Republican Josh Hawley's campaign spent about $11 million to successfully unseat Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill despite the Democratic incumbent's significant financial advantage during their marquee U.S. Senate race, according to campaign finance reports released Thursday.
A month after the key GOP win, records show that Hawley spent about $3.9 million between Oct. 18 and Nov. 26, the weeks just before and after the Nov. 6 election. He brought in about $1.5 million in donations during that same time period.
That means Hawley received about $10.3 million in contributions during his campaign, not including another roughly $1.4 million in transfers from other sources.
Data on McCaskill's final spending and fundraising leading up to the election were not yet available online Thursday, but she outraised and outspent Hawley throughout the race. As of mid-October, McCaskill had spent a whopping $33 million throughout the campaign cycle.
Hawley won the Nov. 6 election by about 6 percentage points in Missouri, a state that has increasingly trended Republican in recent years. President Donald Trump won the state by nearly 19 percentage points in 2016, and nearly all statewide elected posts are held by Republicans.
The GOP had long targeted McCaskill's seat, but she's a crafty campaigner and had survived tough races before. In 2012, she defeated U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, who she considered the weakest Republican challenger during that election. Akin lost to McCaskill in the general election after saying women's bodies could prevent pregnancy in cases of "legitimate rape."
Hawley, who campaigned as a strong supporter of Trump, will assume the office in January. As the state's current attorney general, he will be replaced by now-Treasurer Eric Schmitt. Republican Gov. Mike Parson has not yet announced who he will appoint to replace Schmitt.
