“An employee of the Missouri attorney general’s office occasionally drove Josh Hawley to campaign-related events in a state-owned car, an arrangement that raises new questions about Hawley’s use of taxpayer-funded resources in the run up to his successful bid for U.S. Senate,” McClatchy reports.
“Hawley’s use of a state-owned car stands in contrast to how Missouri’s other statewide elected officials say they utilize such vehicles.”
“Not long after Josh Hawley announced in 2017 that he was exploring a U.S. Senate run, Democrats requested records of any emails between his attorney general’s office and the consultants running his campaign. Hawley’s office told them they didn’t have any emails to turn over,” the Kansas City Star reports.
“But the emails did exist.”
“The revelation that Democrats made a records request and that Hawley’s office denied it — uncovered in documents newly obtained by The Star — is now leading advocates for government transparency to question whether Hawley and his staff failed to comply with the state’s Sunshine Laws.”
Missouri state auditors have started their probe into former Attorney General Josh Hawley’s (R) office, a process that will include “heightened scrutiny” into allegations that Hawley illegally used state resources to support his successful campaign for the U.S. Senate, McClatchy reports.
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that she does not plan to run for elected office again after she leaves the Senate next month.
“McCaskill said she may teach and will remain involved in Democratic politics in Missouri after a new Congress is seated in January. She views Missouri’s heavy tilt toward Republicanism as a function of President Trump’s appeal to disaffected Missourians and failures by her own party to deliver on change.”
Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (R) has asked state Auditor Nicole Galloway (D) to begin investigating whether Sen.-elect Josh Hawley (R) “used public resources to support his Senate bid,” the Kansas City Star reports.
The auditor’s office has subpoena power.
Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (R) has launched an investigation into the way Attorney General Josh Hawley (R) ran his office, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
Ashcroft is looking into accusations that Hawley may have “used public funds as Attorney General to support his candidacy for U.S. Senate.”
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) “blamed her defeat not on her own campaign, but on the Democratic Party for abandoning its moderate constituents,” Roll Call reports.
Said McCaskill: “This demand for purity, this looking down your nose at people who want to compromise, is a recipe for disaster for the Democrats. Will we ever get to a majority in the Senate again, much less to 60, if we do not have some moderates in our party?”
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) told the New York Times that the impact of Fox News on voters in her state led to her reelection defeat.
Said McCaskill: “It’s time we all quit dancing around what is now a state-owned news channel.”
A new NBC News/Marist poll in Missouri finds Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) leading challenger Josh Hawley (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 50% to 47%.
A new Missouri Scout poll finds Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) and challenger Josh Hawley (R) deadlocked at 47% each in the U.S. Senate race.
Kansas City Star: “Josh Hawley pledged to Missouri voters in 2016 that he was not the kind of career politician who would use ‘one office to get to another.'”
“But within weeks of Hawley’s swearing in as the state’s top law enforcement official, the high-powered political team that would go on to run his U.S. Senate campaign had stepped in to help direct the office of the Missouri attorney general — and raise his national profile.”
“Hawley’s out-of-state political consultants gave direct guidance and tasks to his taxpayer-funded staff, and followed up to ensure the tasks were completed, according to emails, text messages and other records.”
Sen. Claire McCaskill’s (D-MO) campaign is trying to persuade Missouri voters that she is not “one of those crazy Democrats,” with a radio ad airing during the final stretch of her heated re-election fight, CNN reports.
“The ad appears designed to win over skeptical Trump voters, whose support McCaskill will need to best Hawley. But the phrase ‘crazy Democrats’ could alienate some voters in McCaskill’s own party at a moment when she is counting on their enthusiasm.”
Nicholas Lemann: “Republicans have had McCaskill’s seat in their sights for years, and the fight over Kavanaugh has given a big boost to most of the candidates who are trying to unseat Democratic senators in red states. Polls show the Missouri race to be a tossup, with Josh Hawley gaining slightly in recent weeks. Outside money is pouring into the state —$54.9 million, according to the latest reports, from independent groups, evenly split between the two campaigns, plus nearly forty million that the candidates have raised themselves. The race, possibly the Senate’s closest this year, is a test of whether a Democrat who doesn’t openly break ranks with the national party — even an adept veteran like McCaskill—can survive in Trump country.”
Josh Hawley (R) has criticized Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) repeatedly “for using a private plane to travel around Missouri. But the Republican Senate hopeful isn’t above taking a ride in a private plane himself,” Politico reports.
“Hawley received an in-kind contribution of $5,225 for a charter flight in September on a plane owned by lobbyist Travis Brown and his wife, according to public records. Hawley attended a West Virginia fundraiser on that day, social media posts show, before returning to Springfield, Missouri that night – and posting a Facebook video of him driving into the city for a rally with President Donald Trump the next day.”
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) “has outraised her Republican challenger by a more than 2 to 1 margin since July, but she’s also been spending money at a faster rate than she’s collecting it,” McClatchy reports.
“The Missouri Democrat, who has faced frequent attacks from President Trump, raised nearly $8.5 million from July 1 through Sept. 30, a record for the quarter in Missouri… Her three-month total is almost as much as her GOP opponent Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley has raised since launching his candidacy last year.”
A new CNN/SRSS poll in Missouri finds Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) edges challenger Josh Hawley (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 47% to 44% among likely voters.
New CBS News Battleground Tracker polling find Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) is up two points with likely voters over Matt Rosendale (R), 47% to 45% in Montana, while in Missouri, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Josh Hawley (R) are even in support among likely voters at 45% to 45%.
Most supporters of all these candidates describe themselves as enthusiastic about voting this year.
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) is out with a very effective ad recounting her experience in beating breast cancer while blasting rival Josh Hawley (R) for joining a lawsuit that could undo Obamacare’s protections for those with pre-existing conditions.
First Read highlights other Democrats seizing on health care and pre-existing conditions in their ads:
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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