein, Legislative Liaison for the Missouri Right to Life Political Action Committee. MRL exclusively endorsed Hawley in both the crowded primary in August and for the general election on Tuesday. McCaskill has received the endorsement of the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) and has a 100% rating from NARAL.
McCaskill was exposed for seeking to hide her support for abortion in mid October by hidden cameras from a Project Veritas operative who infiltrated her campaign posing as a liberal campaign worker. In those videos, a senior McCaskill campaign worker, speaking about the nation’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, said, “They don’t donate to Claire because they don’t want to ostracize pro-life Democrats in Missouri,” explaining further, “they put it through like different organizations.”
Grace Richardson, a Regional Field Director for McCaskill’s Senate campaign, was captured on hidden camera saying “I think it’s like a tactic like to make them not too far left to try and get the moderate votes.”
When the undercover Veritas operative asked, “but, we’re still going to support abortion, right?” Richardson replied, “Yes, yeah, 100%. Yeah, it’s more of like them not…They go through other means to support and give the money, they just don’t directly give the money from their PACs.”
In another undercover video segment, the Veritas operative said, “it’s like we have to lie to get elected,” to which another McCaskill campaign worker replied in the affirmative, “essentially, essentially.”
Seeking her third term in the U.S. Senate, McCaskill has exhibited a consistent pattern of siding with liberals like Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, with whom she votes in the Senate more than 90 percent of the time, then trying to recast herself as a moderate every election cycle to get re-elected.
The undercover video released by Project Veritas on October 16 was one of the most hard-hitting exposes of McCaskill’s hypocrisy, even though liberal media like the Kansas City Star called the undercover videos “worthless” writing that “voters should ignore it.” Yet, when allegations are made against Republican and conservative candidates, whether documented or not, the Star calls them relevant.
McCaskill Misrepresents Hawley on Gun Control, Pre-Existing Conditions and Human Trafficking
McCaskill’s camp is also under fire for an alleged illegal campaign mailing falsely misrepresenting Hawley position on gun control. Hawley is known as a staunch supporter of Second Amendment rights and is A-rated and endorsed by the National Rifle Association. McCaskill is on the record for supporting gun control.
Obamacare has also been a marquee campaign issue in the Hawley-McCaskill race with TV, radio and mailing ads by the McCaskill campaign misrepresenting Hawley on the issue of pre-existing conditions. The McCaskill campaign has repeatedly and falsely asserted that Hawley filed a lawsuit to allow health insurance companies to deny claims for pre-existing conditions.
In Truth, Hawley was one of 20 Republican state Attorney Generals who filed a lawsuit in February of this year challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare, which has driven up insurance premium costs in Missouri by nearly 150%, while annual deductibles have increased in some cases by 100 to 200 percent.
Democratic campaign attacks on Hawley and other Republican candidates nationwide falsely portray and misrepresent the pre-existing conditions issue, failing to ever mention that provision is a key component of Obamacare.
Obamacare included an individual mandate, meaning anyone without health insurance could be penalized on their taxes, by either paying a fine if owing taxes or having that penalty deducted from their tax return. The Republican Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017, which President Trump signed into law last December, eliminated that individual mandate and tax fine or penalty and will take effect in the 2018 tax year.
Democratic campaign attacks on Hawley and other Republican candidates nationwide falsely portray and misrepresent the pre-existing conditions issue, failing to ever mention that provision is a key component of Obamacare.
Hawley has countered McCaskill with ads explaining his own son’s pre-existing condition and giving voters assurance he will fight to ensure pre-existing conditions continue to be covered by health insurance providers if Obamacare is repealed and replaced.
Previous Republican proposals in Congress before Obamacare became law in 2010 also included coverage for pre-existing conditions. High risk pools have also been a mechanism to cover pre-existing conditions prior to Obamacare. However, health insurance companies could charge higher premiums for pre-existing conditions and impose a cap on coverage for such pre-existing conditions.
Sex trafficking has become the latest and greatest last minute and desperate attempt by the McCaskill camp to mischaracterize Hawley and cut into his lead in the polls. Her campaign has falsely alleged that Hawley blamed the current sex trafficking crisis, in part, on the sexual revolution of the 1960s. McCaskill’s campaign also falsely claimed Hawley failed to act against sex trafficking as Attorney General.
In truth, Hawley has been one of the most aggressive Attorney Generals in the nation to combat human and sexual trafficking. In April of 2017, just three months into office, Hawley set up a task force in the Missouri Attorney General’s Office to combat human trafficking.
At that time, Hawley said, “This is the message I have for traffickers. Do not come to our state. Do not prey upon our children. Do not commit your crimes here. If you do we will find you and we will prosecute you.”
