MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo.—The main contenders for Missouri’s U.S. Senate race met for their only televised debate with no-excuse absentee voting well underway and Election Day just over four days away. Sen. Josh Hawley, the Republican incumbent seeking a second term, and Democrat Lucas Kunce faced off in a debate broadcast statewide by Nexstar Media Group and partner stations.

The hour-long debate was less combative than an animated showdown the pair had at the Missouri State Fair in August as they argued over venues and formats for proposed debates.

Questions addressed economic issues, energy, the war in the Middle East, abortion and immigration, among other topics.

Hawley sought to remind voters of an incident last week at a Kunce campaign event where a reporter was injured by shrapnel from a Kunce rifle shot on a private shooting range. He also brought up his rival’s refusal to endorse a presidential candidate. Kunce focused on Hawley’s inability to bring home congressionally directed spending to Missouri and made repeated references to Hawley’s role in objecting to certifying the 2020 presidential election and the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Kunce has built much of his campaign around support for restoring reproductive rights in Missouri through Amendment 3, the constitutional amendment on the Missouri ballot, and in criticizing the role Hawley and Hawley’s wife, Erin, have played in opposing abortion rights via court proceedings. Erin Hawley was on the legal team that won the Supreme Court case in 2022 that overturned Roe v. Wade, leading to a trigger law in Missouri which bans abortions except for cases of medical emergencies.

Hawley opposes Amendment 3 because he says it paves the way for access to transgender medical surgeries for minors without parental consent and said he would still support federal legislation that would put “reasonable restrictions” on partial birth abortions and when a baby is capable of feeling pain.

On immigration, the two candidates clashed over Hawley’s vote against a bipartisan border security bill that collapsed in Congress earlier this year. Kunce said it would have fully funded an understaffed border patrol, while Hawley criticized the fact that it would have meant taxpayer funding for migrant legal counsel.

But they both criticized the Biden administration’s policy of “catch and release” for undocumented migrants, and would endorse a return to the Trump era “remain in Mexico” policy of keeping migrants across the border.

On foreign policy, they each agreed that sending U.S. troops to the Middle East as part of a larger conflict between Israel and Hamas was a red line they would not support crossing.

Hawley made repeated references to Kunce policy positions as “misfires” or “scattershot”, in an attempt to brand that campaign incident from last week. Authorities have ruled it an accident.

Kunce, meanwhile, poked at Hawley for the amount of time he spends in the state and the private aircraft he’s used in the campaign, six years after Hawley mocked his then-opponent, former U.S. Sen Claire McCaskill, and called Hawley out for not bringing home federal dollars like former U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt. Hawley calls congressionally directed spending, better known as earmarks, a form of institutionalized corruption. 

But both candidates deemed the debate substantive. 

“I’m happy with the questions they asked and I’m happy with the opportunity that I got to present myself and my views to the Missouri voters,” Kunce said.

“It was super fun, great debate, very substantive, great questions, great exchanges and I enjoyed it,” Hawley said.

Kunce spent Thursday afternoon in the St. Louis area at a fundraiser and rally with actor and St. Louis native Jon Hamm, and will focus on the region in campaign events Friday and Saturday before heading for Kansas City and Springfield on Sunday and Monday. Hawley's campaign hasn't released its remaining schedule but said it expects to return to the St. Louis area before Tuesday.