JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri voters will decide Tuesday whether to give Republican Sen. Josh Hawley a second term or elect Democrat Lucas Kunce, a lawyer who served in the Marine Corps.

Hawley is the heavy favorite to win in the state, where no Democrat holds statewide office and Republicans control both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

But Kunce is putting up a fight, besting Hawley and enlisting the support of Missouri-born celebrities John Goodman, Jon Hamm and Andy Cohen.

Kunce served 13 years in the Marine Corps, with tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. After active duty, he worked as director of national security at the antitrust organization American Economic Liberties Project. He also unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate in 2022.

It drew attention after a journalist was hit with a small piece of loose metal and slightly injured during one of his campaign events last month at a private shooting range. The journalist told authorities that he barely noticed the injury at first and continued covering the event after Kunce bandaged him.

Hawley has said Kunce and other shooters were too close to metal targets, just 10 yards away, to safely fire AR-15-style rifles. Kunce has said that a National Rifle Association training counselor set up the shooting range and that he is “glad the reporter was safe and able to continue reporting.”

Kunce’s campaign has focused on criticism of Hawley as a leader of the January 6, 2021 push to block certification of President Joe Biden’s victory in 2020.

A photo of Hawley with his fist raised toward the hordes outside the Capitol that day initially sparked a bipartisan reaction.

Major Missouri Republican donors and businesses initially vowed not to donate money to Hawley again. Former staffers of two-term Sen. Claire McCaskill, whom Hawley unseated, created the Just Oust Seditious Hacks PAC, which sought to organize against Hawley. His former Republican mentor, former U.S. Sen. John Danforth of Missouri, has said that endorsing Hawley was “the worst decision I ever made in my life.”

Kunce announced his intention to run for Hawley’s seat on the anniversary of the insurrection in 2023. He aired an announcement highlighting the photo of Hawley’s raised fist, as well as a video of Hawley running through the Capitol that same day.

But it’s unclear whether the message will resonate with Republican voters in Missouri, where Trump won by wide margins in 2016 and 2020.

For his part, Hawley stood by and celebrated his actions. His campaign sells mugs with a photo of his raised fist.

Hawley and Kunce clashed repeatedly throughout the campaign, beginning with a tense confrontation at the Missouri State Fair in August. The two stood inches apart and debated whether they should have a debate, with Kunce calling Hawley “weird” and “cartoonish” and Hawley at one point cursing.

Hawley later made a surprise appearance at a September debate held by the Missouri Press Association, joining Kunce.

The two were divided over issues such as abortion, with Hawley opposing a constitutional amendment in Tuesday’s vote that would enshrine abortion rights in the state. Kunce supports the amendment.

Democrats hope the abortion amendment will energize voters and help them regain political relevance in Missouri.

Missouri voters first elected Hawley to the Senate in 2018, unseating McCaskill, one of the last Democrats to hold statewide office in Missouri. He previously served as Missouri attorney general.

In the United States Senate, Hawley is known for his efforts to ban TikToklegislation to compensate Americans exposed to radiationand for intense interrogation Biden, US Supreme Court appointee Ketanji Brown Jackson.