GOP heavyweight Sam Fox woos Hawley for Senate bid, tells donors not to give to other contenders

WASHINGTON — One of Missouri’s most influential GOP donors, Sam Fox, is urging his national political network to woo Josh Hawley into entering the U.S. Senate race —and advising his deep-pocketed contacts to keep their checkbooks closed until Hawley makes a decision about whether to run.

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley speaks at a news conference on June 21, 2017, in St. Louis.

In a June 20 missive to other Republican donors, Fox extolled Hawley’s political credentials, and he even attached the Missouri attorney general’s resume for them to peruse.

“I am writing today to alert you to what I believe may be a real opportunity for us to convince Attorney General Josh Hawley … to run for the U.S. Senate,” Fox wrote, asking his friends to contact Hawley and “encourage him to take a serious look” at running in the 2018 race.

The kicker? “I also ask that you withhold your support for other potential candidates in order to give Josh time to make his final decision,” Fox wrote.

That request is a blow to Rep. Ann Wagner, a St. Louis County Republican who has made it clear she intends to challenge incumbent Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill. Wagner has not officially announced her bid yet but she has raised nearly $3 million in anticipation of a statewide race against McCaskill, who is also a formidable fundraiser.

Fox’s letter is the second time big-name Missouri Republicans have seemed to snub Wagner in favor of Hawley for the Senate race, which is expected to be one of the most hotly contested in the country. In April, former Sen. John Danforth and several other prominent Missouri Republicans issued a public letter asking Hawley to run.

Hawley just won election to the attorney general’s post in November. And so far, he has resisted calls to take aim at McCaskill.

“It’s far too early to be thinking about any future election with so much work to do” as the state’s chief law enforcement officer, Hawley said in a statement in April, after the Danforth letter emerged.

In an interview on Wednesday, Danforth said he hoped Fox’s latest missive would change Hawley’s mind.

“This will be a major attention-getter for (Republican donors around the country) and will tell them someone as formidable as Sam Fox believes that Josh Hawley is our best candidate for the Senate,” Danforth said.

“He is a national presence in Republican fundraising circles,” Danforth said of Fox. The St. Louis businessman is the owner of Harbour Industries and a former U.S. ambassador to Belgium.

Danforth estimated that Fox sent the letter to hundreds of top-tier GOP donors around the country, and he predicted they would heed Fox’s advice.

Danforth insisted the missive was not meant as a rejection of Wagner, although he conceded it could be interpreted that way.

“I am a fan of Ann Wagner,” Danforth said. “I think she’s wonderful … It’s just that I think Josh Hawley is exceptional. I think he would be a terrific candidate, I think he would be really a leader in the Senate.”

Danforth said he had “no idea” if Hawley will run. But, he added, “If I were to guess, just guessing, I’d bet he’ll do it.”

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