St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell will run for the U.S. Senate, making him the second prominent Democratic candidate who wants to take on Republican Josh Hawley.
“As Missourians and Americans, we have more in common than politicians like Josh Hawley say we do,” Bell said Wednesday in an announcement web video posted on Twitter.
Bell was first elected as St. Louis County prosecutor in 2018, ousting longtime incumbent Bob McCulloch. He won reelection in 2022 with minimal opposition and can run for another office in 2024 without giving up his current post. He previously served on the Ferguson City Council.
His decision to run for the Senate puts him on a primary collision course with Lucas Kunce, who ran for the Senate in 2022. Kunce has racked up a number of prominent endorsements in his second Senate bid, most notably the Missouri AFL-CIO's.
"From Day One, this campaign has been a fight to take this U.S. Senate seat back for working people," Kunce said. “When the working people of Missouri unite, they win.”
Although Hawley is a Republican incumbent in a state that has tilted to the right over the past few election cycles, Democrats contend he is more vulnerable than people expect. One reason, they say, is that Hawley was the first senator to object to President Joe Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania during the congressional certification of the 2020 presidential election results.
Missouri’s Senate primary is set for August.
This is a developing story that will be updated.
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