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Oct. 28, 2024 |  By: Rudi Keller - Missouri Independent

Lucas Kunce fundraising continues to outpace Josh Hawley in Missouri Senate race

josh hawley and lucas kunce staring at each other

By Rudi Keller - Missouri Independent

The final pre-election fundraising reports for Missouri’s U.S. Senate race show Democrat Lucas Kunce continuing to outpace incumbent Republican Josh Hawley, bringing his total since the start of 2023 to almost three times his rival.

In the period from Oct. 1 to Oct. 16, Kunce took in $1.6 million, with two committees raising money for Hawley taking in  just under $1 million. Since the start of 2023, Kunce has raised $18.9 million compared to $7.4 million for Hawley.

Thanks to fundraising that occurred before Jan. 1, 2023, Hawley continued to hold a cash advantage in the latest filings, with $1.3 million on hand as the period closed compared to $427,729 for Kunce.

The cash advantage allowed Hawley to buy nearly $500,000 of television advertising for the final 10 days of the campaign, while Kunce has yet to make his purchases for the race’s homestretch. Kunce and Hawley are the only candidates in any race who have advertised on television continually since the August primary.

The two are about even on broadcast spending, tracking by The Independent shows.

Hawley has laid out $5 million and a PAC supporting him, Show Me Strong, adding $2.6 million. Kunce has spent $6.7 million on broadcast ads and a PAC backing him, Patriots Prevail, has spent just under $300,000.

Kunce has a big edge in online and direct mail spending. He reported $2.7 million in online advertising since the primary and $1.6 million for direct mail. Hawley has spent just $15,000 on digital ads and $11,075 on direct mail.

A third candidate who formed a new political party, Jared Young, reported raising $14,061 in the two weeks covered by the report, bringing his total to just under $1 million.Young has been traveling the state for his campaign but his advertising budget has been limited to online promotions, with $8,387 spent on Facebook and $17,707 through Google.

In the only other federal campaign where both candidates are running broadcast ads, U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner, a Republican from St. Louis County, continued to outraise Democratic nominee Ray Hartmann as she seeks to retain her 2nd Congressional District seat.

Wagner, who was sitting on a $3.2 million bank account on Oct.16, raised $113,293 in the period, compared to $55,547 for Hartman. Wagner has spent only $18,696 on broadcast ads, all on radio, while Hartmann has purchased $60,000 in television ads.