Josh Hawley (cropped)
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Joshua David Hawley (born December 31, 1979) is an American politician and attorney serving as the
senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...
United States senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...
from
Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...
, a seat he has held since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, Hawley served as the 42nd
attorney general of Missouri The Office of the Missouri Attorney General was created in 1806 when Missouri was part of the Louisiana Territory. Missouri's first Constitution in 1820 provided for an appointed attorney general, but since the 1865 Constitution, the Attorney Gen ...
from 2017 to 2019, before defeating two-term incumbent Democratic senator
Claire McCaskill Claire Conner McCaskill (; born July 24, 1953) is an American former politician who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Missouri from 2007 to 2019 and as State Auditor of Missouri, state auditor of Missouri from 1999 to ...
in the 2018 election. He was reelected in
2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...
. Born in
Springdale, Arkansas Springdale is a city in Washington County, Arkansas, Washington and Benton County, Arkansas, Benton counties in the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city had a population of 84,161 at the 2020 census, making it the List of cities and towns in Arkan ...
, to a banker and a teacher, Hawley graduated from
Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
in 2002 and
Yale Law School Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United ...
in 2006. After being a
law clerk A law clerk, judicial clerk, or judicial assistant is a person, often a lawyer, who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by Legal research, researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial ...
to Judge
Michael W. McConnell Michael William McConnell (born May 18, 1955) is an American jurist who served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit from 2002 to 2009. Since 2009, McConnell has been a professor and Direc ...
and Chief Justice
John Roberts John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American jurist serving since 2005 as the 17th chief justice of the United States. He has been described as having a Moderate conservatism, moderate conservative judicial philosophy, thoug ...
, he worked as a lawyer, first in private practice from 2008 to 2011 and then for the
Becket Fund for Religious Liberty Becket, also known as the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, is a non-profit public interest law firm based in Washington, D.C., with a mission to "protect the free expression of all faiths." Becket promotes accommodationism and is active in the ...
from 2011 to 2015. Before being elected Missouri attorney general, he was also an associate professor at the
University of Missouri School of Law The University of Missouri School of Law (Mizzou Law or MU Law) is the law school of the University of Missouri. It is located on the university's main campus in Columbia, forty minutes from the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City. The s ...
, and a faculty member of the conservative
Blackstone Legal Fellowship The Blackstone Legal Fellowship is an American legal training and summer internship program for Christian law students, developed and facilitated by the Evangelical Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). About 3,000 law student ...
. As Missouri attorney general, Hawley initiated several high-profile lawsuits and investigations, including a lawsuit against the
Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and informally as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presid ...
, an investigation into Missouri governor
Eric Greitens Eric Robert Greitens (born April 10, 1974) is an American businessman, author, former politician and former Navy SEAL, who served as the 56th governor of Missouri from January 2017 until June 2018, when he resigned that month amid allegations o ...
, and a lawsuit and investigation into companies associated with the
opioid epidemic The opioid epidemic, also referred to as the opioid crisis, is the rapid increase in the overuse, misuse or abuse, and overdose deaths attributed either in part or in whole to the class of drugs called opiates or opioids since the 1990s. It inc ...
. His political beliefs have been described as strongly
socially conservative Social conservatism is a political philosophy and a variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional social structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institu ...
, and
populist Populism is a contested concept used to refer to a variety of political stances that emphasize the idea of the " common people" and often position this group in opposition to a perceived elite. It is frequently associated with anti-establis ...
. In December 2020, Hawley became the first senator to announce plans to object to the certification of Joe Biden's victory in the
2020 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 2020. The Democratic Party (United States), Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and California junior senator Kamala H ...
, and led efforts in the Senate to do so. Although he did not directly encourage the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, some observers perceived his actions as inflammatory. In January 2021, Hawley said he did not intend to overturn the election results.


Early life and education

Joshua David Hawley was born on December 31, 1979, in Springdale, Arkansas, to banker Ronald Hawley and teacher Virginia Hawley. In 1981, the Hawleys moved to
Lexington, Missouri Lexington is a city in, and the county seat of, Lafayette County, Missouri, United States. The population was 4,726 at the 2010 census. Lexington is in western Missouri, within the Kansas City metropolitan area, approximately east of Kansas C ...
, after Ronald joined a division of
Boatmen's Bancshares Boatmen's Bancshares Inc. was one of the 30 largest bank holding companies in the United States when it was acquired by NationsBank in 1996. Until its acquisition, Boatmen's traded on NASDAQ with the ticker BOAT. The company, founded in St. Louis, ...
there. Hawley attended Lexington Middle School and
Rockhurst High School Rockhurst High School is a private, Jesuit, all-boys preparatory school founded in 1910 along with Rockhurst College in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. It moved away from the College in 1962 to a campus on State Line Road in Kansas City. ...
, a
private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...
Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
boys' prep school in
Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...
. He graduated in 1998 as a
valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the class rank, highest-performing student of a graduation, graduating class of an academic institution in the United States. The valedictorian is generally determined by an academic institution's grade poin ...
. According to his middle school principal, Barbara Weibling, several of Hawley's teachers thought "he was probably going to be president one day ..That's what ticks me off about Josh so bad. Going along with the 'Big Lie' and everything... It's just his ambition, I think. You know, it's just simply the ambition. He saw that as a way to get attention." While in high school, Hawley regularly wrote columns for his hometown newspaper, ''The Lexington News'', about such topics as the American militia movement following the
Oklahoma City bombing The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, United States, on April 19, 1995. The bombing remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history. Perpetr ...
, media coverage of
Los Angeles Police Department The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...
detective
Mark Fuhrman Mark Fuhrman (born February 5, 1952) is a former detective of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). He is primarily known for his part in the investigation of the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman in the O. J. Simpson m ...
, and
affirmative action Affirmative action (also sometimes called reservations, alternative access, positive discrimination or positive action in various countries' laws and policies) refers to a set of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking ...
, which he opposed. Hawley studied history at
Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
, where his mother was an
alumna Alumni (: alumnus () or alumna ()) are former students or graduates of a school, college, or university. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for groups of women, and alums (: alum) or alumns (: alumn) as gender-neutral alternatives. Th ...
. He graduated in 2002 with a
Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
degree with highest honors and
Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...
membership. He studied under professor David M. Kennedy, who later contributed the foreword to Hawley's book ''Theodore Roosevelt: Preacher of Righteousness''. Kennedy said Hawley stood out in a school "which is overstuffed with overachieving and very talented young people" and called him "arguably the most gifted student I taught in 50 years". In the summer of 2000, Hawley was an intern at
The Heritage Foundation The Heritage Foundation (or simply Heritage) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1973, it took a leading role in the conservative movement in the 1980s during the Presi ...
, a conservative think tank. Before the 2024 presidential campaign, the foundation drafted
Project 2025 Project 2025 (also known as the 2025 Presidential Transition Project) is a political initiative to reshape the federal government of the United States and consolidate executive power in favor of right-wing policies. The plan was published in ...
, a proposal for Republican initiatives. After spending ten months in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
teaching at St Paul's School from 2002 to 2003, Hawley returned to the U.S. to attend Yale Law School, graduating in 2006 with a
Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...
degree. ''
The Kansas City Star ''The Kansas City Star'' is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Star'' is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry S. Truman and a ...
'' reported that Hawley's classmates regarded him as "politically ambitious and a deeply religious conservative". At Yale, Hawley was articles editor of the ''
Yale Law Journal ''The Yale Law Journal'' (YLJ) is a student-run law review affiliated with the Yale Law School. Published continuously since 1891, it is the most widely known of the eight law reviews published by students at Yale Law School. The journal is one ...
'', editor of the ''
Yale Law & Policy Review The ''Yale Law & Policy Review'' (''YLPR'') is a biannual student-run law review founded in 1982 at the Yale Law School. ''YLPR'' publishes scholarship at the intersection of law and policy authored by lawmakers, judges, practitioners, academics, ...
'', and president of the school's
Federalist Society The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (FedSoc) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative and Libertarianism in the United States, libertarian legal organization that advocates for a Textualism, textualist an ...
chapter.


Early career

Hawley spent two years as a
law clerk A law clerk, judicial clerk, or judicial assistant is a person, often a lawyer, who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by Legal research, researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial ...
after law school, clerking first for Judge
Michael W. McConnell Michael William McConnell (born May 18, 1955) is an American jurist who served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit from 2002 to 2009. Since 2009, McConnell has been a professor and Direc ...
of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit from 2006 to 2007, then for Chief Justice
John Roberts John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American jurist serving since 2005 as the 17th chief justice of the United States. He has been described as having a Moderate conservatism, moderate conservative judicial philosophy, thoug ...
of the
U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...
from 2007 to 2008. While at the Supreme Court, Hawley met his future wife, Erin Morrow, now known as
Erin Hawley Erin Morrow Hawley (born 1979 or 1980) is an American lawyer and the wife of Senator Josh Hawley. She is known for her conservative political work and her affiliation with the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). Education Hawley attended Texas A& ...
, a fellow Yale Law graduate who was also clerking for Roberts. After his clerkships, Hawley worked in private practice as an appellate litigator at the law firm Hogan & Hartson (now
Hogan Lovells Hogan Lovells ( ) is an American-British law firm co-headquartered in London and Washington, DC. The firm was formed in 2010 by the merger of the American law firm Hogan & Hartson and the British law firm Lovells. As of 2024, the firm employed a ...
) from 2008 to 2011. In 2011, Hawley returned to Missouri and became an associate professor at the University of Missouri Law School, where he taught constitutional law, constitutional theory, legislation, and torts. From 2011 to 2015 Hawley was with
Becket Fund for Religious Liberty Becket, also known as the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, is a non-profit public interest law firm based in Washington, D.C., with a mission to "protect the free expression of all faiths." Becket promotes accommodationism and is active in the ...
. At Becket, he wrote briefs and gave legal advice in the Supreme Court cases '' Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission'', decided in 2012, and ''
Burwell v. Hobby Lobby ''Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.'', 573 U.S. 682 (2014), is a landmark decision in United States corporate law by the United States Supreme Court allowing privately held for-profit corporations to be exempt from a regulation that its owners ...
'', decided in 2014.


