KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In the battle for Missouri’s U.S. Senate seat, former-vice presidential nominee and former-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin offered her support to Tony Monetti.
At a rally Wednesday night with roughly 200 people, Palin emphasized Monetti’s military experience and his position as a political outsider.
Monetti, a retired Air Force pilot from Warrensburg, is seeking the Republican nomination in the hotly contested race for incumbent Claire McCaskill’s U.S. Senate seat. There are 11 candidates seeking the Republican nomination. Current state Attorney General Josh Hawley is widely considered the frontrunner for the GOP.
Palin and Monetti argued that it was Monetti, and not Hawley, who could beat McCaskill in the general election this fall.
“We hear all these efforts going on it Washington D.C. to drain the swamp,” said Palin. “We don’t have time for that. The Show-Me State needs to show Washington how to blow up the swamp. Are you ready to send the stealth bomber himself to Washington, D.C. to do just that? Well, shoot — is Washington ready for Tony?”
Calling Monetti the “people’s choice” and “not part of the party machine,” Palin said he is the candidate to lead in forthcoming political battles.
“2016 was just the beginning of a battle for this country — for our solvency and for our sovereignty, for our children’s future,” Palin said. “It was just the beginning of a battle. There are many more battles ahead.”
Palin is not the first national figure to make an endorsement for the Republican primary, U.S. President Donald Trump officially backed Hawley in the race for Missouri’s Senate seat that is currently held by a Democrat.
Hawley and McCaskill have also taken the lead in fundraising in the first quarter of 2018 — $1.5 million and $3.9 million respectively. Monetti was just shy of $100,000 on his April campaign filings with the Missouri Ethics Commission.
Alisha Shurr was a reporter for The Missouri Times and The Missouri Times Magazine. She joined The Missouri Times in January 2018 after working as a copy editor for her hometown newspaper in Southern Oregon. Alisha is a graduate of Kansas State University.
