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.
Kunce’s campaign has agreed to five televised debates, according to St. Louis Fox affiliate KTVI-TV. But Kunce would not participate in a non-televised debate hosted by the Missouri Farm Bureau that his campaign contends would violate campaign finance law, since the group endorsed Hawley and donated $5,000 to his campaign, according to the Missouri Independent.
In a letter to the bureau, the Kunce campaign cited Federal Election Commission law preventing organizations that endorse and financially back candidates from hosting debates, the website said.
“Lucas does not wish to expose the Farm Bureau or your members to unnecessary risk,” Kunce campaign manager Caleb Cavaretta wrote.
The two U.S. Senate nominees have been at an impasse over debate terms since emerging from their party primaries on Aug. 6.
But 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 ...
Kunce: Dude, you’re really obsessed with this stuff.
Hawley: Come on!
Kunce: You’re really obsessed with this stuff.
Hawley: Come on! Are you going to debate me today?
Kunce: You already got the Farm Bureau and the state fair in trouble, man.
Hawley: Let’s go!
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.