2016 Missouri attorney general campaign

Hawley launched his campaign for attorney general of Missouri on July 23, 2015. Of the $9.2 million raised for the campaign, $4.4 million was provided by David Humphreys, CEO of Joplin-based Tamko Building Products. On August 2, 2016, Hawley defeated
Kurt Schaefer Kurt Schaefer (born October 27, 1965) is a former Republican Party (United States), Republican member of the Missouri Senate, representing the 19th District from 2009 to 2017.
in the Republican primary with 64% of the vote. He defeated Democrat Teresa Hensley in the general election with 58.5% of the vote. During the campaign, Hawley criticized "career politicians" who were "climbing the ladder" from one position to another. This was later a focus of bipartisan criticism of him because he ran for the U.S. Senate only two years later. When elected, Hawley became the state's first Republican attorney general since
1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...
.


Attorney general of Missouri (2017–2019)

Hawley was sworn in as attorney general on January 9, 2017, by
Missouri Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Missouri (SCOMO) is the highest court in the state of Missouri. It was established in 1820 and is located at 207 West High Street in Jefferson City, Missouri. Missouri voters have approved changes in the state's constitutio ...
chief justice
Patricia Breckenridge Patricia Breckenridge (born October 14, 1953) is a former judge of the Supreme Court of Missouri. She was first appointed to the court in 2007 and served as chief justice from July 1, 2015, to June 30, 2017. Breckenridge was the fourth woman to b ...
.


Death of Tory Sanders

On May 5, 2017, Tory Sanders, a Black motorist who had taken a wrong turn in Tennessee, ran out of gas in rural
Mississippi County, Missouri Mississippi County is a County (United States), county located in the Missouri Bootheel, Bootheel of the U.S. state of Missouri, with its eastern border formed by the Mississippi River. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the popu ...
. He had gotten lost and was confused; he asked a gas station attendant to call the police for assistance. Deputies responded and put him in protective custody in the county jail. His mental condition deteriorated further and he resisted when they tried to move him to a medical facility. Sheriff Cory Hutcheson led jail staff who repeatedly pepper-sprayed and
Taser Taser (stylized in all caps) is a line of handheld conducted energy devices (CED) sold by Axon Enterprise (formerly Taser International). The device fires two small barbed darts intended to puncture the skin and remain attached to the targe ...
ed Sanders throughout the day. Hutcheson eventually led a team of cops and jailers into the cell and swarmed Sanders, who went into cardiac arrest and died. In an unrelated case, Hutcheson pleaded guilty and was sentenced in 2019 to six months in federal prison for unrelated crimes: wire fraud and identity theft related to illegal tracking of some 200 private cellphone users. He resigned after his plea and can no longer work as a law enforcement officer. In 2017 Hawley determined that those who had assaulted Sanders had not intended his death, and did not file murder charges. Black lawmakers and the
NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...
's Missouri chapter criticized Hawley for his handling of Sanders's death and failure to prosecute, believing he did not find justice for Sanders. No one could be held criminally accountable for Sanders's death. Following the
murder of George Floyd On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black American man, was murdered in Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old White police officer. Floyd had been arrested after a store clerk reported that he made a purchase using a c ...
while in custody of Minneapolis police in 2020, interest in Sanders's case revived. Activists hoped that
Eric Schmitt Eric Stephen Schmitt (born June 20, 1975) is an American politician and attorney serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from Missouri since 2023. A member of the Republican Party ...
, the new state attorney general, would file charges. In February 2021, he chose not to do so. The three-year statute of limitations had expired for manslaughter, and he said he believed there was insufficient evidence to support charges of first- or second-degree murder.


Opioid manufacturer lawsuit and investigation

In June 2017, Hawley announced that Missouri had filed suit in state court against three major drug companies— Endo Health Solutions,
Janssen Pharmaceuticals Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine (formerly Janssen Pharmaceuticals) is a Belgian pharmaceutical company headquartered in Beerse, Belgium, and wholly owned by Johnson & Johnson. It was founded in 1953 by Paul Janssen. In 1961, Janssen Ph ...
, and
Purdue Pharma Purdue Pharma L.P., formerly the Purdue Frederick Company (1892–2019), was an American privately held pharmaceutical company founded by John Purdue Gray. It was sold to Arthur Sackler, Arthur, Mortimer Sackler, Mortimer, and Raymond Sackler in 1 ...
—for allegedly hiding the danger of prescription painkillers and contributing to the
opioid epidemic The opioid epidemic, also referred to as the opioid crisis, is the rapid increase in the overuse, misuse or abuse, and overdose deaths attributed either in part or in whole to the class of drugs called opiates or opioids since the 1990s. It inc ...
. The state argued that the companies violated Missouri consumer protection and
Medicaid Medicaid is a government program in the United States that provides health insurance for adults and children with limited income and resources. The program is partially funded and primarily managed by U.S. state, state governments, which also h ...
laws. The damages sought were among the largest in state history, on the order of hundreds of millions of dollars. In August 2017, Hawley announced that he had opened an investigation into seven opioid distributors:
Allergan Allergan plc is an American, Irish-domiciled pharmaceutical company that acquires, develops, manufactures and markets brand name drugs and medical devices in the areas of medical aesthetics, eye care, central nervous system, and gastroenterology. ...
,
Depomed Assertio Therapeutics, Inc. (formerly Depomed, Inc.) is an American specialty pharmaceutical company. It mainly markets products for treatment in neurology, pain and diseases of the central nervous system. Depomed was founded in 1995 and is headqu ...
,
Insys INSYS was formed in October 2001 by a management buy-out of Hunting Engineering and was subsequently acquired by Lockheed Martin UK Holdings, Ltd., a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, Lockheed Martin Corporation in October 2005. INSYS's products ...
,
Mallinckrodt Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals plc is an American-Irish domiciled manufacturer of specialty pharmaceuticals (namely, adrenocorticotropic hormone), generic drugs and imaging agents. In 2017, it generated 90% of its sales from the U.S. healthcare s ...
,
Mylan Mylan N.V. was a global generic and specialty pharmaceuticals company. In November 2020, Mylan merged with Upjohn, Pfizer's off-patent medicine division, to form Viatris. Previously, the company was domiciled in the Netherlands, with principa ...
,
Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered at The Spiral (New York City), The Spiral in Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 184 ...
, and
Teva Pharmaceuticals Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (also known as Teva Pharmaceuticals) is an Israeli multinational Pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical company. Teva specializes primarily in generic drugs, but other business interests include branded-drug ...
. In October 2017, he expanded his investigation into three additional pharmaceutical companies—
AmerisourceBergen Cencora, Inc., formerly known as AmerisourceBergen, is an American drug wholesale company and a contract research organization, that was formed by the merger of Bergen Brunswig and AmeriSource in 2001. It is one of the largest pharmaceutica ...
,
Cardinal Health Cardinal Health, Inc. is an American multinational health care services company, and the 14th highest revenue generating company in the United States. Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, the company specializes in the distribution of pharmaceuticals ...
, and
McKesson Corporation McKesson Corporation is a publicly traded American company that distributes Medication, pharmaceuticals and provides health information technology, Medical device, medical supplies, and Health administration, health management tools. The company ...
—that are the three largest U.S. opioid distributors.


Rape kit audit

On October 29, 2017, the ''
Columbia Missourian The ''Columbia Missourian'' is a digital-first newspaper based in Columbia, Missouri, published online seven days a week and in print five days a week. The newspaper is affiliated with the Missouri School of Journalism, and is owned as a 501c3 n ...
'' published an exposé describing a large backlog of untested
rape kits A rape kit or rape test kit is a package of items used by medical, police or other personnel for gathering and preserving physical evidence following an instance or allegation of sexual assault. The evidence collected from the victim can aid the ...
in Missouri and the state's failure to address the backlog, although rape survivors and law enforcement agencies had urged such actions. On November 29, Hawley announced a statewide audit of the number of untested rape kits. The results were made public in May 2018; there were nearly 5,000 such kits. In August 2018, One Nation, a
501(c)(4) A 501(c) organization is a nonprofit organization in the Law of the United States#Federal law, federal law of the United States according to Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)). Such organizations are exempt from some Taxation in the Un ...
nonprofit connected to Republican campaign strategist
Karl Rove Karl Christian Rove (born December 25, 1950) is an American Republican political consultant, policy advisor, and lobbyist. He was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff during the George W. Bush administration until his resignation on August ...
, ran commercials giving Hawley credit for identifying the problem, a claim ''The St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' labeled misleading, because he had been responding to issues raised by law enforcement, survivors and advocates, rather than originating an investigation. In September 2020, his successor, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, announced that of the 16 rape kit tests that were consequently uploaded to the national DNA database, 11 revealed the names of known criminals, and were referred for possible prosecution.


