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


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.
"Am I optimistic that [Trump is] going to nominate somebody that I would feel comfortable about?" said McCaskill. "No, I'm not."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
While it is still very early, McCaskill has the slightest edge over Hawley in RealClearPolitics' average, 45.0 percent to 43.3 percent. Politico notes that she will need wide margins in St. Louis and Kansas City to beat a Republican again in the state. For Democrats to take back the Senate in November, McCaskill's party would need to hold all of their 26 seats up for election and win two of the nine Republican seats in play.
"What I can't tell you is everything is going to be okay," McCaskill told Democrats recently of the impending SCOTUS battle. "[Republicans] have the votes, they changed the rules, they changed the norm."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
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.
-
Trump foists National Guard on unwilling California
speed read Protests erupted over ICE immigration raids in LA county
-
Supreme Court lowers bar in discrimination cases
speed read The court ruled in favor of a white woman who claimed she lost two deserved promotions to gay employees
-
Trump-Musk relationship implodes in taunts, threats
speed read Musk said Trump's multitrillion bill would cause a recession and accused the president of involvement with Jeffrey Epstein
-
Trump hits Africa, Middle East with new travel ban
Speed Read The travel ban bars visitors from 12 countries and restricts entry from seven
-
Elon Musk slams Trump's 'pork-filled' signature bill
speed read 'Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong,' Musk posted on X
-
Depleted FEMA struggling as hurricane season begins
speed read FEMA has lost a third of its workforce amid DOGE cuts enforced by President Donald Trump
-
White House tackles fake citations in MAHA report
speed read A federal government public health report spearheaded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was rife with false citations
-
Judge blocks push to bar Harvard foreign students
speed read Judge Allison Burroughs sided with Harvard against the Trump administration's attempt to block the admittance of international students