In a tight race for a Senate seat from Missouri, Republican candidate Josh Hawley is trying to use the issue of the GOP tax reform law to his advantage, reminding voters that current Senator and his Democratic opponent Claire McCaskill voted against the legislation, the Washington Examiner reported on Monday.
Using Tax Day this Tuesday as a hook, Hawley – currently the state’s attorney general – issued a press release saying that "This time next year, many Missouri families will see lower taxes come Tax Day. Some are already starting to see increases in their paychecks, while others have received notable bonuses from their respective employers. That's because of the new tax cut law going into effect, no thanks to Senator Claire McCaskill."
Trying to cast her as out of touch, Hawley slammed McCaskill as a "millionaire senator" for referring in November to the potential benefits of the tax plan as "scraps" and asked if she plans to repeal the tax cuts, "take back our bonus checks," and then change the law to raise taxes.
McCaskill has said she would have been willing to support compromise, bipartisan legislation, but opposed the bill because Democrats were not consulted on its contents and that it would disproportionately benefit the wealthy and result in a significant increase in the national debt.
In a Mason-Dixon poll released last week, Hawley and McCaskill are in a statistical tie, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The poll has McCaskill at 45 percent and Hawley at 44 percent, with 11 percent undecided. The survey interviewed 625 registered voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.
Hawley is expected to win a multi-candidate field in the Republican primary in August.
The poll shows Hawley with wide margins in rural areas, with McCaskill holding smaller, but still substantial, advantages in St. Louis and Kansas City.