Investigations into tech companies

In November 2017, Hawley opened an investigation into whether
Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...
's business practices violated state consumer protection and anti-trust laws. The investigation was focused on what data Google collects from users of its services, how it uses content providers' content, and whether its search engine results are biased. In April 2018, after the
Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal In the 2010s, personal data belonging to millions of Facebook users was collected by British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica for Campaign advertising, political advertising without informed consent. The data was collected through an app call ...
, Hawley announced that his office had issued a subpoena to
Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
related to how the company shares its users' data. The investigation sought to determine whether Facebook properly handles its users' sensitive data or collects more data than it publicly admits.


Greitens scandals

In December 2017, ''
The Kansas City Star ''The Kansas City Star'' is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Star'' is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry S. Truman and a ...
'' reported that Missouri's Republican Governor
Eric Greitens Eric Robert Greitens (born April 10, 1974) is an American businessman, author, former politician and former Navy SEAL, who served as the 56th governor of Missouri from January 2017 until June 2018, when he resigned that month amid allegations o ...
and senior members of his staff used Confide, a messaging app that erases texts after they have been read, on their personal phones. They were accused by
government transparency Open government is the governing doctrine which maintains that citizens have the right to access the documents and proceedings of the government to allow for effective public oversight. In its broadest construction, it opposes reason of state a ...
advocates of subverting Missouri's open records laws. Hawley initially declined to prosecute, citing a
Missouri Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Missouri (SCOMO) is the highest court in the state of Missouri. It was established in 1820 and is located at 207 West High Street in Jefferson City, Missouri. Missouri voters have approved changes in the state's constitutio ...
ruling that the attorney general cannot simultaneously represent a state officer and take legal action against that officer. On December 20, 2017, he announced his office would investigate after all, saying that his clients are "first and foremost the citizens of the state". Hawley said text messages between government employees, whether on private or government-issued phones, should be treated the same as emails: a determination must be made as to whether the text is a public record, and if so, whether it is subject to disclosure. His investigation found that no laws had been broken. In March 2018, six former Missouri attorneys released a letter criticizing the investigation as "half-hearted". Hawley's spokesperson called the letter a partisan attack. When allegations emerged in January 2018 that Greitens had blackmailed a woman with whom he was having an affair, Hawley's office said it did not have jurisdiction to look into the matter. St. Louis circuit attorney
Kimberly Gardner Kimberly M. Gardner (born August 2, 1975) is an American politician and attorney from the state of Missouri. She was the circuit attorney for the city of St. Louis, Missouri. She previously served as a member of the Missouri House of Represent ...
opened an investigation into the allegations. In April, after a special investigative committee of the
Missouri House of Representatives The Missouri House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 163 members, representing districts with an average size of 37,000 residents. House members are elected for two-year terms during general elections ...
released a report on the allegations, Hawley called on Greitens to resign immediately. The next week, Gardner filed a second felony charge against Greitens, alleging that his campaign had taken donor and email lists from
The Mission Continues The Mission Continues is an American 501(c)(3) national nonprofit organization that aims to empower military veterans to apply their skills and leadership abilities to benefit under-resourced communities. Established with the recognition that ...
, a veterans' charity that Greitens founded in 2007, and used the information to raise funds for his 2016 campaign for governor. Hawley announced an investigation based on the new felony charges. On April 30, he announced that his office had launched an investigation into possible violations of the state's
Sunshine laws Sunlight is the portion of the electromagnetic radiation which is emitted by the Sun (i.e. solar radiation) and received by the Earth, in particular the visible light perceptible to the human eye as well as invisible infrared (typically pe ...
after allegations that a state employee had managed a social media account on Greitens's behalf. The same day, Greitens asked a judge to issue a restraining order blocking Hawley from investigating him. On May 29, 2018, Greitens announced that he would resign effective June 1, 2018. Hawley issued a statement approving of the decision.


Affordable Care Act lawsuit

In February 2018, Hawley joined 20 other Republican-led states in a lawsuit challenging the
Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and informally as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presid ...
as unconstitutional. Though some argued the lawsuit would eliminate insurance protections for people with preexisting conditions, Hawley said he supported protections for preexisting conditions. In September 2018, amid criticism from Hawley's U.S. Senate opponent
Claire McCaskill Claire Conner McCaskill (; born July 24, 1953) is an American former politician who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Missouri from 2007 to 2019 and as State Auditor of Missouri, state auditor of Missouri from 1999 to ...
about the lawsuit's effect on coverage of preexisting conditions, Hawley's office said that he supported protections for individuals with preexisting conditions. Hawley later published an op-ed in the ''
Springfield News-Leader The ''Springfield News-Leader'' is the predominant newspaper for the city of Springfield, Missouri, and covers the Ozarks. The ''News-Leader'' has a daily circulation of 32,363 and a Sunday circulation of 51,402 as of September 2013. Sunday si ...
'', explaining that he supported protecting those with preexisting conditions by creating a taxpayer subsidy to reimburse insurance companies for covering these high-cost patients. In December 2018, Judge
Reed O'Connor Reed Charles O'Connor (born June 1, 1965) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. He was nominated by President George W. Bush in 2007. Critics claim that O'Connor has become a ...
ruled the entirety of the ACA unconstitutional. On appeal, the
Fifth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (in case citations, 5th Cir.) is one of the 13 United States courts of appeals. It has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * ...
did not agree that the entire law should be voided.


Sentencing of Bobby Bostic

In March 2018, Hawley defended the 1995
sentencing In criminal law, a sentence is the punishment for a crime ordered by a trial court after conviction in a criminal procedure, normally at the conclusion of a trial. A sentence may consist of imprisonment, a fine, or other sanctions. Sentences f ...
of Bobby Bostic to 241 years in prison. Bostic had been 16 years old when he committed robbery and the other crimes for which he was later convicted and harshly sentenced. He and the
American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. T ...
(ACLU) had attempted to appeal his sentence to the
U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...
, saying it violated the court's ruling in '' Graham v. Florida'', which held that juveniles could not be sentenced to
life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...
for charges lesser than homicide. In a Supreme Court filing, Hawley argued that Bostic's sentencing did not violate the constitutional ban on
cruel and unusual punishment Cruel and unusual punishment is a phrase in common law describing punishment that is considered unacceptable due to the suffering, pain, or humiliation it inflicts on the person subjected to the sanction. The precise definition varies by jurisdi ...
, and that ''Graham v. Florida'' applied only to a sentence for one crime. The judge who had sentenced Bostic said she had come to believe the sentence was too harsh, and asked to join an amicus brief filed by 26 former judges, prosecutors, and law enforcement officials. On April 24, 2018, the Supreme Court rejected Bostic's appeal.


State staff used for campaign and Sunshine Law violations

On November 14, 2022, Cole County Circuit Court Judge Jon Beetem ruled that Hawley violated Missouri's open records law during his 2018 U.S. Senate campaign by withholding emails between his out-of-state political consultants and his taxpayer-funded staff. Beetem granted summary judgment, ruled Hawley's office had "knowingly and purposefully" violated Missouri's
Sunshine Law Freedom of information laws allow access by the general public to data held by national governments and, where applicable, by state and local governments. The emergence of freedom of information legislation was a response to increasing dissatisf ...
, and fined the AG's office $12,000. When Hawley was AG, his staff used private email instead of government accounts to communicate with his political consultants. Those consultants illegally gave direct guidance and tasks to Hawley's staff and led meetings during office hours in the Missouri Supreme Court building.Missouri Attorney General's Office under Josh Hawley illegally withheld emails, judge rules
, ''
Kansas City Star ''The Kansas City Star'' is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Star'' is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry S. Truman and a ...
'', Jonathan Shorman, Daniel Desrochers, November 15, 2022. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
Beetem wrote, "There is no genuine dispute that the AGO knew the Sunshine Law required it to produce responsive documents in its possession when it received DSCC's two Sunshine Law requests, but made the conscious decision not to do so." In 2023, the court demanded that the state pay more than $240,000 for the case's legal fees. An attorney on the case declared that Hawley should pay from the proceeds of his book '' Manhood: The Masculine Virtues America Needs'' rather than "sticking taxpayers".


Catholic clergy investigation

In August 2018, after a Pennsylvania grand jury released a report detailing over 1,000 cases of sexual abuse by Catholic clerics in that state, and protests in
St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...
by survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Missouri, Hawley announced that he would begin an investigation into potential cases of abuse in Missouri. Missouri was one of several states to launch such investigations in the wake of the Pennsylvania report; the attorneys general of
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
,
Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...
, and
New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...
began similar inquiries. Hawley promised that he would investigate any crimes, publish a report for the public, and refer potential cases to local law enforcement officials. Archbishop of St. Louis
Robert James Carlson Robert James Carlson (born June 30, 1944) is an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the ninth archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis in Missouri from 2009 to 2020. Carlson previously served as an auxiliar ...
pledged cooperation with the inquiry. After the investigation, which was inherited by Hawley's successor, Eric Schmitt, the attorney general referred 12 former priests in September 2019 for prosecution based on charges of sexual abuse of minors.


