By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
United States Senate candidate, Democrat Lucas Kunce,
campaigns in St. Joseph prior to the August primary, hoping this year to win
the nomination of Democrats to take on incumbent Republican Josh Hawley.
Kunce, a former Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan,
says he wants to give a voice in the U.S. Senate to ordinary Missourians, like
those who helped his family through a rough time when he was a child.
“I’m doing this race to represent the folks who took care of
me as a kid and everyday Missourians. I don’t take any corporate PAC money. I
don’t take federal lobbyist money. I don’t take money from Big Pharma folks;
there’s a long list,” Kunce tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “And I think we’re
doing it the right way and I want to fundamentally change who has power in this
country so that we can have power again and our communities are like they used
to be.”
Kunce, who is from Independence, made a stop in St. Joseph,
speaking to an enthusiastic crowd at the UA Local 45 Plumbers and Pipefitters
Hall.
Kunce lost a close primary race to Trudy Busch Valentine two
years ago. Kunce says he learned a lot from that loss.
“We had to figure out how to raise money the right way. I
mentioned all the folks that I don’t take money from, right? Well, when I first
started the campaign, a bunch of people were, like, ‘That’s stupid. You can’t
win a modern campaign that way,’” Kunce says. “I just think it’s stupid to say
you’re going to represent people when you can’t and you have to represent the
folks you’re taking money from. What we learned in that first campaign was how
to do it the right way.”
Kunce garnered 38% of the vote in the 2022 Democratic U.S.
Senate primary, losing to Valentine, who won 43%. Valentine lost to Republican
Eric Schmitt in the General Election.
As for the recent events of his party in Washington, Kunce doesn’t
see the decision of President Biden to end his re-election bid and the
elevation of Vice President Kamla Harris as the presumptive party nominee to
have much effect on his race.
“With my background and the way we’re doing things, we were
positioned to win this race a year ago. We’re positioned to win the race a
month ago. We’re positioned to win the race today,” Kunce says. “For me, the top
of the ticket here in Missouri; it’s my race and the initiative petition that’s
coming up, the one that would protect women’s reproductive rights. That’s going
to be driving a lot of turnout. It’s going to be where a lot of focus is.”
Kunce is one of four Democrats running in the August primary. His
primary opponent is state Sen. Karla May of St. Louis. Mita Biswas of St. Louis
and December Harmon of Columbia are also in the race on the Democratic side.
You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.
