Lucas continues to not only put this race on the map but to demonstrate a clear path to victory against Josh Hawley, the most unpopular Republican Senator up for reelection this cycle. 

In the fourth quarter of 2023, Lucas raised $1.54 million, bringing his 2023 total to a whopping $5.4 million raised for his campaign to defeat Josh Hawley. It’s the largest off-year haul for a U.S. Senate challenger in Missouri history. Since launching on January 6, 2023, Kunce’s campaign has received more than 165,000 donations, with a $33 average contribution and more than 98% of donations under $200 — all without a cent from corporate PACs. Kunce even had his strongest quarter yet, bringing in more than $1.54 million in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Calling him “the only pro-worker candidate in this race,” the Missouri Kansas Laborers District Council tossed its support Monday to Kunce. “Right now, we’ve got Josh Hawley, a senator who talks tough about workers on the campaign trail but votes against us in Washington,” said Brandon Flinn, the council’s business manager. The council is one of the larger unions in Missouri, with more than 12,000 members working in construction and the public sector. Kunce, the overwhelming favorite to win the Democratic nomination, also has been the overwhelming choice of union organizations so far.

Lucas Kunce: “In Josh Hawley’s first election since leading the charge to overturn Roe, making Missouri the first state in the nation to enact an extreme no-exception abortion ban, and exposing a Hawley family business focused on banning abortion nationwide, he’s going to see what voters think about Big Brother politicians.”

“There’s only one person in this race who will actually fight to overturn the disastrous Citizens United decision and put Washington back on the side of working Missourians and that’s Lucas Kunce,” said Tiffany Muller, President of ECU // LAV. “Josh Hawley is nothing but a fraud who talks a big game on taking on money in politics in Missouri but always sides with corporations and the corrupt special interests back in Washington.

Multiple public polls — including one from Morning Consult released last month — show Hawley has the lowest approval of any Republican senator running for reelection in 2024, lower than Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rick Scott of Florida. And even his mentor, Missouri’s former U.S. Sen. John Danforth, has called backing Hawley the “worst mistake I ever made.” Now up for reelection in 2024, Hawley faces Kunce, a Marine veteran and leading antitrust advocate who’s broken fundraising records, rallied Missouri’s election-winning labor movement behind him and built a reputation as a different kind of Democrat who speaks truth to power, regardless of party. And polls already show a tightening race.

Kunce’s massive Q3 haul also keeps him ahead of Hawley for the cycle. Lucas has raised more than any Senate challenger in Missouri history for the first nine months of an election cycle. Independence, MO …