U.S. Senate


Elections


2018

In August 2017, Hawley formed an exploratory campaign committee for the U.S. Senate. In October 2017, he declared his candidacy for the Republican nomination in Missouri's 2018 U.S. Senate election for the seat held by Democrat Claire McCaskill. Before the official announcement, four former Republican U.S. senators from Missouri (
John Ashcroft John David Ashcroft (born May 9, 1942) is an American lawyer, Lobbying, lobbyist, and former politician who served as the 79th United States attorney general under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. A Republican Party (United States), R ...
,
Kit Bond Christopher Samuel Bond (March 6, 1939 – May 13, 2025) was an American attorney and politician from Missouri. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as a United States Senate, U.S. Senator from 1987 to 20 ...
,
John Danforth John Claggett Danforth (born September 5, 1936) is an American politician, attorney, diplomat, and Episcopal priest who served as the Attorney General of Missouri from 1969 to 1976 and as a United States Senator from 1976 to 1995. A member of the ...
, and McCaskill's predecessor,
Jim Talent James Matthes Talent (born October 18, 1956) is an American politician who was a U.S. Senator from Missouri from 2002 to 2007. He is a Republican and resided in the St. Louis area while serving in elected office. After serving for eight years ...
) asked Hawley to run for the Senate seat. The tightly contested
Republican primary Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
had 11 candidates hoping to unseat McCaskill. Hawley received substantial support from prominent Republicans, such as Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell Addison Mitchell McConnell III (; born February 20, 1942) is an American politician and attorney serving as the senior United States senator from Kentucky, a seat he has held since 1985. McConnell is in his seventh Senate term and is the long ...
, President
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
, and the Senate Conservatives Fund. He won a large majority of the vote in the primary election. Trump endorsed Hawley in November 2017. During the general election campaign, the
Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and informally as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presid ...
became a central issue, with both candidates pledging to protect coverage for preexisting conditions. McCaskill criticized Hawley for his involvement in a lawsuit that sought to overturn the ACA, potentially eliminating protections for those with preexisting conditions. Hawley, meanwhile, highlighted McCaskill’s upcoming vote on the confirmation of CIA Director
Mike Pompeo Michael Richard Pompeo (; born December 30, 1963) is an American retired politician who served in the First presidency of Donald Trump#Administration, first administration of Donald Trump as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) fr ...
as Secretary of State, depicting her as obstructing Trump. His campaign spokesperson asked, "Will Senator McCaskill ignore her liberal donors and support Mike Pompeo for Secretary of State, or will she stick with Chuck Schumer and continue to obstruct the president?", adding, "It is deeply troubling how focused Senator McCaskill is on doing what's politically convenient instead of doing what's right." Both Republicans and Democrats criticized Hawley for initiating his Senate campaign less than a year after being sworn in as attorney general, as during his attorney general campaign, he had put out advertisements criticizing "ladder-climbing politicians". Hawley dismissed this, saying that the Senate was not on his mind during the attorney general campaign. During the campaign, Hawley released his and his wife's tax returns and called on McCaskill to release her and her husband's returns. McCaskill released her returns, which she files separately from her husband. When asked if he thought Trump should release his returns, Hawley did not say. Hawley criticized McCaskill's use of a private jet, calling her "Air Claire". He was, in turn, criticized for accepting a ride on a private jet owned by a
Rex Sinquefield Rex Andrew Sinquefield (; born September 7, 1944) is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist who has been called an "index-fund pioneer" for creating the first passively managed index fund open to the general public. Sinquefield wa ...
lobbyist. In the November 2018 general election, Hawley defeated McCaskill, 51% to 46%. On December 6, 2018, Missouri Secretary of State
Jay Ashcroft John Robert "Jay" Ashcroft (born July 12, 1973) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 40th Secretary of State of Missouri from 2017 to 2025. A member of the Republican Party, he is the son of former U.S. Attorney General Joh ...
launched an inquiry into whether Hawley misappropriated public funds for his Senate campaign. Hawley's office denied any wrongdoing. On February 28, 2019, Ashcroft closed the investigation because there was insufficient evidence that "an offense has been committed." A 2021 ''
New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...
'' investigation of questionable campaign expenditures revealed that Hawley had apparently illegally spent such funds, for instance charging $80.04 at
Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville is a United States–based hospitality company that manages and franchises a casual dining American restaurant chain, retail stores selling merchandise, and hotels themed after the musician Jimmy Buffett. The bran ...
to "travel", on a lobbyist-funded junket to
Universal Studios Universal Studios may refer to: * Universal Studios, Inc., an American media and entertainment conglomerate ** Universal Pictures, an American film studio ** Universal Studios Lot, a film and television studio complex * Various theme parks operat ...
in
Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...
. Almost a year later Hawley's office said he had reimbursed the campaign for the inappropriate expenditures.


2024

Hawley sought a second Senate term. He faced Democratic nominee
Lucas Kunce Lucas Tyree Kunce ( ; born October 6, 1982) is an American Lawyer, attorney, United States Marines, Marine veteran, and politician. He was the Democratic nominee for the 2024 United States Senate election in Missouri, losing to Republican incum ...
, a
U.S. Marine The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...
veteran. Hawley and Kunce had a heated debate about debates in front of press at the Governor's Ham Breakfast, in which both expressed their intentions to debate. Hawley pushed for a forum hosted by Missouri Farm Bureau; Kunce pressed for broadcast debates and suggested that the Missouri Farm Bureau's endorsement of Hawley presented legal complications. Hawley's campaign received $5,000 from the
Teamsters The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) is a trade union, labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of the Team Drivers International Union and the Teamsters National Union, the union now represents a di ...
, but has been criticized by other Missouri union leaders. At a campaign event at First Baptist Church in
Ozark, Missouri Ozark is a city in and the county seat of Christian County, Missouri. Its population was 21,284 as of the 2020 census. Ozark is also the third largest city in the Springfield, Missouri Metropolitan Area, and is centered along a business loop ...
, Hawley falsely claimed that the proposed Amendment 3, an
abortion rights Abortion-rights movements, also self-styled as pro-choice movements, are movements that advocate for legal access to induced abortion services, including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their p ...
initiative, was related to
transgender health care Transgender health care includes the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of physical and mental health conditions which affect transgender individuals.Gorton N, Grubb HM (2014). General, Sexual, and Reproductive health. In L. Erickson-Schroth. ...
. Hawley was criticized for his reliance on private jets in his campaign, spending $132,000 between mid-December 2023 and June 2024. He was reelected in November.


Tenure

Hawley was sworn in as a U.S. senator on January 3, 2019. In June 2019, Hawley played a major role in preventing Trump nominee Michael S. Bogren from being appointed as a district judge for the Western District of Michigan. Hawley accused Bogren of "anti-religious animus" in a case he took as a lawyer, in which Bogren compared Catholic views on homosexuality to the
Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...
's views on
interracial marriage Interracial marriage is a marriage involving spouses who belong to different "Race (classification of human beings), races" or Ethnic group#Ethnicity and race, racialized ethnicities. In the past, such marriages were outlawed in the United Sta ...
. During the Hong Kong protests in October 2019, Hawley and Senator
Ted Cruz Rafael Edward Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz was the solicitor general of Texas from 2003 ...
visited Hong Kong and spoke in favor of the protests. Hawley called the city a "police state". Chief Executive of Hong Kong Carrie Lam called Hawley's assertion "irresponsible and unfounded". On November 18, 2019, Hawley announced the National Security and Personal Data Protection Act, which would make it illegal for American companies to store user data or encryption keys in China. Engadget noted the bill might cause "serious problems" for companies that are legally obligated to store data in China, such as Apple Inc., Apple and TikTok, and "might force them to leave China altogether". It was not Hawley's first technology-related bill; he had also introduced proposals to ban loot boxes in gaming and to restrict social network features "deemed addictive", among others. Hawley focused on TikTok, saying the bill would cover Russia as well as China, and "any other country the State Department deems a security risk". He said the bill was "targeted at social media platforms and data-intensive businesses", and "would block such mergers by default without pre-approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States". The bill also prevents the collection of "more user data than is necessary to conduct business". Hawley joined President Donald Trump in his calls for an increase of the initial $600 coronavirus relief checks provided by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 to $2,000, which put him on the same side as "unlikely ally" Bernie Sanders. Alongside Sanders and Chuck Schumer, Hawley attempted to force a vote to increase the checks, but it was blocked by other Republican senators. On February 8, 2021, after he voted against the nomination of Denis McDonough for United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Hawley became the only senator to vote against all of President Joe Biden's cabinet nominees except Cecilia Rouse, whom he voted to confirm as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers. Ten months into Biden's term, Hawley had voted to approve only four of 118 executive appointments that received a Senate vote, and none in the preceding five months. This record made him a standout among senators. Political scientist Wendy Schiller compared Hawley to "senators who have basically made it their career to stop the Senate in its tracks." She noted that Hawley differed from his predecessors in that his obstruction had no clear policy goal, but was more about punishing the Biden administration. On August 3, 2022, Hawley cast the sole vote against the Senate resolution agreeing to Sweden–NATO relations#Membership, Sweden and Finland–NATO relations#Ratification process, Finland joining the NATO defense alliance; it passed, 95–1. Before and after the votes, Hawley said the resolutions were not in America's best interest, with China posing a greater threat than Russia. According to ''Politico'':
Hawley has worked for months to distinguish himself from the Republican pack on national security, beginning with his blockade of Pentagon nominees in protest of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and his opposition to a $40 billion Ukraine aid package.


Attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results

After Joe Biden won the 2020 United States presidential election, 2020 presidential election, Hawley announced his intention to object to the Senate's certification of the Electoral College vote count on January 6, 2021. He was the first senator to do so. Trump had Attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election, refused to concede and made frequent baseless claims of fraud in the election. Hawley said that his attempt to reverse the election result was on behalf of those "concerned about election integrity." He made numerous statements suggesting that Trump could possibly remain in office. ''The New York Times'' wrote that Hawley was elevating false claims that President-elect Joe Biden stole the election. His maneuver prompted bipartisan condemnation of his action as undemocratic. On December 30, 2020, Hawley said, "some states, particularly Pennsylvania, failed to follow their own state election laws". He repeated the assertion about Pennsylvania in a February 2021 fundraising email, which view was supported by a Pennsylvania appellate court in January 2022. But other courts had rejected such claims. Later in 2022, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejected Post-election lawsuits related to the 2020 United States presidential election#Pennsylvania, the appellate court's argument, and the United States Supreme Court declined to consider an appeal to reverse the state's election results. On December 30, 2020, after Hawley tweeted he would join the effort to object to Biden's victory, Walmart's official Twitter account responded, "Go ahead. Get your 2 hour debate. #soreloser." Hawley responded, accusing Walmart of using "slave labor" and "driv[ing] mom and pop stores out of business". Walmart deleted the tweet, apologizing to Hawley and saying it was "mistakenly posted by a member of our social media team." The event led the hashtag #BoycottWalmart to trend on Twitter. On January 4, 2021, Hawley tweeted that his Washington, D.C. home had been vandalized and his family had been threatened by "Antifa (United States), Antifa scumbags" in an act of "leftwing violence" due to his claims of fraud. He said he was in Missouri at the time. ShutdownDC, the group that staged the event, said it was a peaceful candlelight vigil and that they did not vandalize Hawley's house nor knock on the door. A video of the event shared by the group showed that some protesters wrote on the sidewalk in chalk, chanted through a megaphone, and left a copy of the Constitution of the United States, U.S. Constitution at Hawley's door. Vienna, Virginia, police said the protesters were peaceful with "no issues, no arrests" necessary; police spokesman Juan Vazquez said the police "didn't think it was that big of a deal".


Activity around storming of the U.S. Capitol and public reaction

On January 6, 2021, when Congress met to count the electoral votes for the 2020 presidential election, they were interrupted by pro-Donald Trump, Trump rioters who stormed the United States Capitol, U.S. Capitol building, forcing members of Congress to evacuate. Before the counting of the votes, to which Hawley had publicly announced he would object, he was photographed saluting the protestors with a raised fist outside the Capitol before the riot. The photograph immediately became a subject of controversy; ''
The Kansas City Star ''The Kansas City Star'' is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Star'' is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry S. Truman and a ...
'' called it "the image that will haunt Josh Hawley" and "one of the iconic images to emerge from the day the Capitol was breached by rioters". and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Tony Messenger, of the ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'', said "the staging was perfect" and recommended the photograph be known as ''Hawley: The Face of Sedition''. Tom Coleman (Missouri politician), Tom Coleman, a former U.S. representative from Missouri and a fellow Republican, said Hawley's "clenched fist in front of the Capitol will seal his fate". The photographer, Francis Chung, declined to weigh in on the photograph's political impact, saying it "is what it is" and "kind of speaks for itself". Later that day, video showed Hawley running through the Capitol, fleeing the rioters who had invaded the building. That same day, ''The Kansas City Star'''s editorial board published an editorial arguing that Hawley "has blood on his hands" due to the event, which they called a "coup attempt". They said that "no one other than President Donald Trump himself is more responsible" than Hawley, "who put out a fundraising appeal while the siege was underway". The next day, it published an editorial calling for Hawley to resign or be removed from office. Similarly, ''The St. Louis Post-Dispatch'', Missouri's other major newspaper, published an editorial on January 7 calling for Hawley to resign and Republican "silent enablers" to denounce Trumpism, writing, "Hawley's tardy, cover-his-ass condemnation of the violence ranks at the top of his substantial list of phony, smarmy and politically expedient declarations" and "Trumpism must die before it morphs into Hitlerism. Defenders like Hawley deserve to be cast into political purgatory for having promoted it". Political scientists Henry Farrell (political scientist), Henry Farrell and Elizabeth N. Saunders called Hawley's ploy a "cynical theatrical gesture" with Hawley "pursuing short-term political gain at the risk of long-term chaos".
John Danforth John Claggett Danforth (born September 5, 1936) is an American politician, attorney, diplomat, and Episcopal priest who served as the Attorney General of Missouri from 1969 to 1976 and as a United States Senator from 1976 to 1995. A member of the ...
, a former Republican senator from Missouri and Hawley's political mentor, said that supporting Hawley was the "worst mistake I ever made in my life". Danforth said Hawley was directly responsible for the riot. David M. Kennedy, who served as Hawley's academic adviser at Stanford, said he "absolutely could not have predicted that the bright, idealistic, clear-thinking young student that I knew would follow this path" and was "more than a little bamboozled by it, certainly distressed by it", though he said he did not believe Hawley directly incited the mob. Prominent conservative columnist George Will wrote on January 6 that Hawley, Trump, and Senator
Ted Cruz Rafael Edward Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz was the solicitor general of Texas from 2003 ...
"will each wear the scarlet S of a seditionist". On January 9, NBC News reported that several Republican Party insiders anonymously condemned Hawley's actions, with one strategist saying of the fist salute that Hawley "looked phony and out of place and like a doofus", in a manner reminiscent of Michael Dukakis's Michael Dukakis#Tank photograph, tank photograph during the 1988 presidential campaign. After the riot, Hawley's approval rating dropped by six percentage points among Missouri voters, and nine among Missouri Republicans. In the wake of the riot, other Republican lawmakers tried to persuade Hawley to abandon his objections to Biden's win, but he voted in support of the objections to certifying 2020 United States presidential election in Arizona, Arizona's and 2020 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania's electoral votes, claiming that Pennsylvania election officials had violated the state's constitution. This claim was supported in a ruling by a Pennsylvania appellate court on January 27, 2022, but overturned by the State Supreme Court, and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case. Both senators from Pennsylvania rejected his objections, and the Senate rejected his objections by votes of 6–93 and 7–92, respectively. Some political commentators and Democratic lawmakers dubbed Hawley and other senators who sought to overturn the election the Sedition Caucus. Hawley has since faced bipartisan calls for his resignation, to which he has responded that he "will never apologize for giving voice to the millions of Missourians and Americans who have concerns about the integrity of our elections". Thousands of law school students and alumni, including at Hawley's alma mater Yale Law School, also called for Hawley and Cruz to be disbarment, disbarred. On January 9, hundreds of protesters assembled in Downtown St. Louis in front of the Old Courthouse (St. Louis), Old Courthouse to demand Hawley's resignation. Several political donors and companies associated with Hawley have List of companies that halted U.S. political contributions in January 2021, cut off financial ties. David Humphreys, who with his mother and sister donated more than $6 million to Hawley's campaigns, called for him to be censured, having "revealed himself as a political opportunist willing to subvert the Constitution and the ideals of the nation he swore to uphold". On January 7, Simon & Schuster canceled its planned publication of Hawley's book ''The Tyranny of Big Tech'', saying it "cannot support Senator Hawley after his role in what became a dangerous threat". The book was later picked up by Regnery Publishing, which frequently publishes books by conservative authors. On January 11, several companies, including Airbnb, American Express, AT&T, Best Buy, Dow Inc., and Mastercard, announced they would end fundraising for all Republicans who objected to Biden's victory, including Hawley; Hallmark Cards, based in Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas City, said it had asked Hawley and Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas to return all contributions. Conversely, the Senate Conservatives Fund, a conservative political action committee, began raising money for Hawley and aggressively supporting him after the riot, raising $700,000 and spending nearly $400,000 to send texts and emails in support of him. A group of former McCaskill staffers created a political action committee aimed at unseating Hawley with the backronym JOSH PAC (Just Oust Seditious Hacks). On January 21, seven Democratic senators filed a complaint against Hawley and Cruz to the United States Senate Select Committee on Ethics, Senate Ethics Committee, arguing that they "lent legitimacy to the mob's cause and made future violence more likely." Hawley called the complaint "a flagrant abuse of the Senate ethics process and a flagrant attempt to exact partisan revenge". He filed an ethics complaint of his own against the seven senators, alleging their complaint was unethical due to potential coordination with Democratic Party leadership and claiming that he was a victim of cancel culture. After the storming of the Capitol, several people sent disparaging messages intended for Hawley to Representative Josh Harder, a California Democrat, as they had confused the two due to their names' similarity. On May 28, 2021, Hawley voted against creating January 6 commission, an independent commission to investigate the riot. On July 21, 2022, the January 6 commission, House Select Committee broadcast video footage of Hawley running through the halls of Congress to escape the mob on January 6, contrasting it with his earlier fist-raised encouragement of the crowd. The video provoked laughter in the chamber and commentary on social media that included "Run Josh Run" (Dan Rather) and "Josh Hawley running away to a variety of soundtracks." In March 2023, Tucker Carlson criticized footage of Hawley running as "deceptively edited", saying the committee did not show other senators fleeing. FactCheck.org concluded that Carlson's statement was misleading. In McKay Coppins, McCay Coppins's 2023 biography of Mitt Romney, ''Romney: A Reckoning'', Romney called Hawley "the smartest person in the room", but said he "doesn't see a future of working with him on anything" due to Hawley's obstructions to certifying electoral votes in the 2020 presidential election.


