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Consider Missouri and its neighbors. Missouri is south of Iowa, north of Arkansas, and east of Kansas. It is also west of the southern part of Illinois, but Illinois’s statewide voting is dominated by Chicagoland. Think of Missouri and the three neighbors – Iowa, Kansas, and Arkansas – as a region.
Those four states have 8 Senators and 20 Representatives and some competitive contests. All four states are Republican, but Kansas and Iowa are showing hints of purple. Here are competitive races in the region.
US Senate.
In Iowa (see Political Note #413) Ex Representative Abby Finkenauer will probably oppose Incumbent Republican Chuck Grassley who is seeking his 8th term as a US Senator
Missouri has an open Republican Senate seat. (Today’s Political Note #458) Lucas Kunce (pronounced “Kooontz”) is the Democratic front runner. A half dozen Republicans are competing for their nomination.
Governor.
In Arkansas, there is an open Republican seat. (see Political Note #421) Non-profit head Democrat Chris Jones who has a doctorate from MIT vs Sara Huckabee Sanders, who has been among the most successful Republican fund raisers.
In Kansas (see Political Note #358) Democratic Incumbent Laura Kelly vs Republican Attorney General Derek Schmidt
Down Ballot race of interest
In Kansas, (see Political Note #425) Attorney Chris Mann vs one of 3 Republicans for Attorney General, among the three, the disgraceful Kris Kaubach.
Congressional races of interest.
Iowa has three competitive races:
IA 01 (See Political Note #411) Democratic State Rep Christina Bohannan vs. one term Incumbent Marianette Miller-Meeks
IA 02 (See Political Note #445) Democratic State Senator Liz Mathis vs one term incumbent Ashley Hinson.
IA 03 (See Political Note #428) Democratic incumbent Cynthia Axne vs one of three Republicans.
Kansas has one competitive race
KS 03 (See Political Note #412) Native American Democratic incumbent Sharice Davids has been handed a new district that tilts Republican and includes a candidate supported by the House Republican leader.
March 31st , 2022 Political Note #458 Lucas Kunce Missouri US Senate
2022 General Election
I have been writing in other venues that Lucas Kunce https://lucaskunce.com has a chance to be elected as the US Senator from Missouri if the Republicans are foolish enough to nominate Eric Greitens for the position.
Greitens is the disgraced former governor of Missouri and a man who demonstrated great promise. A Duke graduate, a Rhodes Scholar with a doctorate from Oxford, a Navy SEAL, and a former Lt. Commander, he became a White House Fellow. Elected Missouri’s first Jewish governor, he was a shonda. The felony indictment did it.
In January, 2018, in a joint statement with his wife, Greitens disclosed that he had an affair with his hairstylist in 2015. This story grew more complicated. A local television station played a statement by the hairstylist recorded by her then husband. In her home with her consent, while she was unclothed and blindfolded, Greitens taped her hands above her head to exercise rings. Without her consent, she said, Greitens took photographs of her. He threatened to make the pictures public if she exposed the affair. He followed the threat, she said, with physical violence and sexual coercion.
The local DA brought the case to an indictment for invasion of privacy. Greitens was subsequently indicted on an unrelated charge of misusing computer lists from a non-profit for fundraising purposes. At the beginning of May 2018, Missouri legislators agreed to convene a special session to consider impeachment. In the middle of the month, the felony invasion charges were dropped because the photographs could not be found. At the end of the month, Greitens and St. Louis prosecutors agreed. The email list charge was dropped and Greitens resigned from office.
In 2020, the Greitens announced their divorce. She left to teach at the University of Texas. Greitens announced he would run for the US Senate. In 2022, as part of a custody dispute, the former Mrs. Greitens accused her ex-husband of physical abuse and violent behavior, including violent behavior toward their two children. Despite renewed calls for Greitens to withdraw from the Senate race, he retains a plurality lead in all but one poll for the Republican Party primary.
Lucas Kunce reports that most friends and advisors had discouraged him from taking his position regarding Greitens. They advised him to let Greitens deal with the fallout of those accusations, weakening him for the general election. Lucas Kunce insisted he would not.
“I can’t keep my mouth shut. I’m going to say the only thing I know is right, regardless of what it means for this election: Eric Greitens needs to exit this race. He is clearly unfit to serve anywhere but a jail cell. And that accountability is more important than just one election.”
Lucas Kunce went on to say he has a political case against the other Republican candidates. They are “career politicians” and “political elites” who have participated in “stripping our communities for parts on behalf of giant corporations” For them, he says, “corruption and criminality are positive features, not bugs.”
Lucas Kunce spent most of his working years as a Marine. He had an elite undergraduate education at Yale, but nothing else about his life would make him part of the American elite. We learned from Elizabeth Warren, during debates about health care, that family medical problems were the principal cause of personal bankruptcy. Lucas Kunce’s family had that experience. His Dad worked for the Missouri Department of Conservation; his Mom stopped working to care for their daughter, born with a serious heart condition. The financial struggle led to bankruptcy.
