Sen. Josh Hawley Clashes With Opponent Lucas Kunce At Missouri State Fair – MASHAHER

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) hasn’t been able to set up a debate with Democratic challenger Lucas Kunce, so he decided to take matters into his own hands on Thursday.

And he did it at the Missouri State Fair.

Kunce’s campaign has agreed to five televised debates, according to St. Louis Fox affiliate KTVI-TV, but declined to participate in a proposed untelevised debate hosted by the Missouri Farm Bureau since that group has already endorsed Hawley and donated $5,000 to his campaign, according to the Missouri Independent.

In a letter sent to the bureau, the Kunce campaign cited a law that says groups that endorse and back candidates financially cannot host a debate, the website said.

“Lucas does not wish to expose the Farm Bureau or your members to unnecessary risk,” Kunce campaign manager Caleb Cavaretta wrote.

Hawley apparently decided the best way to get a debate going was to track down Kunce at the State Fair in Sedalia on Thursday and demand they do it then and there.

And, yes, he made sure a camera crew was following him.

Hawley’s video shows him walking around the fair like a man on a mission.

“Guys, how are you? Let’s go find Lucas Kunce. Let’s go find him,” he says to bystanders. “Come on, where’s he been? I haven’t seen him. You guys seen him? He hasn’t been out of his basement in two weeks, let’s go find him. Where is he? Where is he? Where is he? Where is he?”

About 23 seconds into the video, Hawley connects with Kunce, who says, “How you doing, man?” to which Hawley replies, “We gonna debate today?”

After Kunce says he doesn’t know what Hawley is talking about, the senator responds, “You don’t know? I read your bullshit letter to the Farm Bureau. Are you going to sue the Farm Bureau?”

The exchange continued …

At one point, Hawley taunted Kunce, saying, “By the way, are you gonna do any campaign events around the state or just media?”

Kunce responded using that “W word” that has been on many Democrats’ lips in recent weeks.

“Josh, why are you so weird?” Kunce responded. “Man, why are you so creepy?”

You can see the encounter from Hawley’s perspective below.

Kunce offered his own post, one that showed Hawley not committing to the debates he’s already agreed to.

Not surprisingly, the skirmish between the Senate candidates attracted attention on social media.

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