Hey John, it’s Lucas Kunce with an exciting update.
Just moments ago in Jeff City, I officially filed the paperwork to put my name on the ballot to represent Missouri in the United States Senate.
Being here to make this official is special to me because on the other side of town, there’s an old cracked street I used to call home. So before I share more about why I got into this race, please give me a moment to reintroduce myself.
As a kid from a working class neighborhood in Jeff City, my family struggled. My parents were already living paycheck-to-paycheck, and when my little sister was born with a heart condition, they were bankrupted by medical bills.
But we were never alone. Friends, neighbors, people in our community who had no more than we did all came together to support my family. They helped me go to college, and after that I joined the Marines to honor everything they did for us.
Between tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, one of the hardest things was coming home and seeing what was happening in my old neighborhood. It was a community picked for parts — the local corner store boarded up, our family’s first house in the neighborhood bulldozed to the ground.
While all of us risked our lives building up towns like Habbaniyah, Fallujah, and Herat, career politicians and the corporate elites backing them let our country waste away. They spent 20 years and trillions of dollars on pointless forever wars and defense contractors, but could never seem to figure out how to invest even a fraction of that amount back into our own communities.
After decades of corrupt politicians using their power to control us and massive corporations stripping our communities for parts, I’m running for U.S. Senate because I want everyday Missourians — people who know how to take care of each other — to call the shots in our country.
Together, we can stop handing out money for Wall Street and forever wars, and we can create a Marshall Plan for the Midwest to rebuild our forgotten towns and cities here at home. We can build an economy that puts workers and small businesses in charge — one that puts America first in the next generation of energy, semiconductors, and supply chain independence.
We can end the filibuster, codify Roe, and stop the Big Brother attacks on reproductive rights by control-obsessed politicians in Missouri and nationwide. And we can finally hold our politicians accountable by abolishing corporate PACs and banning insider trading for members of Congress.
Today was an important milestone for our campaign, but there will be many more between now and November — and I’ll need your support every step of the way.
Thank you for helping us build this people-powered movement, John. If we keep working together, I know we can flip Missouri’s U.S. Senate seat and take back power for working people this November.
Now that it’s official — let’s get to work!
Lucas Tyree Kunce