Committee assignments

For the 117th United States Congress, Hawley was named to four Senate committees. They are: * United States Senate Committee on Armed Services, Committee on Armed Services ** Subcommittee on Airland ** Subcommittee on Personnel ** Subcommittee on SeaPower * United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs ** Emerging Threats and Spending Oversight ** Governmental Operations and Border Management * United States Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship * United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Committee on the Judiciary ** Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights ** Subcommittee on Criminal Justice and Counterterrorism ** Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law (Ranking) ** Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law For the 116th United States Congress, Hawley was named to five Senate committees. They are: * United States Senate Committee on Armed Services, Committee on Armed Services **United States Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities **United States Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower, Subcommittee on Seapower **United States Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, Subcommittee on Strategic Forces * United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs **United States Senate Homeland Security Subcommittee on Federal Spending Oversight and Emergency Management, Subcommittee on Federal Spending Oversight and Emergency Management **United States Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Subcommittee on Investigations (Permanent) * United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Committee on the Judiciary **United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights **United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration, Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration **United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism (chair) * United States Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship * United States Senate Special Committee on Aging, Special Committee on Aging


Political positions

Hawley's political views have been described as American nationalism, nationalist and populist. He has been called a Trumpism, Trump loyalist.


Abortion

Hawley Opposition to abortion, opposes abortion and has called for the appointment of "constitutionalist, pro-life judges" to the U.S. Supreme Court and other federal courts. He has called ''Roe v. Wade'' "one of the most unjust decisions" in American judicial history. Missouri's Right to Life PAC endorsed Hawley for Senate. In July 2020, Hawley wrote that to earn his support, a Supreme Court nominee must have publicly, on the record, before nomination, asserted that ''Roe v. Wade'' was incorrectly decided. Later that year he voted to confirm Amy Coney Barrett, who had strongly criticized ''Roe v. Wade'' without explicitly saying it was wrongly decided and declined to do so during hearings. Hawley said the nominee was "the most openly pro-life judicial nominee to the Supreme Court in my lifetime."


Christian nationalism

Hawley has advocated Christian nationalism#United States, Christian nationalism, writing: "Some will say now that I am calling America a Christian nation. So I am. ... And some will say that I am advocating Christian nationalism. And so I do." Hawley asserts that the U.S. was "founded by Christian believers and that our fundamental ideals, including those in the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Bill of Rights all come to us from a Christian tradition." Political scientist Tim Lewis says this is inaccurate, citing secular philosophers Thomas Hobbes, Hobbes, John Locke, Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Rousseau as providing the tenets for the founding of the country. In October 2024, Hawley was a featured speaker at Sean Feucht's rally on the National Mall, calling for a revival to rebuild the country on "the truth of Jesus Christ".


Corporate taxes

In October 2024, Hawley said that workers should not pay more taxes than corporations. He previously supported Trump's proposed Corporate tax in the United States, corporate tax cuts and announced his reversal on the issue at a campaign event in Cottleville, Missouri.


COVID-19 pandemic

During early negotiations on COVID-19 relief spending, Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell Addison Mitchell McConnell III (; born February 20, 1942) is an American politician and attorney serving as the senior United States senator from Kentucky, a seat he has held since 1985. McConnell is in his seventh Senate term and is the long ...
proposed a partial rebate for around 70 million households with net incomes below about $50,000. His proposal faced "swift bipartisan opposition", including from Hawley, leading the restrictions to be dropped. In April 2020, Hawley proposed that the U.S. government pay businesses to keep their workers on payroll for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and rehire any workers who had already been laid off. His proposal was similar to programs that various European countries, including Denmark, the Netherlands, and the UK, had implemented. In December 2020, Hawley teamed up with Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who caucuses with the Democrats, to demand that any new stimulus deal include direct payments of at least $1,200 to American workers. As leverage, Hawley and Sanders used the upcoming Christmas recess and the deadline to pass a new continuing resolution to avert a Government shutdowns in the United States, government shutdown. In June 2021, Hawley called for Anthony Fauci to resign from his role as Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.


Elections

In 2023, Hawley introduced the Ending Corporate Influence on Elections Act, a bill that would reverse aspects of Citizens United v. FEC, specifically banning publicly traded companies from making independent expenditures, political advertisements for campaigns, and Super PAC contributions. Mitch McConnell criticized the bill and warned other Republican senators against signing on, naming a list of senators, including Hawley, who benefited directly from the Senate Leadership Fund.


Environment

As Missouri attorney general, Hawley pushed for the deregulation of environmental protections put in place by President Barack Obama, and filed four lawsuits against the First presidency of Donald Trump, Trump administration in an attempt to expedite that process. He acknowledged the irony in his maneuver, saying "it turns out the best way to help President Trump pursue his agenda of rolling back federal overreach is to sue him." In 2023, Hawley cosponsored an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would reauthorize and expand Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. It was stripped from the final version despite wide support in the Senate. Hawley called it a betrayal and vowed to vote against a defense bill that does not include the amendment. Missouri communities near West Lake Landfill are among the groups impacted by radiation exposure seeking assistance.


Foreign policy

Some of his former colleagues at St Paul's School claimed Hawley was "very hawkish" in his early 20s, supporting the Iraq War in its early stages and at one point making himself popcorn to eat while watching news coverage of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, 2003 invasion. While a 25-year-old law student at Yale University, he wrote supportive blog posts of the war in 2005, as well as nation-building in Iraq. At the time, he supported a proactive Democracy promotion by the United States, democracy promotion foreign policy. Since entering the U.S. Senate, Hawley reoriented himself as a staunch opponent of U.S. wars in the Middle East. He has advocated that the U.S. shift its focus away from the Middle East and toward China, which he sees as a grave threat to both democracy and national security. He has criticized the ideas of perpetual war and cosmopolitanism, for which he has blamed both the left and right wings, saying that "the quest to turn the world into a liberal order of democracies was always misguided," as it "depended on unsustainable American sacrifice and force of arms." And he has criticized the World Trade Organization, going so far as to call for it to be abolished, which he called "a start", and suggested that "along with it, the new model global economy" should be abolished too. During the Biden administration, Hawley systematically blocked quick confirmation of Biden's nominees for foreign policy and intelligence posts, forcing the Senate to take extra steps to confirm nominees and delaying the filling of posts.


Afghanistan

After the 2021 fall of Kabul and the 2021 Kabul airport attack, Hawley was one in "a wave of other Republicans" who called on President Biden to resign.


China and Hong Kong

Hawley is an outspoken critic of China, which he has called "the greatest security threat to this country in this century." He has said the U.S.'s goal should not be "to remake China from within" but rather "to deny Beijing's ability to impose its will without, whether it be upon Hong Kong, or Taiwan, or our allies and partners, or upon us." In October 2019, Hawley co-sponsored the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. Before the bill went to the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, he visited Hong Kong to see the protests. He commented on Twitter that Beijing was trying to turn Hong Kong into a "police state". Chief Executive of Hong Kong Carrie Lam called the comment "irresponsible". On November 19, 2019, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the act. On August 10, 2020, the Chinese sanctions, Chinese government sanctioned Hawley and 10 other Americans for "behaving badly on Hong Kong-related issues". Hawley has worked to create legislation that would prohibit data transmission to a set of blacklisted nations, including China. On July 10, 2020, Hawley sent a letter to National Basketball Association, NBA commissioner Adam Silver criticizing the league for allowing players to put messages on their jerseys supporting the Black Lives Matter movement but not the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests or law enforcement officers. To promote the letter, Hawley's press office emailed it along with an announcement to several NBA reporters, including ESPN reporter Adrian Wojnarowski. Wojnarowski responded, "Fuck You." Hawley then tweeted a screenshot of Wojnarowski's response; Wojnarowski subsequently apologized to Hawley directly and posted an apology on Twitter. On July 12, ESPN temporarily suspended Wojnarowski over the incident. On September 23, 2020, Hawley once again criticized Silver for the NBA's business in China, tweeting, "Adam Silver just comes right out and says it: NBA's relationship with China involves 'trade offs' but overall is a 'net positive.' And by 'net positive,' he means billions of dollars for the NBA and by 'trade offs,' he means slave labor."


