FREEBURG  —  Friday’s Truman Day dinner will feature Democrat Lucas Kunce, who is running to replace Josh Hawley in the U.S. Senate. He will be the keynote speaker at the event that begins at 6 p.m. with a social hour and dinner at 6:30 at Paul A. Hasenbeck American Legion Post 317 in Freeburg.

Kunce is a native-Missourian and 13-year Marine veteran. He grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Jefferson City. “Like so many Americans, my parents lived paycheck-to-paycheck — so when my little sister was born with a heart condition, the medical bills bankrupted us,” Kunce’s bio notes on his campaign website. “Maxed-out credit cards and no money left, we struggled to get by. But we weren’t alone. When my parents had to take my sister to get surgeries at a hospital over 100 miles away in St. Louis, our neighbors and friends took my siblings and me into their homes. When we couldn’t afford groceries, they brought more casserole and lasagna by the house than we could ever hope to eat. The support from our neighbors and friends motivated me to work hard, stay focused on school, and run on the cross-country team.”

After Kunce graduated valedictorian at Jefferson City High School, he attended Yale University with help from a Pell Grant and scholarships from people around town.

He earned a degree at Yale and then attended law school at the University of Missouri.

Kunce joined the Marines after graduation from MU and served overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan.

According to his website, Kunce said, “Our state deserves a Senator who will stand up and fight for it, not run for the exit like Josh Hawley. I’m running for U.S. Senate to be the warrior for working people that Missouri deserves; to fight for our state. And we aren’t fighting the corporate status quo just to make a point. This is a race we can win.

“Our values have won at the ballot box with wide margins for referendums that go beyond what’s happening nowadays in Washington or what political elites in Jefferson City are willing to allow,” his campaign continues. “Missouri voters have side-stepped our politicians by voting to increase the minimum wage well above the federal level, expand health care, repeal an anti-worker ‘Right-to-Work’ scheme, legalize weed, and enact more protections against political corruption.”

For more information on Kunce, visit his website at https://lucaskunce.com.

Osage County Democrat Club Chairman Larry Hunt noted that this event will be held in conjunction with the Maries County Democrat Club and will feature former Missouri Agriculture Department Director John Haggler and other candidates running for office.