Since he announced his second bid for the U.S. Senate in early 2023, Independence attorney Lucas Kunce has been the consistent frontrunner in the Democratic race to take on U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley.
Kunce not only racked up significant endorsements from organized labor groups and prominent elected officials, he’s swamped his competition in raising money — even outraising Hawley during some fundraising quarters.
And with roughly a week before his showdown with state Sen. Karla May in the Aug. 6 primary, Kunce said on the Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air that he’s ready to carry the momentum within his campaign to the general election.
“I'm running this campaign and taking no money from corporate PACs, no money from federal lobbyists, no money from big pharma executives, no money from big fossil fuel executives, because I'm tired of those people stripping the communities like the one I grew up in for parts,” Kunce said. “And the only people I ever want to owe are those in that old neighborhood.”
The neighborhood Kunce is referring to is in Jefferson City. Kunce has often spent his time in political life talking about his economically difficult upbringing and how his neighbors often helped his family out during hard times.
“That's the strength that we have in this state,” Kunce said.
While May is at a major fundraising disadvantage against Kunce, she does have support of some key elected officials such as St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones. The St. Louis Democrat is also making the case that her legislative record showcases a passion for fighting for the party’s issues.
The two candidates agree on many issues, including backing protections for organized labor and support for abortion rights. And while May and Kunce both condemned Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack against Israel, Kunce said that the United States should use its leverage to push for a cease fire.
“One of the things I learned in our arms control negotiations is that ultimatums don't really work,” said Kunce, referring to his time negotiating with Russia. “You really just have to have the conversations, you have to have both sides willing to do it. And right now you got what appears to be a pretty bad actor in [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu, and you got pretty bad actors in Hamas. And the people who are suffering are everybody in the middle.”
Support for Ukraine
Kunce diverges from Hawley on multiple issues, including Hawley’s disapproval of providing aid to Ukraine.
“It is absolutely cartoonish for these guys to act like Russia isn't a threat,” said Kunce, after pointing out his experience negotiating with Russian leaders in the past. “And it's even worse for them to want to just neglect it. Because what that's going to do is that's going to lead to much more expensive boots on the ground war in the future.”
Even though the Marine veteran often discusses his disgust with the United States’ "forever wars" in places like Afghanistan, Kunce said providing aid to fight Russia’s invasion makes sense. He said people like Hawley who want to shift the country’s focus away from Ukraine and to Taiwan are leading America to an even more dangerous and expensive potential conflict.
“Especially when they all want to go to war with China over Taiwan, which is going to cost an obscene amount of money, when we should be investing any money we would put towards war there in the next generation of American energy and production,” Kunce said.
Abortion rights influence
Whoever wins the Democratic primary will likely be running against Hawley at a time Missourians will be voting on whether to legalize abortion.
Hawley has said he is opposed to abortion rights with the exception of rape, incest and the life of the mother. Kunce is supportive of abortion rights and is confident that Missourians will pass a constitutional amendment to protect them.
“This abortion petition and Josh Hawley being on the ballot … both of those are positions where Missourians are going to have the opportunity to take back their rights, and they're going to do it,” he said.
Along with the abortion initiative, Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential run could impact the race to unseat Hawley. Kunce has not yet endorsed Harris.
He said that while the excitement around Harris’ campaign is warranted, “I'm asking enough people to vote for me right now that I'm not running around asking people to vote for anybody else.”
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Ulaa Kuziez, Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr and the production intern is Roshae Hemmings. Send questions and comments about this story to talk@stlpr.org.
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