Israel

During his 2018 Senate campaign, Hawley's press office sent out an email criticizing Claire McCaskill for supporting the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, writing, "We should be standing with President Trump and Israel today. If you aren't, you are standing with the mullahs and John Kerry. Sen. McCaskill needs to make it clear that she stands with President Trump and Israel, and not the mullahs." Hawley opposes the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. During the Gaza war, Hawley expressed support for Israel and defended Israeli invasion of Gaza, its attack on Gaza as self-defense. With regard to the 2024 pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses, pro-Palestinian protests on American campuses, he condemned what he called "the hateful, antisemitic rhetoric".


Against "cosmopolitan priorities"

On July 16, 2019, at the National Conservatism Conference, organized by Israeli professor Yoram Hazony, Hawley said: In his address, Hawley also denounced the "cosmopolitan agenda", the "cosmopolitan class", the "cosmopolitan consensus", the "cosmopolitan economy", and the "cosmopolitan elite". His statement was called antisemitism, antisemitic by several political commentators and Jewish leaders, as well as by the Anti-Defamation League, which called for Hawley to apologize. ''Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Jewish Telegraphic Agency'' specifically compared his reference to "cosmopolitan elites" to the term "rootless cosmopolitan", an antisemitic smear popularized by Joseph Stalin and also used by Nazis. Andrew Silow-Carroll wrote for ''J. The Jewish News of Northern California'' that Hawley was using his connections with Jewish people as a way to dodge allegations of antisemitism. In response to the allegations, Hawley tweeted, "The liberal language police have lost their minds." Hazony and the Republican Jewish Coalition defended Hawley's remarks. On October 21, 2019, Hawley attacked Jewish ''The Washington Post, Washington Post'' reporter Greg Sargent as a "smug, rich liberal elitist"; Sargent responded in a column that he was in fact raised in poverty. Mehdi Hasan argued Hawley's attack was antisemitic, though Sargent did not make that claim.


Mexico

In July 2019, Hawley traveled to McAllen, Texas, along the Mexico–United States border, saying, "the nonstop flow of drugs and human trafficking coming into this country is a crisis, plain and simple. I want to learn more about the challenges our agents face, the problems these local communities are dealing with, and how we can figure out a path forward. We are facing a surge at the southern border like we have never seen before, and Congress needs to get off its backside and act." On November 6, 2019, Hawley recommend that the U.S. impose sanctions and freeze assets of Mexican officials he did not feel were doing enough to address Mexican drug cartels. On January 19, 2021, Hawley blocked the quick confirmation of Department of Homeland Security secretary nominee Alejandro Mayorkas after Mayorkas would not commit to spending $1.4 billion the U.S. government had appropriated for a Mexico–United States barrier, border wall expansion.


Russia

Hawley has called the Mueller report a "hoax" and the Steele dossier "lies from a Russian spy". In January 2019, Hawley was one of 11 Republican senators to vote for legislation aimed at blocking Trump's intended lifting of sanctions on three Russian companies. In July 2020, Hawley said he did not believe news reports about a Russian bounty program funding the Taliban, but still said, "if they so much as think about putting bounties on the heads of American soldiers, there will be punishment."


NATO expansion

In January 2022, Hawley called on Biden to drop support of plans for Ukraine to eventually join NATO, on the basis that committing troops to defend Ukraine would undermine the United States' ability to prevent Chinese hegemony in the Indo-Pacific. On August 3, 2022, Hawley cast the sole vote against the Senate resolution agreeing to Sweden–NATO relations#Membership, Sweden and Finland–NATO relations#Ratification process, Finland joining the NATO defense alliance; it passed, 95–1. Before and after the votes, Hawley said the resolutions were not in the United States' best interest, with China posing a greater threat than Russia.


Saudi Arabia

During a debate in the 2018 Senate campaign, Hawley and McCaskill agreed that if it was confirmed that the Saudi government was behind the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, the U.S. should respond severely. After the 2019 Abqaiq–Khurais attack, Hawley said, "we shouldn't attack anybody on behalf of Saudi Arabia for Saudi Arabia's national interests" and instead should "preserve the security of the American people and the prosperity of our middle class."


Ukraine

In October 2019, Hawley called for an independent investigation into Joe Biden related to alleged dealings with Ukraine. He defended Trump–Ukraine scandal, Donald Trump's phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and criticized first impeachment of Donald Trump, Trump's first impeachment, saying Trump's words were "certainly not a crime". During First impeachment trial of Donald Trump, the impeachment trial, Hawley said if additional witnesses were called and new documents considered, he would attempt to force votes on subpoenas for Michael Atkinson (Inspector General), Michael Atkinson, Hunter Biden, Joe Biden, Adam Schiff, the anonymous whistleblower and a reported acquaintance of the whistleblower. During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Hawley was one of 11 Republican senators to vote against a $40 billion emergency military and humanitarian aid package for Ukraine that the U.S. Senate passed on May 19, 2022. The measure had overwhelming bipartisan approval. Hawley wrote that the bill "is not in America's interests", adding, "It neglects priorities at home (the border), allows Europe to freeload, short changes critical interests abroad and comes [with] no meaningful oversight."


Venezuela

On April 3, 2019, Hawley was part of a group of eight Republicans and seven Democrats to sponsor the Venezuelan Emergency Relief, Democracy Assistance and Development (VERDAD) Act, which was aimed at recognizing Juan Guaidó as the president of Venezuela rather than Nicolás Maduro. The bill would provide $200 million in aid for Venezuela, $200 million in aid for neighboring countries accepting Venezuelan refugees, revoke U.S. visas from sanctioned Venezuelan officials, and remove sanctions on officials not accused of human rights abuses who recognized Guaidó.


Gun policy

Hawley received a 93% rating from the National Rifle Association (NRA) for 2018 and an 86% rating for 2016. He does not support an Assault Weapons Ban of 2013, assault weapons ban, but does support some gun-control measures, including strengthening background checks, banning bump stocks, and banning mentally ill people from having guns. During his Senate campaign, Hawley used National Media as a media consultant, the same firm the NRA employs.


Hate crimes

Hawley was one of six Republican senators to vote against advancing the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, which would allow the United States Department of Justice, U.S. Justice Department to review hate crimes related to COVID-19 and establish an online database. He was the sole senator to vote against the passage of an amended version of the act that would help investigate anti-Asian hate crimes, saying, "It's too broad. As a former prosecutor, my view is it's dangerous to simply give the federal government open-ended authority to define a whole new class of federal hate crime incidents."


Health care

Hawley has criticized the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). As attorney general of Missouri, he joined a lawsuit with 20 other states seeking to have it declared unconstitutional. Hawley said the act "was never constitutional" and spoke proudly of his involvement in the lawsuit. His 2018 Senate campaign said that he supported protections for individuals with preexisting conditions. He later published an op-ed in the ''
Springfield News-Leader The ''Springfield News-Leader'' is the predominant newspaper for the city of Springfield, Missouri, and covers the Ozarks. The ''News-Leader'' has a daily circulation of 32,363 and a Sunday circulation of 51,402 as of September 2013. Sunday si ...
'' saying that he supports protecting those with preexisting conditions by creating a taxpayer subsidy to reimburse insurance companies for covering these high cost patients. In 2025, Hawley criticized President Trump's proposed One Big Beautiful Bill Act for cutting Medicaid, Medicaid coverage for working class families, calling it "both morally wrong and politically suicidal".


Human trafficking

Hawley has said that human trafficking is the result of the sexual revolution in 1960s United States, American sexual revolution in the 1960s due to the social encouragement of premarital sex and the use of Birth control, contraception. After being criticized for these statements, he said that Cinema of the United States, Hollywood culture was a major cause of human trafficking. Hawley has said that the appropriate place for sex is "within marriage".


Immigration

Hawley supports funding the construction of a Mexico–United States barrier, wall along the southern border to stop illegal immigration. Hawley supported the Trump administration's Trump administration family separation policy, family separation policy, saying "It is an entirely preventable tragedy. Don't cross the border illegally and this won't happen."


In-vitro fertilization and embryonic stem-cell research

Hawley co-sponsored federal legislation that would have defined human life and personhood as beginning at the moment of fertilization, without exceptions for in-vitro fertilization (IVF) or embryonic stem-cell research. In 2013, he said he believed that human life and personhood begin at fertilization, before conception, and that he opposed forms of birth control that prevent conception "by preventing implantation of a fertilized egg". After public backlash to the Supreme Court of Alabama, Alabama Supreme Court's ruling that embryos are human persons under state law and that IVF clinics are therefore liable for the loss of embryos as if the embryos were human infants, Hawley announced that he supports legal access to IVF. He defended Missouri's state laws, which allow IVF, but which also define an "embryo" as an "unborn child". In June 2024, Hawley voted against a measure that included a mandate for insurance to cover IVF treatment.


Insider trading

Hawley supports banning members of Congress from stock trading. In July 2025, he was the only Republican to vote in favor of a bill to prevent insider trading.


