JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Missouri Republicans have coalesced around Attorney General Josh Hawley as their favored candidate to challenge veteran Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill in 2018, which would set up a marquee contest between a wily incumbent and an up-and-coming political newcomer in a state that has trended conservative.
McCaskill is among 10 Senate Democrats running in states won by President Donald Trump, making the Missouri race a prime opportunity to flip a Senate seat for Republicans. The GOP now has a narrow majority of 52 seats in the Senate.
Former Missouri Sen. John Danforth, who’s pushing Hawley to run, said on Wednesday that he last spoke with him on the phone a few weeks ago but that there is a “very high likelihood that he will become a candidate.”
Hawley, 37, is considered an emerging GOP star who was just elected attorney general in 2016. He was among attorneys who helped prepare a Hobby Lobby case before the U.S. Supreme Court over whether private companies can cite religious objections to opt out of contraceptive coverage required under President Barack Obama’s health care law. He also worked as an associate professor at the University of Missouri School of Law and campaigned for limited government and religious liberties.
“He would be a perfect candidate,” said Republican political strategist James Harris, who worked with Hawley when he first entered the race for attorney general.