Joshua Hawley

A parade of bubble dwellers, angry women and preening men who serve in the military-industrial complex of the culture wars lecture us on what masculinity should look like.

Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt says he has no issue with kicker Harrison Butker forming a political action committee designed to encourage Christians to vote for “traditional values.”

Hawley’s campaign spent nearly $140,000 on chartered flights since the beginning of August, despite lambasting his 2018 opponent for private jet travel.

Outraised and outspent, critics of Amendment 3 push claim it will legalize sex change surgeries for minors.

During an Oct. 7 appearance on “Fox and Friends,” 2024 Republican vice presidential nominee and Ohio Sen. JD Vance claimed “that the Biden-Harris administration has turned [the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)] effectively into an agency that helps to settle, helps to deal with illegal immigration.” Vance said FEMA’s response to Hurricane Helene “[is] like [...]

For anyone who has covered politics over the last 30 years, it is obvious that President Trump is really the only person we have covered who truly deserves a place in the history books.

It’s time once again to dive into another round of quick takes on the people, places and events that were being talked about over the past week:

Senators are privately (and publicly) saying they hope Donald Trump stays out of the internal election to replace Mitch McConnell as Senate GOP leader.Why it matters: None of them know — or it's a damn good secret — whether the former president will make an endorsement. But senators and advisors fear a Trump intervention could turn the secret ballot leader election into a public feud."I said, 'Sir, if I was you, I would stay out of the race, because there's no win for you in this,'" Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) told us about a recent call with Trump."I hope not," said Sen. Thom Tillis, when asked if he thinks Trump will weigh in. "I think outside influence could be problematic.""He's offered some views on it to me," Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) told us. "It's safe to say he has a pretty consistent prediction of who he thinks it'll be." Hawley said he did not know if Trump would weigh in.Between the lines: This the first real competitive Senate GOP leadership race of the Trump-era, and his endorsement carries a lot of weight with a growing segment of the conference.McConnell has had a tumultuous relationship with the former president.The top two candidates — Sens. John Thune and John Cornyn — each have had rocky relationships with Trump. However, they have worked to make amends.After Jan. 6, Thune denounced Trump and initially endorsed Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) for president. Cornyn has said the GOP needed to move on from Trump.Senate sources do not talk about Sen. Rick Scott's (R-Fla.) bid as seriously as Thune's or Cornyn's, though he has a good relationship with Trump. "Sen. Scott is focused on dramatically changing the way the Senate operates and creating a member-driven process," according to spokesperson McKinley Lewis.Sources often describe Thune as the likely favorite, though they say not to discount how much Cornyn's long history of hard-dollar fundraising for Senate campaigns means to people.Cornyn told us it's been a few weeks since he spoke with Trump about the leadership race. But he visited Mar-a-Lago a couple months ago "to talk about planning for the future," adding they've been "visiting with some of the transition folks."Mullin said Trump "likes" Thune despite their rocky past. The Oklahoma Republican has publicly backed Thune.Some sources suspect there could be a late entry: NRSC Chair Steve Daines (R-Mont.) is the most-floated name.The bottom line: There's not a lot of incentive for senators benefiting from both Thune and Cornyn's aggressive fundraising efforts to commit too early."If one of them felt that they really had a majority, I think they would not be shy about saying that, but I don't think anybody does," Hawley said.

The video is edited to include different audio.

From the editorial, "Such is the state of the post-Roe abortion landscape: Republicans are lying while women are dying."

The agency capped Boeing’s production until certain safety improvements are made.

If Missouri's attorney general and the state government won’t follow the law, why would anyone else?

Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, D-N.M., speaks during a news conference to call for passage of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act in the Russell Senate Office Building on Tuesday.

With Trump leading the Republican Party, weirdos come out of the woodwork.

Missouri's Democratic Senate candidate is facing increased criticism from his GOP opponent for declining to say if he will vote for VP Kamala Harris in November.

538 has released U.S. Senate polling averages for the 2024 general election.

During a Sept. 13 campaign rally in Las Vegas, Nevada, 2024 Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump claimed 2024 Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris wants to bring back the military draft. Verdict: False Harris’ 2024 campaign website does not include any verbiage suggesting she wants to bring back the military draft. In addition, [...]

Republicans could see little upside in exposing themselves to attacks on the debate stage as they try to amplify their preferred campaign messages.

SPRINGFIELD —The United States should abandon its support for Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia, U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley said Friday during his first debate with challenger Lucas Kunce and two third party candidates.“I do not support continued funding to Ukraine,” Hawley said, adding that he would not support any more aid until Congress agrees to compensate Missourians who have suffered diseases from exposure to radioactive waste left over from World War II.Kunce, a Marine veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said the alternative to military and economic aid to the beleaguered republic is sending U.S. troops. Hawley’s position will embolden other world adversaries, Kunce said, including China and Iran.“Our aid to Ukraine, at $200 billion, is infinitely cheaper than the $6 trillion we spent in Iraq and Afghanistan, supposedly nation building there once we put boots on the ground,” Kunce said.Hawley, the Republican incumbent seeking his second term in the Senate, and Kunce, a Democrat making his second run for the Senate, appeared at a debate sponsored by the Missouri Press Association. They were joined on stage by Nathan Kline, nominee of the Green Party, and Jared Young, who petitioned to form the Better Party as the label for his effort.Kline said U.S. involvement in Ukraine is an example of corporate interests pushing the nation to war and failed policies of both the Democratic and Republican parties.“The disastrous war in Ukraine is a perfect example of the blue team and the red team skipping hand in hand to Armageddon,” Kline said.Continued aid to bolster Ukraine is essential for U.S. national security, Young said.“Russia and China and Iran represent a serious threat to our country,” he said. “They are actively working to undermine the world order that served us so well for the last 60 or 70 years. And in order to push back, we need to have a strong stance.”The debate was not televised but it was streamed online. Hawley and Kunce have agreed to a televised debate without the other two candidates on Oct. 31.Throughout the debate, Hawley pushed Kunce to say which candidate he supports for president — Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, or former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee. Kunce did not respond.Kunce sought to damage Hawley by tying him to anti-abortion positions that include opposition to protections for in vitro fertilization and support for Missouri’s near-total ban on abortions.“It’s Josh Hawley’s abortion ban,” Kunce said. “He wants to bans all abortion, even in cases of rape and incest.”GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUBSCRIBEKunce said he supports Amendment 3, which would restore abortion rights in Missouri. Hawley said he opposes it and claimed that one reason Kunce backs it is to reverse a Missouri law banning gender-affirming medical treatments for children.“Lucas Kunce and his allies talk about reproductive health, but what it really does is it allows transgender surgeries without parental consent,” Hawley said.That characterization, both of his position and the amendment, is wrong, Kunce said.“He sees mandated sex change surgeries around every single corner because he thinks he can rile people up that way and actually win the election,” Kunce said.Kunce is the best-funded Democrat running statewide this year, but he is bucking a trend that has seen every statewide Democratic candidate go down to defeat since 2018. Kunce has spent $4.3 million on television ads — more than he had on hand on June 30 — that have been running since late July.His pace of ad spending in recent weeks has slowed and the coming week will only be half of this week’s buy and one-third of that two weeks ago, according to tracking by The Independent.In an interview, Kunce said he will be building up his effort again as the election approaches after a first phase of introducing himself to the state.Hawley’s campaign has spent about $2.8 million on television and an independent PAC supporting his re-election, Show Me Strong, has spent about $1.5 million.The SLU/YouGov poll in August showed Hawley with a double-digit lead, a margin that has not changed despite the television blitz.Young is the best-funded independent candidate in the state in many years, but the $900,000 he has raised has not been used for any television advertising. Instead, Young said in an interview after the debate, he’s focused on digital platforms and other ways of making his money stretch.“We knew all along that nobody was really going to be paying attention until these last two months, and so we’re seeing the momentum pick up,” Young said.Kline, of Kansas City, works for the city’s Planning and Development Department.The candidates also addressed immigration, with Hawley accusing Kunce of supporting “putting immigrants on Social Security and Medicare.”Kunce said Hawley was lying about his views. He backs a bill that was defeated in the U.S. Senate that would increase border patrols and limit the number of people entering every day.“The sad thing here is that Josh Hawley has voted against keeping us safe,” Kunce said, “because he wants to keep it as a campaign issue rather than address the train wreck we have going on.”SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATEMissouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: [email protected]. Follow Missouri Independent on Facebook and X.

The intentional polarization of American politics complicates self-government. No where is this truer than in the debate over abortion.

Hawley presses Kunce on presidential race. Quade and Kehoe debate guns and abortion.

Maya Berry came to testify as an expert on hate crimes. She ended up the target of blatant anti-Arab racism by Republican senators.

Missouri Democratic Senate Candidate Lucas Kunce joins Meet the Press NOW to discuss the state of his campaign against Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Missouri’s abortion amendment ballot initiative.

By Janice Hisle Contributing Writer Two failed attempts to assassinate former President Donald Trump in just more than two months have exposed apparent holes in the shield that is supposed to [...]The post 2nd apparent assassination attempt on Trump provokes calls for tighter security appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.

'You’re a disgrace'

Recent efforts to address such trading have fallen flat, but the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s vote to advance a measure gave new hope to those who support stricter rules.

The director of one of the campaign’s biggest donors said it’s impossible to ‘achieve anything without a campaign that is grounded in grassroots support and the support of Missouri voters.’

Opponents build case to defeat Missouri’s abortion amendment. Supporters of Amendment 3 say they’re resorting to “outlandish” scare tactics.

Riley Gaines appears in a Sen. Josh Hawley ad targeting Lucas Kunce, narrating her experience of competing against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas.

‘We do, oh Nancy, listen,’ Strenger said as two security officials began to move him away

'I urge House Leadership to quickly move this resolution through the House'

'awesome'

'Egregiously under-prepared by the Secret Service'

About 50,000 veterans fall into regulatory black hole, where one set of benefits they earned is offset by another.

Issue stems from report stating that Homeland Security may have lost track of more than 250,000 children and, in some cases, failed to notify other agencies.

Here is the breakdown on the number of bills introduced by Western New York state lawmakers between Jan. 1, 2023, and Aug. 20, 2024.

This week's Democratic National Convention made clear that not only is 2024 the boys vs. girls election — it's also a clash between two visions of manhood.Why it matters: The increasingly stark gender divide in American politics is reflected in how leading men in both parties position themselves in relation to women, and talk about themselves as fathers and male role models.The big picture: President Trump and his advisers have long viewed their candidate's masculinity as an edge — particularly after his "fight, fight, fight" cry following the assassination attempt against him.But now rather than an aging President Biden, he's running against the potential first woman president.Vice President Kamala Harris rarely mentions her gender, but the men at her side have embraced their second-fiddle roles in supporting a woman's rise to power.At the DNC this week, Gov. Tim Walz and Harris' husband Doug Emhoff — who paused his legal career when she was elected VP — have projected tenderness more than toughness.Zoom in: In his speech, Walz spoke about he and his wife Gwen's struggles with infertility and became visibly emotional as he said his wife and children — sobbing in the audience — were "my entire world."Walz carries the trappings of traditional masculinity — as a former National Guardsman and football coach, but at one DNC event on Monday Walz said a "trick" he'd learned in life was to "surround yourself with smart women and listen to them, and you'll do just fine."One favorite anecdote from the Harris-Walz barnstorming tour is how "Coach Walz" became the faculty sponsor when a student told him he wanted to found a gay-straight alliance."It is a tonic masculinity, the antidote to toxic masculinity," gender equity researcher and author Amy Diehl told Axios, describing Walz and Emhoff.The other side: Trump, by contrast, entered the RNC to the tune of "A Man's Man's Man's World." The entire spectacle was "staged as the big man who's going to be in charge and he's the one who can get the job done," said Lori Marso, a political scientist at Union College.The speaker list included figures like Hulk Hogan and UFC CEO Dana White — icons to a certain, overwhelmingly male, segment of the electorate. Both have also been accused of domestic abuse. (Hogan denies the claim. White apologized last year for slapping his wife).Another RNC headliner, Tucker Carlson, has been decrying a decline in manliness for years. He also once referred to women as "extremely primitive."Between "childless cat ladies" and "grab 'em by the p---y," Sen. JD Vance and Trump have both drawn backlash for past comments about women. Trump also said in 2005 that men who take a hands-on approach to childcare were acting "like the wife."Yes, but: While it's hard to envision Trump speaking as Walz did about the more emotional aspects of parenthood, the former president has made his children an integral part of his business ventures and political career.There was at least one attempt to show his softer side at the RNC, when Trump's granddaughter Kai Trump described him as a "very caring and loving" and a "just a normal grandpa.""President Trump has been surrounded by many strong women and has empowered many strong women throughout his entire career as a businessman and, particularly, since he's been in politics," campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told Axios."Unlike Kamala Harris and Tim Walz who support policies that erode women's rights and the nature of womanhood," Leavitt said, "President Trump believes men and women are inherently different but equal."The Harris campaign did not respond to a request for comment.What to watch: The partisan divide over the question of masculinity is likely to extend far beyond the 2024 cycle.The Democrats have positioned themselves as the party of women's rights, particularly when it comes to abortion.Meanwhile, there's a growing movement in the GOP to embrace the "traditional family" and halt a supposed decline in masculinity. Carlson put out a 2022 documentary entitled "The End of Men," while Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) published a book last year about the need to restore "masculine virtues."Axios' Erica Pandey contributed reporting.Go deeper: Boys vs. girls election intensifiesDemocrats center abortion stories at DNC in split from Biden and Trump"That's my dad!" Tim Walz's DNC speech moves his kids to tearsBehind the Curtain: Trump's "caught on tape" women problem

The Secret Service has temporarily removed some of its personnel from security duties as the agency investigates their potential involvement in security failures that occurred at the July 13 rally where former President Donald Trump was nearly assassinated, according to multiple reports.

The majority of itemized donations to Kunce and Hawley come from outside the state, making up more than half of the total each has raised.

The union representing public school teachers across the state endorsed 192 candidates to win state legislative races this November, but avoided taking a position in seven races for seats in Western New York.

The stakes of November’s election are real.

The Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, and Stephen Wolf, with additional contributions from the Daily Kos Elections team.IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: This is the last Morning Digest that will be published at Daily Kos Elections, but we’re not going away! You’ll find Monday’s Digest—and every edition after that—at our new site, The Downballot. You can also subscribe by email just below to make sure you never miss a single update: Embedded ContentYou can read all about this change right here. Our operations are 100% reader-supported, so we hope you’ll subscribe today! Leading Off● UT-Gov: Utah's three-way race for governor took another unexpected turn on Thursday when Democratic state Rep. Brian King debuted a campaign video co-starring far-right state Rep. Phil Lyman, the election conspiracy theorist who is waging a write-in campaign months after losing the GOP primary to Gov. Spencer Cox. But Cox is exactly what is uniting the two legislators in a piece parodying the governor's "Disagree Better" campaign."Now, Phil and I disagree better about most issues," King tells the audience with a wink after the on-screen text identifies him as the "Democratic candidate for Utah governor" and Lyman as "Former (or current depending on who you ask) GOP candidate for Utah governor *litigation pending*)." The two, though, respond in unison that they are united in the belief that "Spencer Cox should not be our next governor." The state representatives go on to politely argue whether voters should write in Lyman's name or cast their ballot for King.Cox generated national attention with a commercial four years ago where he and his Democratic rival, Chris Peterson, agreed they were "both equally dedicated to the American values of democracy, liberty, and justice for all people," and would accept the results of the 2020 presidential race. Cox, who went on to easily win his general election in this dark red state, has continued to attract national attention by calling for more civility in politics, and he used his year as chair of the National Governors Association to launch his "Disagree Better" initiative.The governor's critics, though, have argued that Cox himself is the one who needs to be persuaded by these messages. Cox, who touts himself as "an ally to the LGBTQ community," signed a bill to ban gender-affirming care, which he denounced as "genital-mutilation surgery" at a February “Disagree Better” event.Skeptics have also highlighted how the governor signed off on a GOP-drawn congressional redistricting plan that even Cox acknowledged was a gerrymander. "You signed off on gerrymandered maps without an ounce of remorse," Democratic state Sen. Nate Blouin tweeted last year upon seeing another news story where Cox called for saving American democracy. "This is the problem with 'disagree better.' You shouldn’t get credit for saying nice things if you consistently do the wrong thing."Democrats took notice again last month when, days after saying he'd be casting a write-in vote for president, Cox responded to the attempted assassination attempt against Donald Trump by declaring his support for his party's leader. "I fear that America is on the precipice of unmitigated disaster," Cox wrote to Trump, whom he'd previously told to resign following the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. "We need to turn down the temperature and find ways to come together again before it’s too late." The governor remains in Trump's corner even after it became clear once again that he had zero interest in lowering the temperature.Lyman also is no fan of the governor's project, though for very different reasons. "Our state is slowly slipping away towards becoming something most Utahns don’t recognize," wrote Lyman. "We don’t need to 'disagree better,' we need to Stand for Something!"Lyman himself demonstrated during that campaign that he stood for far-right talking points, which included his responding to the collapse of Maryland’s Francis Scott Key Bridge by retweeted a post claiming that a Black woman on the state’s Port Commission was a "diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) auditor and consultant."The state representative went on to hold Cox to an unimpressive 54-46 margin, and he's spent the ensuing seven weeks refusing to accept that defeat. Lyman launched his write-in campaign on Monday, shortly before the Utah Supreme Court rejected his lawsuit insisting that because he decisively beat Cox at the state party convention before losing the primary, the governor and Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson should be removed from office and replaced by state Senate President Stuart Adams. The justices found that Lyman "offered no viable factual or legal basis for the remedy he requests."And even before he appeared in this video with King, Lyman acknowledged he'd prefer to see the Democrat lead Utah instead of Cox. Hard-line U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, though, quickly made it clear he did not see this as an acceptable outcome when he declared his support for the incumbent.Governors● DE-Gov: Newly released emails show that Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long's government office staff had regularly communicated with key staffers running her campaign for governor, reports Randall Chase at the Associated Press. Under state law, Hall-Long's employees are permitted to conduct campaign activities only outside of their regular work hours and cannot do so using public resources, but the emails indicate that some of them helped facilitate campaign activities and used campaign funds for certain expenditures.Hall-Long's husband, Dana Long, previously served as her campaign treasurer, and the emails include instances where he seemingly coordinated with her office staff during regular work hours to schedule and pay for campaign activities, such as appearances at community events. Some correspondence involved Matthew Dougherty, the lieutenant governor's director of operations who recently stepped aside from that role to run her campaign after her previous campaign manager quit.Campaign finance issues have dogged Hall-Long's campaign since shortly after she joined the race last year. Late last month, state officials released a report concluding that her campaign had violated state law by failing to disclose nearly $300,000 in payments to Long over several years. The couple claimed the payments were reimbursements for personal loans, though the documented sum of those loans was $33,000 less than the total payment amounts, according to the state's investigator.The Sept. 10 Democratic primary is quickly approaching, but few polls have been released publicly, particularly in the weeks since the state published its report on Hall-Long's campaign finances. However, the few available polls in recent months have generally found Hall-Long running competitively with New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer, while National Wildlife Foundation leader Collin O'Mara is much further behind.Senate● NJ-Sen: Multiple media outlets report that Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy will appoint his former chief of staff, George Helmy, to fill the final months of the term of Sen. Bob Menendez, who is set to resign on Aug. 20. Rep. Andy Kim, who won the Democratic primary in June, is favored to defeat Republican businessman Curtis Bashaw in the fall general election for a full six-year term.Menendez, a member of the Democratic caucus who was convicted on corruption charges last month, still has not said if he'll continue his campaign to keep his seat as an independent. The deadline for Mendendez to withdraw is Friday.House● AZ-01, MI-10, WI-03: The DCCC announced Thursday that it was adding three more nominees to its Red to Blue program for top candidates: Amish Shah in Arizona's 1st District, Carl Marlinga in Michigan's 10th, and Rebecca Cooke in Wisconsin's 3rd. The trio are respectively challenging Republican incumbents David Schweikert, John James, and Derrick Van Orden.Marlinga, who struggled to attract major financial support during his two bids against James, could have the most to gain from being included in the program. Marlinga held James to an unexpectedly tight 49-48 victory two years ago despite being massively outspent by the Republican, and he didn't raise much money ahead of his win in last week's primary. Marlinga's allies, however, hope this will change and give him the resources to flip a Macomb County seat that Donald Trump carried by a narrow 50-49 margin in 2020.● NH-02: Hillary Clinton on Thursday endorsed former Biden administration official Maggie Goodlander in the Sept. 10 Democratic primary for New Hampshire's 2nd District. Goodlander's husband, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, was a longtime Clinton aide for both of her presidential bids and during her intervening time as secretary of state.● NY-18: Republican nominee Alison Esposito's former career as a New York City police officer involved the city paying $120,000 to settle two misconduct lawsuits against her, reports City & State's Timmy Facciola. Additionally, Politico's Nick Reisman recently reported that Esposito had been reprimanded for failing to properly safeguard her off-duty handgun after a thief reportedly stole it, her police badge, and credit cards from her unlocked car in a separate incident from 2016.One of the misconduct lawsuits was filed in 2005 by three Black women who alleged that Esposito and other officers engaged in racial discrimination and used excessive force when arresting them in 2003 on shoplifting charges, which were later dismissed.The other involved a 2016 incident where a woman sued Esposito and a fellow officer, claiming they "did unlawfully stop, assault, frisk, handcuff, detain, arrest, and imprison" her infant daughter after entering her residence without a warrant or probable cause; that prosecution was dismissed later that year. The plaintiff alleged discrimination regarding her "ethnic background." (The complaint does not specify the plaintiff's ethnicity, but she and her daughter have Spanish surnames.)Esposito denied the allegations in both lawsuits, and she has made crime one of the central focuses of her campaign against Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan in a light-blue district in the lower Hudson Valley located north of New York City.● TX-18: Former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner told the Texas Tribune's Renzo Downey on Wednesday that he would not run in the November special election for the remaining two months of the late Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee's term and would instead support her daughter, Erica Lee Carter.The leadership of the Harris County Democratic Party chose Turner on Tuesday to replace Jackson Lee's name on the ballot for a full two-year term in Texas' dark blue 18th District, but Turner, who will turn 70 next month, has made it clear he doesn't intend to be in Congress very long. Turner told the Houston Chronicle last week that he'd serve a maximum of two terms, saying he wants to function as "a bridge from where we are right now."● House: The crypto-aligned super PAC Fairshake recently announced that it would spend over $25 million in ads to help nine House members from each party, and AdImpact reports how much money the group has booked in each of these 18 seats. The totals range from $600,000 to aid Democratic Rep. Nikki Budzinski in Illinois' 13th District to $2 million to back Democratic Rep. Don Davis in North Carolina's 1st.Poll PileAZ-Sen: Peak Insights (R) for the NRSC: Kari Lake (R): 46, Ruben Gallego (D): 46 (44-42 Trump with third-party candidates)MI-Sen: Fabrizio Ward (R) and Impact Research (D) for the AARP: Elissa Slotkin (D): 47, Mike Rogers (R): 44 (48-48 presidential tie in two-way, 45-43 Trump with third-party candidates)PA-Sen: Franklin & Marshall College: Bob Casey (D-inc): 48, Dave McCormick (R): 36 (46-43 Harris with third-party candidates) (March: 46-39 Casey)The Cook Political Report also released several polls on Thursday, conducted by a Democratic firm, Benenson Strategy Group, and a Republican pollster, GS Strategy Group. Note that these polls were completed on Aug. 2.AZ-Sen: Ruben Gallego (D): 51, Kari Lake (R): 42 (48-46 Harris in two-way, 46-42 Harris with third-party candidates) (May: 46-41 Gallego)MI-Sen: Elissa Slotkin (D): 50, Mike Rogers (R): 42 (49-46 Harris in two-way, 46-44 Harris with third-party candidates)NV-Sen: Jacky Rosen (D-inc): 54, Sam Brown (R): 36 (48-45 Trump in two-way, 47-42 Trump with third-party candidates)PA-Sen: Bob Casey (D-inc): 53, Dave McCormick (R): 40 (49-48 Harris in two-way, 48-43 Harris with third-party candidates) (May: 49-41 Casey)WI-Sen: Tammy Baldwin (D-inc): 50, Eric Hovde (R): 43 (49-46 Harris in two-way, 48-43 Harris with third-party candidates) (May: 49-37 Baldwin)NC-Gov: Josh Stein (D): 48, Mark Robinson (R): 40 (48-47 Harris in two-way, 46-44 Harris with third-party candidates) (May: 37-37 gubernatorial tie)Ad RoundupMO-Sen: Lucas Kunce (D) - anti-Josh Hawley (R-inc)NM-Sen: Nella Domenici (R) and the NRSC - anti-Martin Heinrich (D-inc)NV-Sen: Jacky Rosen (D-inc) - anti-Sam Brown (R)TX-Sen: Ted Cruz (R-inc) (in Spanish)WI-Sen: Eric Hovde (R) - anti-Tammy Baldwin (D-inc)CA-40: Winning for Women - pro-Young Kim (R-inc)CA-45: Winning for Women - pro-Michelle Steel (R-inc)CA-47: Dave Min (D)IA-03: Lanon Baccam (D) - anti-Zach Nunn (R-inc)MI-08: Kristen McDonald Rivet (D) - anti-Paul Junge (R)OH-09: Marcy Kaptur (D-inc) - anti-Derek Merrin (R) (here and here)VA-02: Winning for Women - Jen Kiggans (R-inc) Embedded Content

s Hawley and Kunce argued, curious onlookers took in the scene while munching down their meals of ham, eggs and coffee.

The Republican senator stalked his Democratic rival and demanded that they debate then and there. And he made sure a camera crew was following him.

‘Dude, you’re really obsessed with this stuff,’ Kunce responded

Hawley wanted to debate near the fairgrounds Thursday. Kunce asked the incumbent to agree to televised debates.

Sen. Josh Hawley kicked off the general election campaign with an aggressive strategy to counter challenger Lucas Kunce.