Hawley hopes to fend off Kunce in closely watched Senate race

OZARK, Mo. (KMIZ)

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley is trying to fight off another challenge on Election Day.

Democrat Lucas Kunce is challenging Missouri's junior Republican senator in a race that has seen the state's airwaves and social media accounts saturated with attack ads.

Hawley will host a watch party at The Workshop in Ozark on Tuesday evening. On Tuesday morning, Hawley was voting and visiting with volunteers, according to the campaign's communications director Abigail Jackson.

Hawley has spent one term in the U.S. Senate. Before that, he served as the state's attorney general from 2017-2019.

Hawley told ABC 17 News in October that he wants stricter regulation at the border, to reopen American energy production, take back jobs from China and to protect Missouri farmland.

When it comes to abortion, Hawley is anti-abortion and says he does not support a federal abortion ban. He does however believe in a federal limit on when the baby is pain-capable and supports abortion exceptions like rape, incest or to protect the life of the mother.

Hawley says he also believes Amendment 3 would allow transgender surgeries on minors, which has been debunked by legal experts.

Hawley believes immigration and housing go hand in hand. He says because of the border being open, more people are coming into the country and putting pressure on the American housing stock and driving up housing costs.

Hawley is in favor of closing the southern border.