Republican Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley has made it official: He's running for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill in 2018.
Hawley, a 37-year-old in his first year of elected office, will release a video Tuesday morning announcing his candidacy. His campaign made the video available to The Associated Press.
McCaskill is in her third term in the Senate, but Missouri voters have increasingly favored Republicans in recent years. Just one statewide office holder is a Democrat, and only two other federal lawmakers are Democrats — Congressmen William Lacy Clay of St. Louis and Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City.
Hawley defeated Democrat Teresa Hensley in November in his first bid for public office. He was previously an associate professor at the University of Missouri School of Law.
