Josh Hawley will serve 2nd term for Missouri in U.S. Senate with over 55% of the vote
The people of Missouri will be sending U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican, back to the U.S. Senate come January. The unofficial results on the Missouri Secretary of State's website — with all precincts reporting in as of Nov. 6 — confirmed that Hawley won the seat with more than 55% of the vote.
"I have just one word for you: Victory," Hawley said from the stage at Finley Farms on Tuesday night to a cheering crowd. "Tonight we voted to save the United States of America ... Missouri has said we believe in this country and God is not done with America yet."
Hawley, who took the stage at a campaign rally in Ozark, has served as one of Missouri's two senators since 2019. He was raised in the Kansas City area and graduated from Stanford and Yale. He served half a term as Missouri's attorney general before running for the U.S. Senate. He has been an advocate for religious freedom and identified himself as a Christian nationalist during an address for the 2024 National Conservatism Conference.
During his time in Congress, Hawley has served on Senate Committees on the Judiciary; Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; Energy and Natural Resources; and Small Business and Entrepreneurship. He also sponsored three bills that became law in the 118th Congress, the COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023, the Recruit and Retain Act and Alzheimer's Accountability and Investment Act. He previously sponsored an act addressing safety regulations by duck boat operators.
Hawley said he wants to stop illegal immigration, expand America's energy production, take on corporate special interests, and bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. He reaffirmed the desire to stop illegal immigration during a press gaggle following his acceptance speech.
Democratic Party candidate Lucas Kunce, who won a little less that 42% of the vote, conceded the race to Hawley later in the evening. According to Associated Press reporting, he referred to his supporters as a "ball of energy" and encouraged them not to give up.
“I just say don’t let it die,” Kunce said. “Keep it rolling. Let’s take it forward, let’s let the next person pick it up. Let’s all come together, and let’s finally take some of that power back for ourselves.”
Kunce, who lost the 2022 Democratic primary for Senate to Trudy Busch Valentine, is a former Marine who served in Afghanistan and at the Pentagon before getting involved in politics. He grew up in Jefferson City and earned a bachelor's degree from Yale University and a law degree from the University of Columbia School of Law. An outspoken critic of Hawley and "country club politicians," he has called for campaign finance reform and supports abortion rights and organized labor.
W.C. Young of Kansas City ran as the Libertarian Party candidate in the general election, along with Jared Young, an independent from the Joplin area who founded the Better Party in Missouri earlier this year. Nathan Kline ran as the candidate for the Green Party. None won a significant percentage of the vote; Libertarian W.C. Young performed best with 1.2%.