Trump's SCOTUS nominee could make or break the Missouri Senate race

Is McCaskill in trouble?
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) is already one of the most vulnerable lawmakers up for re-election in November — President Trump won her state by 19 points in 2016 — and the looming Supreme Court vote is playing right into her Republican opponent's hand, Politico reports. Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, who will likely seal his spot to run against McCaskill after an August Republican primary, called the SCOTUS nominee "the defining issue of this campaign."

A constitutional lawyer who met his wife while clerking for Chief Justice John Roberts, Hawley is in his element when he declares that McCaskill has "been wrong on every single court nominee since she has been running for the Senate or in the Senate." McCaskill, a centrist Democrat who broke with her other red state colleagues by voting against Neil Gorsuch last year, insists that she has not already made up her mind to vote "no" against retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy's successor.

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.