Labor

In his 2018 Senate campaign, Hawley did not take a firm position on Right-to-work law, right-to-work legislation that was subject to a referendum by Missouri voters at the time. His spokesperson said of right-to-work, which would hamper Labor unions in the United States, labor unionizing, that "nobody should be forced to pay union dues." In 2023 and 2024, Hawley pivoted on union issues and joined United Auto Workers at a 2023 United Auto Workers strike, picket line, saying, "These guys deserve a raise. They've worked hard. They all just deserve better, and the company can absolutely afford to pay it." Hawley said he does not support workers in public-sector trade unions, saying they have "held government hostage". Also in 2018, Hawley expressed opposition to a raise in the Missouri Minimum wage in the United States, minimum wage from $7.85/hour to $8.60 in 2019 and $12 by 2023. In 2021, Hawley expressed support for a Fight for $15, $15 minimum wage for businesses that make over $1 billion a year. In 2025, he is co-sponsoring a bill with Peter Welch to make it $15 an hour and indexed to inflation for all businesses. He also supported a tax credit for workers making less than $16.50 an hour.


LGBT rights

In December 2015, Hawley supported exemptions for Missouri "businesses and religious groups from participating in same-sex ... marriage ceremonies". In June 2020, after the Supreme Court ruled that federal law prohibits workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, Hawley criticized the decision, saying it "represents the end of the conservative legal movement". In May 2022 Hawley said he would be "shocked" if ''Obergefell v. Hodges'', the Supreme Court decision ruling same-sex marriage bans unconstitutional, were overturned, calling it "settled law". Nevertheless, he stated his opposition to the decision. Hawley opposed and voted against the 2022 Respect for Marriage Act, which requires states and the federal government to recognize the validity of same-sex and interracial marriages if they were legal in the jurisdiction where they were performed. The Respect for Marriage act ensures that valid marriages are recognized even if the Supreme Court decisions protecting them are overturned. At the same time, Hawley reiterated his position that "the issue of marriage" should be left to the states and "I don't think that the underlying Supreme Court decision was rightly decided". Missouri's constitution bars same-sex marriages. Hawley was accused of transphobia after an exchange in a Senate hearing on Roe v. Wade, negative comments about transgender people in reelection campaign fundraising emails, and a speech at the National Conservatism Conference. He co-sponsored a 2021 bill to restrict transgender women from sports and signed a letter that objected to Title IX protections for transgender students.


Military housing

Hawley has voted against several bills, including National Defense Authorization Act for both 2023 and 2024, that included funding for military housing at Fort Leonard Wood. His office released correspondence with US Army secretary Christine Wormuth that shows he has advocated for funding, but subsequently voted against the associated measures. Hawley linked his vote against the 2024 NDAA to its lack of expanded compensation for victims of nuclear radiation exposure.


Social media and Big Tech

Hawley is known for his criticism of Big Tech and social media companies and has often broken with other Republicans in his support for regulation of Internet companies. He cosponsored Do Not Track legislation with Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Mark Warner. His book ''The Tyranny of Big Tech'' was published in May 2021. According to Gilad Edelman of ''Wired (magazine), Wired'', the book "raises valid concerns about the technology industry, and he proposes solutions worth taking seriously. But he embeds these ideas in a broader argument that is so wildly misleading as to call the entire project into question." Edelman writes that Hawley distorts the history of anti-trust in the United States, inaccurately portraying early-20th-century antitrust efforts and completely ignoring conservative opposition to antitrust enforcement since the 1970s. In August 2019, Hawley introduced the Social Media Addiction Reduction Technology (SMART) Act, which would ban features, such as infinite scrolling and Auto-Play, auto-play, that he says encourage internet addiction. Per the bill, users would be unable to use a platform for more than 30 minutes per day unless they manually change the settings once a month. In March 2020, Hawley and several other senators proposed the "No TikTok on Government Devices Act", which would prevent federal employees from downloading the app. Previously, Hawley had called the app "a Chinese-owned social media platform so popular among teens that Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly spooked". Hawley has criticized Section 230, and has proposed legislation that would regard Internet access as a privilege rather than a right. His proposal faced bipartisan criticism as "poorly drafted, imprecise, and fatally vague." In January 2025, Hawley proposed legislation to criminalize use of Chinese-developed AI models like DeepSeek, with penalties of up to 20 years in prison and/or a $1 million fine. Language in the bill also prohibits academic collaborations with AI researchers in China, and obstructs transparency requirements as well as research developments outside proprietary Big Tech environments.


Trade and tariffs

Hawley supported Trump's imposition of trade tariffs, saying he hoped the tariffs would be temporary, eventually resulting in lower tariffs on U.S. agriculture than before the trade battles. In September 2018, he fully supported Trump's trade actions, saying, "It's a trade war that China started. If we're in a war, I want to be winning it." On May 5, 2020, Hawley wrote an op-ed in ''The New York Times'' calling for the abolition of the World Trade Organization, arguing it did not serve American interests and "enabled the rise of China." Shortly afterward, he introduced a resolution to withdraw the U.S. from the WTO.


Donald Trump

Hawley has been characterized as a Trump loyalist. He voted to acquit Trump during his first Senate First impeachment of Donald Trump, impeachment trial and accused Democrats of having abused the Constitution by starting the impeachment inquiry, declaring that it was "the first purely partisan impeachment in our history". The day after the Republican-held Senate acquitted Trump, Trump praised Hawley as having played a key role in his acquittal. The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' published an editorial blasting Hawley and Senator Roy Blunt for not distancing themselves from the January 6, 2021 storming of the United States Capitol and their continued support for Trump. Both senators voted to acquit in Trump's Second impeachment trial of Donald Trump, second impeachment trial. During Trump's second impeachment trial in the Senate, Hawley was in the United States Senate chamber, Senate gallery rather than at his desk with the rest of the senators on the Senate floor. An NBC News reporter tweeted that Hawley could be seen "sitting up in the gallery with his feet up on the seat in front of him, reviewing paperwork". Later accused of ignoring the proceedings, Hawley called them "a total kangaroo trial".


U.S. Supreme Court nominations

Hawley's first commercial in the 2018 Senate campaign focused on Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, which he supported. After Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault, Hawley staunchly defended him and said that Democrats had staged an "ambush". On October 27, 2020, Hawley voted to confirm Amy Coney Barrett. Hawley was sharply critical of Ketanji Brown Jackson's 2022 Ketanji Brown Jackson Supreme Court nomination, nomination to the Supreme Court, saying her tenure as a judge and member of the United States Sentencing Commission showed a "pattern of letting child porn offenders off the hook for their appalling crimes". Multiple news media fact-checks disagreed with Hawley's assertions. Conservative former prosecutor and commenter Andrew C. McCarthy wrote, "The allegation appears meritless to the point of demagoguery." Hawley and other Republican senators focused on the charges during Jackson's Ketanji Brown Jackson Supreme Court nomination#Confirmation hearings, confirmation hearings, which fueled right-wing conspiracy and QAnon theories.


Supreme Court shortlist

On September 9, 2020, Trump announced that Hawley, Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton were on his Donald Trump Supreme Court candidates, shortlist for nominations to the Supreme Court should a vacancy occur. Hawley expressed his appreciation but declined the offer, saying, "Missourians elected me to fight for them in the Senate". After Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on September 18, Trump instead Amy Coney Barrett Supreme Court nomination, nominated Amy Coney Barrett on September 29.


Caucus memberships

* Senate Taiwan Caucus


Personal life

In 2010, Hawley married Erin Hawley, Erin Morrow, a fellow Yale Law School graduate and an associate professor of law at the Regent University School of Law. They have three children. Following complaints that, after becoming attorney general, he was not abiding by a statutory requirement that the attorney general must reside within the city limits of the state capital (Jefferson City, Missouri, Jefferson City), Hawley began renting an apartment there, while his family continued to live in Columbia, Missouri. The Hawleys own a house in Vienna, Virginia, which they bought in 2019 after Hawley was elected to the U.S. Senate, after selling their Columbia home. Hawley's voter registration has his sister's address in
Ozark, Missouri Ozark is a city in and the county seat of Christian County, Missouri. Its population was 21,284 as of the 2020 census. Ozark is also the third largest city in the Springfield, Missouri Metropolitan Area, and is centered along a business loop ...
, so that he can be eligible to run again for Missouri's U.S. Senate seat. Hawley was raised Methodist, but he and his family now attend an Evangelical Presbyterian Church (United States), Evangelical Presbyterian Church.


Electoral history


Missouri Attorney General


U.S. Senator


Publications


Articles

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Books

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See also

* Donald Trump Supreme Court candidates * List of attorneys general of Missouri * List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Chief Justice) * List of United States senators from Missouri * Neopatriarchy * Sedition Caucus


Notes


References


Works cited

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External links


Official U.S. Senate website

Campaign website
* , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hawley, Josh Josh Hawley, 1979 births 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century Missouri politicians 21st-century Presbyterians 21st-century United States senators Alliance Defending Freedom people American evangelicals American individuals subject to Chinese sanctions American nationalists American Presbyterians Articles containing video clips Christians from Missouri Former Methodists Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States Living people Missouri attorneys general Missouri lawyers Missouri Republicans People associated with the 2020 United States presidential election People associated with the January 6 United States Capitol attack People associated with Hogan Lovells People from Lexington, Missouri People from Springdale, Arkansas People from Vienna, Virginia Presbyterians from Missouri Republican Party United States senators from Missouri Right-wing populists in the United States Stanford University alumni University of Missouri School of Law faculty The Heritage Foundation people Yale Law School alumni