ST. LOUIS – Things are getting testy in Missouri’s U.S. Senate race.

The top candidates, incumbent Republican Josh Hawley and Democratic challenger Lucas Kunce are blasting each other on the stump and in new campaign ads. The two may meet face-to-face as soon as Thursday.

Hawley has had a long-standing edge in fundraising and polling over Kunce but is telling supporters the polling gap is closing and Kunce is now outraising him. Both candidates accuse the other of ducking debates.

Both have just unveiled new ads, with actor John Goodman, a St. Louis native, praising Kunce as the candidate of “family values” and blasting Hawley as “something else.”
The latest Hawley ad features the launch of a slogan, “it’s nuts but it’s Kunce.”

When it comes to fundraising, Hawley has a decided advantage in total raised: $22.49 million to $11.19 for Kunce, according to the most recent Federal Election Commission quarterly reports filed last month.

However, Kunce outraised Hawley by nearly a million dollars for the quarter, $2.77 million to $1.78 million, leaving Hawley with $5.76 million in cash on hand at the quarter’s end, compared to $4.23 million for Kunce.

FOX 2’s Hancock and Kelley political team is split on whether Kunce can win. He may be buoyed by a measure to restore abortion rights in Missouri appearing on the ballot in November. Kunce favors lifting Missouri’s ban on abortions, Hawley does not.

“I think (Kunce) has a chance to put Josh Hawley in an uncomfortable spot,” Democratic consultant Michael Kelley said. “If the stars line up because this top of the Republican ticket with Donald Trump, could lose some standing, (Kunce) could be in a good spot.”

“Hawley’s going to win,” Republican consultant John Hancock said. “He’s really taken a kind of ‘populist’ bent, that’s the lane Kunce is trying to own. I think it’s going to be hard for him to ‘message’ in this campaign.”

Both candidates will be at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia on Thursday.