Independence, MO — Lt. Col. Lucas Kunce (USMCR, 13 years active duty) joined Newsweek for an interview last Monday, discussing a wide range of issues, including abortion rights, American manufacturing, and why Missourians are ready to boot Hawley out of his Senate seat.
Kunce makes it clear why he’s the candidate Missourians will choose to elect in November instead of Hawley:
Only months from the election, Lucas had this to say about his fight to the finish line, “Josh Hawley has never had to run for election as the man that he is right now. He’s never had to run as the guy who thinks that in vitro fertilization and contraception or abortion are murder. He’s never had to run after taking away rights of everyday Missourians. He’s never had to run after being exposed for supporting no-fault divorces and thinking people should be trapped in marriages.”
Abortion is officially on the ballot in Missouri this November, alongside the U.S. Senate race, gathering more than double the required signatures. This puts Josh Hawley in an especially vulnerable position given his uniquely bad record on reproductive freedom – which includes voting against IVF and the Right to Contraception. Voters are more motivated than ever to protect their reproductive rights, and by extension, their lives.
“When I grew up in a working-class neighborhood, a union job was your ticket to stay in the middle class. Everybody in my neighborhood was on the edge of the middle class, and if you got a good union job, that’s how you knew you were going to stay there. I want everybody to be able to live that dream. I want to invest in American manufacturing. I want to put Missouri first in building out the next generation of manufacturing and American energy.”
Union members have called out Hawley’s BS pro-worker claims. Hawley refuses to cosponsor the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, a top priority of organized labor to strengthen workers’ ability to form unions. In contrast, Lucas has been endorsed by the UAW, and is a strong advocate for the PRO Act.
Missourians are getting fired up about the opportunity to replace Josh with a real warrior for workers and their families. Josh Hawley has the lowest approval amongst Republicans up for re-election, and the polls show a tightening race between Lucas and Hawley. Lucas is building the coalition and raising the resources to win this race.
Newsweek‘s article and a link to the interview transcript can be found below:
Missouri’s Democratic Senate candidate, Lucas Kunce, wants to help voters in his state “take back power” from politicians like GOP Senator Josh Hawley.
Former President Donald Trump won Missouri by more than 15 points in 2020, and the state’s governor, attorney general and both senators are Republicans. Hawley has raised more than $22 million for his reelection campaign, whereas Kunce has raked in just half that amount.
But the Marine veteran says that Missourians are ready for change, describing Hawley as a “typical country club” politician and suggesting he’s disconnected from voters’ needs.
“We are really trying to take power back from politicians like Josh Hawley, who want to control us and take our power away,” Kunce told Newsweek. “He wants to control us in the bedroom, the doctor’s office, the workplace. He was a right-to-work guy, anti-union. He won’t protect IVF or contraception.”
As a retired Marine, Kunce also expressed concern that Missouri doesn’t have any veterans serving in Congress. “One of the failings that we have here in Missouri is that not a single member of Congress from Missouri is a veteran, not any of them,” he said…
Abortion will also be on the Missouri ballot in November, with a proposed constitutional amendment to protect women’s rights to have an abortion. Similar measures in states across the country have passed since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Democrats have repeatedly appeared to get a boost of support in elections since that controversial decision.
“The abortion petition, it’ll be a huge driver to get out to vote people who want to take that power back,” Kunce said.
Newsweek spoke with Kunce in an exclusive Zoom interview on Monday, discussing a wide range of issues, including the Supreme Court, abortion rights and why he thinks it’s time for Hawley to lose. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity…