Lucas Kunce, a veteran of the Navy who works for a nonprofit organization that advocates reformulating corporate monopolies, entered the race for the Missouri Senate on Tuesday, the day after Sen. Roy Blunt
Roy Dean BluntTrump speeds up the battle with Republican leadership Hillary Clinton says she expects the Republican Party to “find her soul” Blunt retirement shakes the race for the Missouri Senate MORE (R-Mo.) He announced that he would not seek another term next year.
Kunce is joining what could be a crowded Democratic primary camp to replace Blunt and is relying on his biography as a Missouri native and veteran to garner support for his fledgling campaign.
In an interview with The Hill, Kunce commented on his upbringing in a working class family in Jefferson City, recalling how his parents went bankrupt after his sister’s birth.
“The normal person in Missouri grew up in the same way that I grew up. We struggled, we were all in a bankruptcy disaster. So for my family, that was medical bills, for someone else it would be a car accident and for someone else it could be a house fire. And I lived through this struggle, I grew up in this struggle ”, he said.
Kunce was able to use Pell grants and scholarships to go to Yale University and the University of Missouri School of Law before joining the Marines and finally going to Iraq once and Afghanistan twice. He later left the army to work on the American Economic Liberties Project, a non-profit organization that wants to reduce the power of corporate monopolies.
Kunce is using this biography to promote what he calls a populist agenda in his campaign, telling The Hill that he was disappointed with the amount of money spent abroad while communities in Missouri and across the country are struggling.
“I see that we are spending, it ended up being trillions of dollars building these other countries, basically for nothing, and me and my friends risking our lives, to build places like Fallujah, Habbaniyah or Afghanistan Lashkar Gah when we should I have spent that money here in cities like Independence, where I now live, in St. Louis, which has been forgotten by globalization, and then in my hometown Jefferson City, ”he said.
Among Kunce’s policy proposals is a “Marshall Plan for the Midwest”, which he says he would invest in well-paid jobs in Missouri, particularly in the energy sector.
“We were willing and still would be willing, it seems, to spend trillions of dollars there fighting for this resource for energy, when we could really build the energy of the future right here in the heart of Missouri and create the jobs of the future where we can become an exporter of energy products. This is the kind of thing I want to do. So, I want to take our money, and not put it in asset bubbles, but put it into production, ”he said.
Kunce is the third Democrat to participate in the Missouri Senate race, after former Senator Scott Sifton and gay rights activist Tim Shepard. Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas also told The Kansas City Star that he is considering running for state office.
Kunce said he is “starting conversations” with national groups to garner support, but has already obtained endorsement from the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which has ties to Sen. Elizabeth Warren
Elizabeth WarrenSenate rejects Sanders’ minimum wage increase Philadelphia City Council asks Biden to ‘cancel all student loan debts’ in the first 100 days. Biden signals another Trump reversal with national security guidance | Parler opens a new case MORE (D-Mass.).
“Like a marine and a crusader against corporate monopolies, Lucas Kunce is the type of Democrat who can win in Missouri – and fight for Missouri families against Big Ag, Big Pharma and other corporations that control our farmland and the economy” Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, is expected to inform members of the organization that they will be launched on Wednesday.
Even with substantial support, winning across the state in Missouri will be a huge upheaval for any Democrat. The Show-Me State has shifted strongly to the right in the past decade, and President Trump
Donald Trump Trump swears ‘Enough of money for RINOS’ instead of encouraging donations to his PAC Federal judge considers ‘QAnon shaman’ too dangerous to be released from prison Pelosi says rioting on Capitol Hill was one of the most difficult times of his career. MOST won the state by double digits in 2016 and 2020.
The Republican who emerges as a party candidate will be considered the favorite in 2022, and the Republican Party is confident that Blunt’s chair will remain in his hands.
“The NRSC will work tirelessly to ensure that Senator Blunt’s successor will maintain his legacy of free initiative and small government and we will keep this chair. Any candidate who supports the Democratic great socialist government’s agenda will find it difficult to find votes in Missouri, a state that Donald Trump won four months ago by more than 15 points, ”said Senator Rick Scott, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC ), said in a statement Monday.
Still, Kunce says a Democrat has a chance to win across the state in Missouri, noting that voters supported populist electoral measures like those that raise the minimum wage and legalize medical marijuana.
Although Republicans have gained the upper hand in the state in recent years, they will be without Trump in office or on the ticket in 2022, which will deprive them of a candidate who has managed to attract the faithful’s adherence to the party. The former president beat Missouri by almost 20 points in 2016, but Blunt only managed to win by 3 points.
“What happened in 2016 was that Donald Trump was on the ticket, and even in 2016, the same spot I am running for now, was only lost by the Democrat by three points against a Republican incumbent. People are willing to share their tickets, ”he said. “And if Donald Trump wasn’t on the ticket in 2016, this chair would be occupied by a Democratic incumbent now and I wouldn’t even be running.”