Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander challenged incumbent Republican Sen. Roy Blunt. Sid Hastings/AP
In September, Jason Kander ran what may have been the most memorable campaign ad of 2016:
Although he was relatively unknown until the video went viral, the 33-year-old former Army captain and Missouri Secretary of State was one of the candidates Democrats hoped could help turn the the Senate from red to blue. Early on, Missouri—which leans Republican and where Trump consistently outpolled Clinton—seemed like an unlikely pickup for the Democrats. That changed in February when Kander announced his bid in a four-minute video in which he talked about his decision to volunteer for deployment in Afghanistan. What was once thought as a lock for Sen. Roy Blunt turned into a race, and by November, outside groups had poured approximately $35 million into the race.
But it wasn’t enough of a race for Kander to prevail a red state that stayed red. At 2:00 a.m. with 90 percent of the precincts reporting, Blunt had 50 percent of the vote, and Kander conceded.
