JOHN C. DANFORTH

From newspaper columns as a teenager to his support for false claims of election fraud, the senator has staked out a populist path.

FILE - In this Jan. 6, 2021 file image from video, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., speaks at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. At least four additional companies that have donated to Hawley have announced they are suspending campaign contributions. And the allegation itself is corrosive and dangerous.”Other than Trump himself, no politician has suffered the fallout as has Hawley. Hallmark Cards, based in Kansas City, earlier this week asked Hawley and Republican Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas to return employee campaign donations. Hawley, in his 739-word essay, said those involved in the Capitol attack must be punished, saying, “Mob violence is always wrong.”“But democratic debate is not mob violence,” Hawley wrote.

“Supporting Josh Hawley ... was the worst decision I’ve ever made in my life,” former Missouri Sen. John Danforth told The Associated Press on Thursday. “Assault on democracy: Sen. Josh Hawley has blood on his hands in Capitol coup attempt,” read the headline of the editorial. Hawley, who defeated Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill in 2018, was once celebrated by the Republican establishment as a rising star. David Humphreys is president and CEO of Tamko Building Products in Joplin, Missouri, who has donated millions of dollars to Hawley and other Republicans. Now Danforth wonders how Hawley will be able to work with his Senate colleagues, even Republicans, moving forward.

“Supporting Josh Hawley ... was the worst decision I’ve ever made in my life," former Missouri Sen. John Danforth told The Associated Press on Thursday. Soon Hawley and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz were leading about 10 other senators in the effort — notably not winning over Sens. With Hawley sitting near, Utah Sen. Mitt Romney blasted those who objected to finalizing President-elect Joe Biden’s election. The student bar association at the University of Missouri law school, where Hawley taught, issued a statement calling for his resignation. Now Danforth wonders how Hawley will be able to work with his Senate colleagues, even Republicans, moving forward.

Eleven Republican senators saying they will not be voting Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, to confirm President-elect Joe Biden's victory include Wyoming's newly sworn in Sen. Cynthia Lummis, a Cheyenne-area rancher and former congresswoman. It is unclear just what the Republican senators will do, but the process could drag into the night as the two chambers will have to consider each objection individually. And more than a dozen Republican senators have said they will not support the effort. Facing the criticism from many in his own party, Cruz has attempted to put a finer point on his challenge. The commission remains his focus, he has said, not to undo the election results, even though that would be the practical effect of a successful objection.