Sen. Josh Hawley Clashes With Opponent Lucas Kunce At Missouri State Fair

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) hasnt been able to set up a debate with Democratic challenger Lucas Kunce, so he decided to take matters into his own hands on Thursday.

And he did it at the Missouri State Fair.

Kunces campaign has agreed to five televised debates, according to St. Louis Fox affiliate KTVI-TV. But Kunce would not participate in a non-televised debate hosted by the Missouri Farm Bureau that his campaign contends would violate campaign finance law, since the group endorsed Hawley and donated $5,000 to his campaign, according to the Missouri Independent . 

In a letter to the bureau, the Kunce campaign cited Federal Election Commission law preventing organizations that endorse and financially back candidates from hosting debates, the website said.

Lucas does not wish to expose the Farm Bureau or your members to unnecessary risk, Kunce campaign manager Caleb Cavaretta wrote.

The two U.S. Senate nominees have been at an impasse over debate terms since emerging from their party primaries on Aug. 6. 

But Hawley apparently decided the best way to get a debate going was to track down Kunce at the State Fair in Sedalia on Thursday and demand they do it then and there.

And, yes, he made sure a camera crew was following him.

Hawleys video shows him walking around the fair like a man on a mission.

Guys, how are you? Lets go find Lucas Kunce. Lets go find him, he says to bystanders. Come on, wheres he been? I havent seen him. You guys seen him? He hasnt been out of his basement in two weeks, lets go find him. Where is he? Where is he? Where is he? Where is he?

About 23 seconds into the video, Hawley connects with Kunce, who says, How you doing, man? to which Hawley replies, We gonna debate today?

After Kunce says he doesnt know what Hawley is talking about, the senator responds, You dont know? I read your bullshit letter to the Farm Bureau. Are you going to sue the Farm Bureau?

The exchange continued ...

Kunce: Dude, youre really obsessed with this stuff.

Hawley: Come on!

Kunce: Youre really obsessed with this stuff.

Hawley: Come on! Are you going to debate me today?

Kunce: You already got the Farm Bureau and the state fair in trouble, man.

Hawley: Lets go!

At one point, Hawley taunted Kunce, saying, By the way, are you gonna do any campaign events around the state or just media?

Kunce responded using that W word that has been on many Democrats lips  in recent weeks.

Josh, why are you so weird? Kunce responded. Man, why are you so creepy?

You can see the encounter from Hawleys perspective below.

Kunce offered his own post, one that showed Hawley not committing to the debates hes already agreed to.

Not surprisingly, the skirmish between the Senate candidates attracted attention on social media.