We endorse Hawley for senate

By NewsPress Now

Some politicians appear to come from nowhere when they run for office. Josh Hawley is not one of them.

The senior senator from Missouri gives the impression of someone whose political strategizing began in junior high. Hawley’s ambition and his embrace of the spotlight is something that critics never fail to point out.

In this sense, Hawley takes heat for acting like 99% of politicians. There is something absurd in pretending that a political figure shouldn’t act like it’s a popularity contest when that’s the whole idea of running – you want to get one more vote than your opponent.

There’s also something absurd in two guys with degrees from Yale trying to outdo the other as a man of the people. Maybe there should be a stipulation on that point.

It does Missourians a disservice to turn the race between Hawley and Democratic challenger Lucas Kunce into little more than a personality contest. Kunce has done his best to spin a personal narrative and give the public oversimplified talking points on bringing home earmarks and the supposed evil nature of corporations.

He would have us believe that earmarks are good but corporations are bad? In a state where 86% of employment is in the private sector, this amounts to a counterproductive understanding of how the economy works.

The U.S. Senate race should be about issues. Here, Hawley’s views and priorities not only align with the people of Missouri, but they would lead to policies that improve lives in the state.

Hawley is the candidate who would restrain the exorbitant government spending that contributed to inflation that hit low-income Missourians the hardest.

Hawley would unwind burdensome regulations that stifle business growth and job creation.

Hawley used his position on a Homeland Security and Government Affairs subcommittee to grill Boeing’s CEO on his $32 million salary. The senator routinely presses the heads of businesses and government agencies for greater accountability.

Hawley takes on Big Tech, including sponsorship of a bill to give parents more control of their children’s data.

Hawley is not one of those St. Louis politicians who thinks I-70 marks the northern border of Missouri. He has been responsive to the needs of this region and met with members of the Air National Guard at Rosecrans Memorial Airport last month.

The senator isn’t afraid to buck Republican orthodoxy, including cosponsoring a bill with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, to claw back executive compensation following bank failures.

On trade, Hawley takes a hard line on China and gives off a faint air of the MAGA-influenced economic worldview. In an export-dependent city like St. Joseph, a protectionist policy bears watching. But anyone who experienced the wave of St. Joseph factory closings in past years shouldn’t be surprised that Donald Trump and MAGA tapped into a deep vein of discontent on globalism and the policies of Washington elites.

Hawley’s decision to climb aboard the MAGA train shouldn’t be a source of outrage considering how the last two presidential elections have gone in Missouri. His political alliances bring to mind a line from the progressive rock band Rush in its song, “Tom Sawyer.”

“What you say about his company is what you say about society.”

Hawley may rub some people the wrong way, but his politics and his stance on key issues are in line with the state of Missouri and its needs. He should be returned to Washington on Nov. 5.