--- title: Josh Hawley Defeats Claire McCaskill in Missouri Race description: Republican Josh Hawley defeated incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill in the race for a Missouri Senate seat. canonical: https://time.com/5446140/missouri-senate-mccaskill-hawley/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-11-07T05:20:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T08:05:27.151Z article:section: Politics og:title: Republicans Pick Up Senate Seat as Josh Hawley Defeats Claire McCaskill og:description: Helping cement the GOP majority. og:url: https://time.com/5446140/missouri-senate-mccaskill-hawley/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte5b362651da23ec0/69893e71096a943eee6a3dff/josh_hawley_campaigns_for_us_senate_election.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: Hawley campaigns for US Senate, Saint Louis, USA - 05 Nov 2018 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Republicans Pick Up Senate Seat as Josh Hawley Defeats Claire McCaskill twitter:description: Helping cement the GOP majority. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte5b362651da23ec0/69893e71096a943eee6a3dff/josh_hawley_campaigns_for_us_senate_election.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Republicans Pick Up Senate Seat as Josh Hawley Defeats Claire McCaskill > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=39b1ea88-1412-4ebe-a69e-6f8daec1f442&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Republicans Pick Up Senate Seat as Josh Hawley Defeats Claire McCaskill [Watch (HLS stream): Republicans Pick Up Senate Seat as Josh Hawley Defeats Claire McCaskill](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/maLlqHO6.m3u8) (1:25)  _Published 2018-11-07. Republican Josh Hawley defeated incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill in the race for a Missouri Senate seat, becoming the third pickup for Republicans as they cemented their majority in the Senate Tuesday night._  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Nov 7, 2018 5:20 AM UTC  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Nov 7, 2018 5:20 AM UTC Republican Josh Hawley defeated incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill in the race for a Missouri Senate seat, becoming the third pickup for Republicans as they cemented their majority in the Senate Tuesday night. McCaskill was one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the Senate. McCaskill is a moderate Democrat and Missouri voted for Trump over Hillary Clinton by nearly 20 points in 2016\. Trump hammered McCaskill in the days leading up to the election, hosting two rallies in the state in the final week of the campaign to boost Hawley, the state’s attorney general. McCaskill painted herself as a moderate member of her party— she ran an ad that said she’s [“not one of those crazy Democrats”](https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2018/10/25/ip-missouri-race.cnn) and has said she supports Trump on border security. But Trump sought to tie her to Democratic leadership and criticized her for [voting against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation](https://www.npr.org/2018/09/20/649771824/sen-claire-mccaskill-i-will-vote-no-on-judge-kavanaugh). She’s been “saying such nice things about me,” Trump said at a campaign appearance in Missouri days before the election. “But you know what? She’ll never vote with me. That’s the problem.” Hawley, on the other hand, pitched himself as a reliable conservative and a strong supporter of Trump and his policies. “She just doesn’t vote with Missouri,” Hawley [told 41 KSHB](https://www.kshb.com/news/political/josh-hawley-hopes-to-prevent-blue-wave-in-missouri) of McCaskill. “The Supreme Court is so important, our rights are at issue, our future. The Brett Kavanaugh smear shows you the stakes. The Supreme Court, securing our border, jobs from overseas; This is about saving our country.” ## Transcript Tonight the good Lord and the people of Missouri has given us the victory. [ APPLAUSE ] We want. I just had a nice phone call from Senator McStore she couldnt have been more gracious. She conceeded the race I wanna thank her for her service. And I had a very nice call with the president of the United States. [ APPLAUSE ] Thank you Mr. President for your leadership, thank you for believing in Missouri to, Tonight, the people of Missouri have delivered. [ APPLAUSE ] Now it is time to roll up our sleeves and to get to work. The hard work begins of going to Washington and standing up for our values. I said that I would fight to secure our border and I will. [ APPLAUSE ] I've said that I will be an advocate and fight For pro- Constitution, pro- America judges on our courts, and I will. [ APPLAUSE ] I said I would fight to continue to bring back jobs from overseas, to get wages growing, and I will. [ APPLAUSE ] I said that I will always Stand, always stand, for our farmers and our small businessmen, the people who have built this state, and I will. 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