Missouri lawmaker joins crowded Democratic primary to take on Josh Hawley in 2024

Missouri state Sen. Karla May launched a campaign for U.S. Senate this week, entering a crowded Democratic primary to take on Republican incumbent Sen. Josh Hawley in 2024.

May, first elected in 2010, served eight years in the Missouri House before being elected to the state Senate in 2018. She won reelection last year.

The St. Louis Democrat enters a primary that already featured former Marine Lucas Kunce, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell and Columbia community activist December Harmon. May, Bell or Harmon would be the first Black senator from Missouri if elected.

“As a long-standing champion for the rights and welfare of the citizens of Missouri, Senator May has consistently demonstrated her dedication to serving the public,” her campaign posted on Twitter Monday evening. “Her years of experience in the state legislature have equipped her with the necessary skills, knowledge, and connections to effectively address the pressing issues facing our nation.”

The St. Louis Democrat is scheduled to hold a campaign announcement event in St. Louis Tuesday afternoon.

May has been an outspoken member of the state Senate during her tenure, railing against a push by Republicans this year to ban diversity initiatives from the state budget. A nondenominational Christian, May successfully sponsored a new law this year that allows public schools to teach elective courses on the Bible.

While May joins what was already a hotly contested Democratic primary, whichever candidate gets the nomination will face long odds to defeat Hawley in 2024. Democrats haven’t won a Senate race in Missouri since 2012.

Kunce, in a statement from his campaign, welcomed May into the race.

“The State Senator and I spoke on the phone ahead of the announcement, and we had a great conversation,” Kunce said. “I’m happy to welcome her to the race and look forward to seeing her on the trail.”

Bell, in a statement from his campaign, said he also spoke with May prior to her announcement.

“I know her, I consider her a friend, hugged her and wished her well,” he said. “Everyone has a right to run. This is the democratic process and ultimately voters will decide.”

Bell, who comes from predominantly Black North St. Louis County, will be competing with May for votes in the St. Louis area.

May, according to her legislative bio, has worked for AT&T for 25 years. She has served as a youth minister at Grow 2 Go Christian Center in St. Louis since 2001. She holds degrees from Forest Park Community College and Saint Louis University.

Hawley, who often seeks out cultural battles and regularly wades into controversies, has sparked strong partisan reactions during his first terms. He’s developed a national following among conservatives, but is widely loathed among Democrats.

Hawley was the first senator to announce plans to object to the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election and was photographed pumping his fist at a crowd outside the Capitol shortly before the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Critics, like former Sen. John Danforth, blamed those actions for helping cause the combustible atmosphere that led to the riot.

While some campaign donors, like Hallmark, said they would no longer give money to Hawley, he leaned into the controversy of the day by selling campaign products with an illustration of him raising a fist to the protesters outside the Capitol that day.

Hawley passed up on a widely speculated presidential bid in 2024 in favor of running for reelection. In the Senate, his messaging has focused on changing the Republican Party to focus more on socially conservative, working class Americans instead of the type of business-focused Republican the party has been known to court.

His campaign did not respond to a request for comment. Hawley’s campaign said it has more than $4.6 million in its bank account and his political action committee said it had $1.1 million in its most recent campaign finance report.

Since Hawley unseated Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill in 2018, Missouri has voted increasingly Republican. Where Democrats once consistently held statewide office, now Republicans have super majorities in the state House and Senate and have control of all the state’s constitutional offices, both U.S. Senate seats and six of eight congressional districts.

Democrats found some electoral success nationally by focusing on abortion rights in 2022, and abortion rights activists in the state are attempting to secure a vote on a ballot measure that would eliminate Missouri’s strict abortion ban.