With 90 percent of votes recorded, Republican Josh Hawley is the projected winner of the Missouri Senate race, according to CNN.
Incumbent Claire McCaskill and Attorney General Josh Hawley from Missouri were neck and neck throughout the race. Though McCaskill has only lost one race in her political career according to The New Yorker, polls from late October and early November showed Hawley consistently polling 3 to 4 points ahead.
McCaskill, a Democrat from Rolla, Missouri, was voted into office in 2006. She is unlike many Democrats in the United States today, in that she focuses more on local issues than the ideology of liberal Democrats as a whole, according to The New Yorker. This is important in Missouri, a state that has been slowly shifting to the right throughout McCaskill’s life.
She has been adapting to this change in a variety of ways. According to Missourinet, “One of her radio ads ridiculed progressive and activist colleagues in her own party as ‘crazy democrats’ while she’s also openly embraced President Trump’s plan to block the caravan of refugees fleeing violence in Central American countries from entering the US.”
Despite this, Hawley is one-upping her on the conservative ideology front.
“He has battled big government and big business, the special interests, organized crime and anyone who would threaten the wellbeing of Missourians,” according to his campaign website. He was also endorsed by President Trump on Twitter.
A vote for Claire McCaskill is a vote for Schumer, Pelosi, Waters, and their socialist agenda. Claire voted IN FAVOR of deadly Sanctuary Cities - she would rather protect criminal aliens than American citizens, which is why she needs to be voted out of office. Vote @HawleyMO! pic.twitter.com/tn2zsEWQJ5
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2018
Because of this, many liberal-leaning voters are still in support of McCaskill.
“It was a little bit of an uphill battle, and I think it was expected that she wouldn’t really win,” Medill junior Claire Bugos, who is the president of College Democrats, said. “But of course it’s sad to see a liberal woman voted out of office. She’s done some good things.”
This elections seems to have left Democrats settling for the “least worst” option and giving Republicans the choice between central and far right ideology.