Todd Akin Wins Missouri GOP Primary, Will Face McCaskill

Rep. Todd Akin has won Missouri’s hotly contested Republican Senate Primary to take on Democrat Senator Claire McCaskill this fall. 

Akin, an original member of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus, beat out GermX CEO John Brunner and Sarah Steelman, a favorite to win who campaigned with Sarah Palin just last week. McCaskill trailed all three Republican primary contenders in the weeks leading up to the polls and the Democrat is incredibly vulnerable in an increasingly red-leaning state no longer considered a battleground. The overwhelming passage of Prop C — the Health Care Freedom Act which exempted Missourians from the penalties of rejecting Obamacare — was a referendum against the law that Senator McCaskill championed for Obama in Missouri. Prop C passed by over 70% of the vote, 3-1 in every county save Kansas City and St. Louis City. 

The battle between Akin and McCaskill will be epic, but it’s conservatives’ only shot to unseat the Democrat.