Josh Hawley to host Orlando fundraising event

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley will host a three-day fundraising event in Orlando in February.

The “fun-filled-family-friendly” event will be held in one of the most popular travel destinations in the world. An invite to the event, first reported by Punchbowl News, says those making a $5,000 PAC donation will earn the title Family SPONSOR for up to four people, with 2021 Season Pass Benefits included. The event will be Feb. 12-15 over Valentine’s Day weekend.

But political observers follow Florida for a different reason, and one can’t help but wonder if it’s more than proximity to Walt Disney World and Universal Studios driving Hawley’s choice of venue.

With 29 electoral votes, Florida remains one of the top prizes in presidential elections, and many anticipate Hawley, a likely presidential contender in 2024, may want a political network that includes those familiar with the Sunshine State.

Still, the event remains ostensibly for Hawley’s Senate reelection effort in Missouri, an invite emblazed with a “Fighting for Mo” logo with the outline of the state included.

Hawley first won election to the Senate in 2018, defeating longtime Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill. More recently, he has made headlines as one of President Donald Trump’s most outspoken advocates in Senate.

He became the first U.S. Senator to announce he will challenge the Electoral College results Wednesday that show Democrat Joe Biden defeated Trump in the presidential election. That move came against the urging of Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, but a dozen other Senators have now signed on with the Missourian. That’s unlikely to stop Biden’s win from being certified, but has elevated his national profile substantially.

Beyond that, Hawley, before the election, was among few Republican voices pushing for larger stimulus checks as part of a COVID-19 relief package, developing a strange bedfellows working relationship with independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist.

That also made him a face of Trumpism last month when Trump threatened to veto the COVID-19 relief package if it did not include larger checks for individuals, with Hawley championing a vote following the President’s call for action. The Senate ultimately never took up a House-approved package with $2,000 checks.