Sen. Blunt has kind words for Josh Hawley as he runs against McCaskill
U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, who narrowly won his own re-election battle last year, spoke highly Wednesday of a fellow Missouri Republican running for the state’s other Senate seat.
But he didn’t directly answer a question about whether he had a role in trying to get Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley to run for the seat held by Democrat Claire McCaskill.
Blunt’s comments came during an appearance at Swope Health Services in Kansas City.
Hawley, who was elected attorney general last November, this week announced that he will challenge McCaskill in 2018.
“I’m pleased that we’re going to have a good candidate and there may be other good candidates that emerge here, we’ll see what happens and how people respond to the attorney general’s candidacy,” Blunt said. “But I think he’s a person of high potential and high quality and we’ll see how this goes.”
Hawley was urged publicly to run by prominent Republicans, including former U.S. Sen. Jack Danforth.
Other Republicans in the field include Austin Petersen, Courtland Sykes and Tony Monetti.
Hunter Woodall: 785-354-1388, @HunterMw
This story was originally published October 11, 2017 at 5:49 PM with the headline "Sen. Blunt has kind words for Josh Hawley as he runs against McCaskill."