WASHINGTON — Republican Josh Hawley has unseated Missouri's Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill in a national victory for the GOP.
Republicans have long hoped to flip McCaskill's seat in the increasingly Republican state. Missouri was once considered a bellwether known for picking the successful presidential candidate, but it's since lost that status and trended right.
President Donald Trump won the state by nearly 19 percentage points. Missouri's attorney general pinned his campaign to his support for the president.
McCaskill was one of 10 Democratic Senate incumbents up for re-election in states Trump won.
Voters first elected McCaskill to the Senate in 2006. She won re-election in 2012 after Republican candidate Todd Akin said women's bodies can prevent pregnancy in cases of "legitimate rape."
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