The five-figure ad buy plays in Missouri media markets on Fox News this week
In a new ad that will air across all Missouri media markets on Fox News, U.S. Senate candidate Lucas Kunce criticized some of the top Republican contenders for the seat over their ties to China.
The 30-second spot touts his own military record but called out Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler, Attorney General Eric Schmitt, and former Gov. Eric Greitens for connections to China. The five-figure ad buy will air across Missouri media markets on Fox News in primetime, which includes Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity’s shows, beginning Tuesday.
“While I deployed, they stripped Missouri for parts,” Kunce said in the ad provided early to The Missouri Times. “They sold our land to China, they bowed down to Chinese state TV, and they took money from Chinese corporations. In Iraq and Afghanistan, we’d call that aiding the enemy.”
In the ad, Kunce dons a plaid flannel shirt and black jacket with a barn and tractor in the background.
Specifically, Kunce’s ad included footage of Greitens appearing on the China Global Television Network, owned by the Chinese Communist Party, for a lengthy interview when he was still the governor of Missouri and in China for an international trade mission. Kunce’s ad included a headline from the conservative Townhall website which said Greitens praised China and the Chinese Communist Party during the interview.
The spot included Hartzler with a headline accusing her of taking money a Chinese company’s corporate PAC. (She received $1,000 from Smithfield Foods, a subsidiary of the Chinese WH Group, in 2014.)
It also included Schmitt: While he was in the state legislature, Schmitt was a vociferous proponent for a since-defunct plan to use tax credits to entice China to build a hub at the Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. Those who supported the plan to build the global cargo hub said it would increase economic development in Missouri.
“Lucas Kunce served his country for over a decade as a U.S. Marine, defending the American people from our enemies. But during that same time, our politicians sold us out to China and helped massive multinational corporations wage economic warfare against our communities here at home,” Caleb Cavarretta, Kunce’s campaign manager, said. “In his campaign for U.S. Senate, Lucas Kunce is taking the war to them.”
Kunce has been drawing national media attention of late with a cover story profile in Politico Magazine and a feature in the conservative Washington Times. VoteVets, a PAC focused on defense policy and electing veterans to public office, has backed Kunce in his campaign.
In the last campaign finance cycle, Kunce brought in more contributions ($849,206) than any other candidate, Republican or Democrat. He ended the period with $670,000 cash on hand.
A Democrat, Kunce is originally from Cole County, has served in Afghanistan and Iraq, and has represented the U.S. in arms control negotiations with NATO and Russia, according to his campaign. His platform is focused on economic issues, and he is the director of national security for the nonprofit Economic Liberties Project.
Editor’s Note: The author of this piece previously worked for FoxNews.com.
Kaitlyn Schallhorn was the editor in chief of The Missouri Times from 2020-2022. She joined the newspaper in early 2019 after working as a reporter for Fox News in New York City.
Throughout her career, Kaitlyn has covered political campaigns across the U.S., including the 2016 presidential election, and humanitarian aid efforts in Africa and the Middle East.
She is a native of Missouri who studied journalism at Winthrop University in South Carolina. She is also an alumna of the National Journalism Center in Washington, D.C.
Contact Kaitlyn at kaitlyn@themissouritimes.com.
