Lucas Kunce announces run for vacant Missouri U.S. Senate seat in 2022

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — One day after sitting U.S. Senator Roy Blunt, R – Missouri, announced that he will not seek reelection in 2022, former Marine Lucas Kunce announced his campaign to replace Blunt in 2022.

Kunce spent 13 years an an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. and deployed on tours of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Missourians are frustrated with Washington because there are so few Senators with life experiences similar to mine or people in the communities I grew up in. My parents worked hard and made it until my sister’s illness caused them to go bankrupt from medical bills. I didn’t just experience the struggles, though.  I also experienced the way we took care of each other.  When our family was down everyone– black and white, young and old–was there for us.  And when they were down, we were there for them. That’s just how it was.  I got to go to Yale on a Pell Grant and chose to dedicate my life after that to honoring what our community did for us.  I joined the Marines, served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and represented our country in arms control negotiations with NATO and Russia. After 13 years on active duty, I joined a non-profit fighting large corporations who use their monopoly power to stick it to the middle class. I’m running for the U.S. Senate because Missouri deserves new leadership that will stand up for working people and better-paying jobs.

Lucas Kunce

Kunce said his campaign will run on revitalizing Missouri’s communities by “creating better paying jobs and fighting the outsized power of Wall Street and large corporate monopolies.”

“Roy Blunt may be retiring but the interests that have waged war upon the middle class are stronger than ever in Washington,” Kunce said. “The same companies that Washington worked with to ship jobs and opportunity out of our state for decades are stronger than ever… while Missouri has had the worst economic recovery from the great recession in the area.”

During his time in the Marine Corps., he served as the International Negotiations Officer in the Pentagon and represented the U.S. in negotiations on arms control with Russia.

The Independence, Mo. native has been the Director of National Security Policy at the American Economic Liberties Project since leaving active duty in 2020.