Fighting over potential debate, Missouri’s Hawley and Kunce trade barbs at state fair

Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley and opponent Democrat Lucas Kunce, the two candidates facing off in the state’s U.S. Senate race, engaged in an impromptu showdown Thursday morning at the Governor’s Ham Breakfast at the Missouri State Fair.

The candidates have been fighting over a potential debate, and Hawley walked over to Kunce at the breakfast event, saying they were ready to go and wanting to know if Kunce was prepared to go.

“Let’s debate,” Hawley said.

In the back-and-forth exchange, during which insults and were hurled and challenges made, the two men argued who was avoiding whom and whether they would debate.

Kunce, a retired Marine, won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Missouri earlier this month, and is looking to unseat Hawley in November.

Since the primary, the candidates have been fighting over a potential debate. The night of Kunce’s primary victory, Hawley immediately challenged him to a debate at the Missouri State Fair.

Last Friday, the Missouri State Fair Commission released a statement saying it was unable to accommodate any request for political debates on fairgrounds during the state fair.

The same day, the Missouri Farm Bureau, whose political arm has endorsed Hawley, invited both candidates to a debate just outside the official fairgrounds.

While Hawley accepted, Kunce declined saying the debate would have violated Federal Election Commission rules about who can host debates. FEC rules general restrict debate hosts to nonprofits that don’t endorse candidates and news outlets. Kunce, however, has accepted multiple invitations to televised debates.

The Star’s Kacen Bayless contributed.

This story was originally published August 15, 2024 at 10:56 AM.