“Josh Hawley is unashamed and puts his personal ambitions ahead of America. JOSH PAC will work to ensure that Hawley never wins another election, ”said the source.
The PAC, which raised $ 15,000 in just a few hours on Friday, will be launched with three former McCaskill campaign employees on board: Travis Mockler, Thomas Hatfield and Zoe Gallagher.
Hawley was the first senator to announce that he would join the House’s Republican challenges to the election; a dozen other senators announced plans to oppose Electoral College certification after Hawley did. After protesters ransacked the Capitol last week, Hawley voted not to certify Arizona’s results and also opposed Pennsylvania’s certification. He condemned the violence of that day.
But the media, former Senator John Danforth (R-Mo.) And donors, all criticized Hawley’s role in challenging the election the day a pro-Trump crowd stormed the Capitol. The subsequent invasion of Congress resulted in five deaths and the desecration of the building.
Hawley largely did not apologize, comparing his efforts to the Democratic challenges before the elections. An important difference: Democratic candidates conceded the elections, while President Donald Trump continued to struggle to overturn the election last week.
Kelli Ford, a spokesman for Hawley, said: “We expect Claire McCaskill and her team to be as effective with this campaign as they were in the last one. They wasted more than $ 60 million in 2018 – and lost – after Missouri residents rejected the failure of Claire McCaskill liberal policies. “
McCaskill was unaware of the formation of JOSH PAC, said the source familiar with the effort.
Hawley too defended his actions in an opinion article this week.
“Much of the media and many members of the Washington establishment want to deceive Americans into thinking that those who raised issues incited violence, simply by expressing concern,” Hawley wrote in the Southeast Missourian on Wednesday. “But the democratic debate is not mob violence. In fact, it is how we avoid this violence ”.