After Yale, Lucak Kunce returned home to Law School at Mizzou. (The University of Missouri is called Mizzou). After graduation, he joined the Marines. He served in the Judge Advocate Division in Afghanistan and Iraq. He also led a training team on missions through the streets of Habbaniyah, Fallujah, and Ramadi. Subsequently, he served as the International Negotiations Officer on the Joint Staff of the Pentagon. In that position, he conducted negotiations regarding the implementation of existing treaties with Russia and with NATO.
While in the Marines, Lucas Kunce honed a disdain for the behavior of large corporations. He explains in his website that he defended servicemen from “predatory finance…” and since then has “been fighting the massive corporations and corrupt politicians….” He calls his campaign populist, which it may be. No aspect of the campaign stands out more strongly than his attitude toward corporations.
Lucas Kunce recalls returning home to Jefferson City from Iraq to find his old home had been bulldozed and returning home again from Afghanistan to find another former home abandoned and falling apart. Money spent on Iraqi and Afghan towns, he says, should have been spent on St. Joseph, St. Louis, and Jefferson City. Off duty, he worked with anti-monopoly non-profits. He saw monopolist corporations in their connection with the military “crushing innovation, costing taxpayers money, and leaving the country less safe.”
After Lucas Kunce ended his active duty he joined the American Economic Liberties Project which he describes as taking on corporate monopolists “who control our lives, squeeze normal people out of commerce, and enrich Wall Street at the expense of Main Street.” He particular denounces the Missouri decision to allow farmland to be sold to China and Brazil, the impact of the sale of Anheuser Busch to Inbev, Monsanto to Germans, and of other corporate consolidations that have shipped jobs out of state while leaving local neighborhoods and towns “to rust.”
Politico describes Lucas Kunce as bringing this tough message in a package that is, somehow, friendly, genial, personable. He has raised the kind of money that can win the nomination – substantially more than the next Democrat.
He has even raised the kind of money which can serve as a base for winning the general election – slightly more than the largest Republican fundraiser.
Lucas Kunce, however, has spent a lot of that money to establish himself. When 2022 began three of his Republican rivals has more cash on hand than he. He is convinced the Democratic nomination will mean something in 2022, whether Eric Greitens is the Republican nominee or not. If Lucas Kunce https://lucaskunce.com is the Democratic nominee, he will need more resources; a lot more. Donate to this campaign.
Here’s a surprise. Trudy Busch Valentine, heiress to the Annheuser Busch fortune, just announced that she was entering the Senate race as a Democrat. That makes Lucas Kunce’s spot as front runner a little less secure. It makes his need for resources even greater. Unless you want to pause to consider whether Busch Valentine is your first choice, you probably should increase the amount you were planning to donate to Lucas Kunce.
The Cook Report projects has downgraded the likelihood of winning for some of the most vulnerable Incumbent Democrats. These are people we have to defend. If we can defend them all, there are challengers to support. If Democrats can defend the four or five vulnerable Democrats successfully and flip half of the vulnerable Republicans, 55 Senators could be caucusing with the Democrats.
Vulnerable Incumbent Senators to support
Arizona Mark Kelly (Toss up) https://markkelly.com
Colorado Michael Bennet (Likely D) https://michaelbennet.com
Georgia Raphael Warnock (Toss up) https://warnockforgeorgia.com
Nevada Catherine Cortez Masto (Toss up) https://catherinecortezmasto.com
New Hampshire Maggie Hassan (Lean D) https://maggiehassan.com
Challengers to support
Florida Congresswoman Val Demings https://valdemings.com versus Marco Rubio (Lean R)
Indiana Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr https://www.gomcdermott.com is less probable than some others, but could surprise (Solid R according to Cook)
Iowa Ex Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer https://abbyfinkenauer.com is challenging Chuck Grassley, seeking his 8th term (Solid R according to Cook)
Kentucky 2020 Senate Candidate Charles Booker https://charlesbooker.org is running against Rand Paul (Solid R according to Cook)
Missouri Ex Marine Lucas Kunce https://lucaskunce.com is running a passionate campaign against any of the several Republican possibilities for the Open Seat. (Solid R according to Cook)
North Carolina Former Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court Cherie Beasley https://cheribeasley.com is running for the US Senate to fill the open created because Richard Burr is retiring. (Toss up)
Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan https://timforoh.com is seeking the open seat created because Rob Portman is retiring (Lean R)
Pennsylvania Lt. Governor John Fetterman https://johnfetterman.com is the probable nominee for the open seat created because Pat Toomey is retiring (Toss up)
Independent Challenger to Support
Utah Ex CIA Officer Evan McMullin https://evanmcmullin.com is targeting Republican Senator Mike Lee (Solid R according to Cook, Possible Ind. According to me)
Another challenger to come
Wisconsin Republican Ron Johnson is vulnerable (Toss Up). Nine Democrats are currently in the race; a few are still thinking about running.
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Help create a larger Democratic majority in the Senate that does not rely on the agreement of one or two Senators.
