Claire McCaskill might just be the luckiest woman in the Senate, but it seems as though that luck is finally running out. Not only does McCaskill finally face a serious competitor in Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, but after a career marked by hypocrisy and power grabs, McCaskill may have met her #MeToo moment.
The Daily Caller obtained a police report which shows that McCaskill's husband, Joseph Shepard, allegedly committed gross domestic violence against his previous wife, Susan Shepard. Shepard, who has received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal subsidies since McCaskill joined the Senate in 2007, is no stranger to controversy, but this latest report seems devastating at first glance.
In the police report, Susan wrote that her former husband beat her breasts as she recovered from breast cancer surgery, tripped her, pushed her, slapped her, and urinated on her. Susan also alleges that her daughter once called the cops on Joseph after he hit her, an easily verifiable fact.
McCaskill did not respond to the Daily Caller's inquiries.
Of course, Democrats have recently shown themselves willing to believe accusations based on much less. But with Shepard's daughter potentially providing corroboration with the phone call she supposedly made at the time, her mother's version of events is both credible and provable.
Of course, McCaskill's husband is not on the ballot, but this is not a comfortable subject for her to deal with at the moment, and she has to be pretty careful how much she defends him.
McCaskill also had a rough debate this week, and afterward, the local press wasn't impressed with her performance. Political writer Brad Todd wrote that after it was over, Hawley lingered to talk to the crowd, then he went to the press. As for McCaskill, she simply "bolted." Maybe this race will be less of a toss-up than initially thought.