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Former staff members of Claire McCaskill, a Democrat who lost her 2018 re-election to Senator Josh Hawley, launched a super PAC to defeat Mr Hawley the next time he runs for office – as part of a wide reaction against him for leading the effort. last week to overturn the presidential election results.
“Senators take an oath to the Constitution and loyalty to this country, not aiding and abetting an attempted coup against the two,” the super PAC first announcement, released Friday, said. The band is called Just Oust Seditious Hacks, a backronym for JOSH.
Mr Hawley, who represents Missouri and is seen as someone who wants to run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, was the first senator to agree to join members of the House in challenging the election results when Congress met to formalize them on January 6.
Because such challenges require the support of at least one Senator to be considered by members of Congress, his action has guaranteed the disruption of what is normally a ceremonial process – a disruption during which supporters of the president Trump violently stormed the Capitol. His move prompted an immediate reaction from fellow Republicans, and anger escalated after the attack on Capitol Hill, with some lawmakers calling for the resignation of Mr Hawley and Simon & Schuster canceling plans to publish his delivered.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who joined Mr Hawley in opposing the results, also faced a backlash, including the resignation of his communications director this week. But while Mr Cruz filed his objection to the results in Arizona early in the proceedings, Mr Hawley drew particular anger for opposing the results in Pennsylvania hours later after the attack on the Capitol.
“Josh Hawley is confident that his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and deny Joe Biden the presidency – even after helping fuel the U.S. Capitol riots – will make him president in 2024,” the new super PAC said in a statement. . “He’s betting that the same far-right nationalist crowds who backed Donald Trump will place him in the White House to continue Trump’s work. JOSH PAC will be running an ongoing campaign to stop it now. “
Mr Hawley’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
The super PAC, news of which was first reported by Politico, is part of a long tradition of efforts to fund electoral challenges in response to a specific vote or action by a lawmaker. These efforts are not always successful, even when they involve large sums of money.
For example, a crowd-funded campaign in 2018 raised $ 3.7 million for the Democrat who would be appointed to challenge Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine in response to her support for Judge Brett M’s confirmation Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. The nominee ended up being Sara Gideon, who gave Ms Collins her most serious challenge in years, but ultimately lost by more than eight percentage points.
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