Since 2019, Joshua David Hawley, an American politician and attorney, has represented Missouri as the senior United States senator. Hawley, a Republican, defeated two-term Democratic incumbent senator Claire McCaskill in the 2018 election after serving as Missouri’s 42nd attorney general from 2017 to 2019.
Hawley, a native of Springdale, Arkansas, was educated at Stanford University in 2002 and Yale Law School in 2006. After working as a law clerk for Chief Justice John Roberts and Tenth Circuit Judge Michael W. McConnell, he went on to practice law, first in private practice from 2008 to 2011 and then at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty from 2011 to 2015.
In addition to serving as Missouri’s attorney general, he was a faculty member of the conservative Blackstone Legal Fellowship and an associate professor at the University of Missouri School of Law.
Early Years and Education of Sen Josh Hawley
In 1979, Josh Hawley was born in Springdale, Arkansas, to the financier and educator parents, Ronald Kim Hawley and Virginia Marie Hawley, respectively. When the family relocated to Lexington, Missouri, rural, in 1981, Hawley and his younger sister, Lesley Hawley, were raised.
After completing middle school, Hawley’s parents enrolled him at the Jesuit Rockhurst High School in Kansas City, Missouri. Hawley started penning columns for the Lexington News, a local newspaper, during this period. It was with these columns that he initiated the expression of conservative perspectives that would later become emblematic of his persona thirty years later.
Following his graduation from secondary school as valedictorian, Hawley pursued a bachelor’s degree in history at Stanford University, from which he graduated in 2002. Then, he attended Yale University to study law.
The Makings of a Politician – Sen Josh Hawley
Following his appointment as attorney general, he gave the state’s escalating opioid addiction crisis a lot of attention. In 2017, Hawley filed lawsuits against a number of pharmaceutical firms, claiming that they had purposefully misrepresented the dangers associated with the opioid medications they supplied.
The following year, Hawley gained more notoriety when he launched an inquiry into potential improper use of a charity’s finances for political purposes by Eric Greitens, the Republican governor of Missouri. In April 2018, the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office brought criminal charges against Greitens based on information uncovered by Hawley’s office. However, Greitens’ resignation led to the case being dismissed.
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Mainstream Republicans were starting to take notice of and appreciate Hawley, and some of them had turned become ardent opponents of President Trump. John Danforth, a former Republican senator from Missouri, projected Hawley as a future leader in the mainstream. “You have the training and the ability to be a leading voice for the constitutional order, not only in Missouri but nationally,” he wrote in a letter to Hawley.
Hawley said in October 2017 that he would attempt to replace moderate Democrat U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, in part because of the letter. In the 2018 midterm elections, their fiercely contested race attracted national notice.
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Hawley presented himself throughout the campaign as President Trump’s staunch supporter, and the president made multiple trips to Missouri to garner support for Hawley. Hawley defeated McCaskill by a score of 51.4 to 45.6 percent in November 2018.
Personal Life of Sen Josh Hawley
Hawley wed associate professor of law at the University of Missouri, Erin Morrow, in 2010. Three offspring comprise the couple’s unit. Hawley commenced renting an apartment in Jefferson City, the state capital, in response to complaints that he failed to comply with a statutory requirement that attorneys general reside within the city limits of the capital (Missouri). His family continued to reside in Columbia, Missouri.
The Hawleys purchased a home in Vienna, Virginia in 2019, subsequent to Hawley’s election to the U.S. Senate and the sale of their residence in Columbia. Hawley’s voter registration includes the address of his sister in Ozark, Missouri, in order to maintain his eligibility to re-contest for the U.S. Senate seat in Missouri.
Although Hawley was educated as a Methodist, he presently associates with his family at an Evangelical Presbyterian Church.