SPRINGFIELD —The United States should abandon its support for Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia, U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley said Friday during his first debate with challenger Lucas Kunce and two third party candidates.

“I do not support continued funding to Ukraine,” Hawley said, adding that he would not support any more aid until Congress agrees to compensate Missourians who have suffered diseases from exposure to radioactive waste left over from World War II.

Kunce, a Marine veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said the alternative to military and economic aid to the beleaguered republic is sending U.S. troops. Hawley’s position will embolden other world adversaries, Kunce said, including China and Iran.

“Our aid to Ukraine, at $200 billion, is infinitely cheaper than the $6 trillion we spent in Iraq and Afghanistan, supposedly nation building there once we put boots on the ground,” Kunce said.

Hawley, the Republican incumbent seeking his second term in the Senate, and Kunce, a Democrat making his second run for the Senate, appeared at a debate sponsored by the Missouri Press Association. They were joined on stage by Nathan Kline, nominee of the Green Party, and Jared Young, who petitioned to form the Better Party as the label for his effort.

Kline said U.S. involvement in Ukraine is an example of corporate interests pushing the nation to war and failed policies of both the Democratic and Republican parties.

“The disastrous war in Ukraine is a perfect example of the blue team and the red team skipping hand in hand to Armageddon,” Kline said.

Continued aid to bolster Ukraine is essential for U.S. national security, Young said.

“Russia and China and Iran represent a serious threat to our country,” he said. “They are actively working to undermine the world order that served us so well for the last 60 or 70 years. And in order to push back, we need to have a strong stance.”

The debate was not televised but it was streamed online. Hawley and Kunce have agreed to a televised debate without the other two candidates on Oct. 31.

Throughout the debate, Hawley pushed Kunce to say which candidate he supports for president — Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, or former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee. Kunce did not respond.

Kunce sought to damage Hawley by tying him to anti-abortion positions that include opposition to protections for in vitro fertilization and support for Missouri’s near-total ban on abortions.

“It’s Josh Hawley’s abortion ban,” Kunce said. “He wants to bans all abortion, even in cases of rape and incest.”

Kunce said he supports Amendment 3, which would restore abortion rights in Missouri. Hawley said he opposes it and claimed that one reason Kunce backs it is to reverse a Missouri law banning gender-affirming medical treatments for children.
“Lucas Kunce and his allies talk about reproductive health, but what it really does is it allows transgender surgeries without parental consent,” Hawley said.

That characterization, both of his position and the amendment, is wrong, Kunce said.

“He sees mandated sex change surgeries around every single corner because he thinks he can rile people up that way and actually win the election,” Kunce said.

Kunce is the best-funded Democrat running statewide this year, but he is bucking a trend that has seen every statewide Democratic candidate go down to defeat since 2018. Kunce has spent $4.3 million on television ads — more than he had on hand on June 30 — that have been running since late July.

His pace of ad spending in recent weeks has slowed and the coming week will only be half of this week’s buy and one-third of that two weeks ago, according to tracking by The Independent.

In an interview, Kunce said he will be building up his effort again as the election approaches after a first phase of introducing himself to the state.

Hawley’s campaign has spent about $2.8 million on television and an independent PAC supporting his re-election, Show Me Strong, has spent about $1.5 million.

The SLU/YouGov poll in August showed Hawley with a double-digit lead, a margin that has not changed despite the television blitz.

Young is the best-funded independent candidate in the state in many years, but the $900,000 he has raised has not been used for any television advertising. Instead, Young said in an interview after the debate, he’s focused on digital platforms and other ways of making his money stretch.

“We knew all along that nobody was really going to be paying attention until these last two months, and so we’re seeing the momentum pick up,” Young said.

Kline, of Kansas City, works for the city’s Planning and Development Department.

The candidates also addressed immigration, with Hawley accusing Kunce of supporting “putting immigrants on Social Security and Medicare.”

Kunce said Hawley was lying about his views. He backs a bill that was defeated in the U.S. Senate that would increase border patrols and limit the number of people entering every day.

“The sad thing here is that Josh Hawley has voted against keeping us safe,” Kunce said, “because he wants to keep it as a campaign issue rather than address the train wreck we have going on.”