Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill (Mo.) chided voters on Thursday for electing a "reality TV star president," despite being less popular in her home state of Missouri than Donald Trump.
McCaskill said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that it is "damaging" that the scandals surrounding the White House have taken attention away from bipartisan efforts in Congress to address various policy issues. She mentioned a measure that Trump signed into law that lowers the cost of hearing aids, noting that most Missourians are not even aware of the legislation because the media only covers politicians fighting in Washington, D.C.
"You know what people in Missouri think? We're just up here fighting," McCaskill said. "The fight gets all the coverage, the chaos gets all the coverage, and as a result, the cynicism about our government and that some of us are really keeping our nose to the grindstone and doing a lot of hard work gets lost in the shuffle."
"And then people do something which I think is maybe not a good idea: they do something like electing a reality TV star president because they're so cynical about the swamp," McCaskill added.
The Missouri Democrat is currently in an uphill battle to defend her Senate seat in November. A recent Axios/SurveyMonkey poll found that only 44 percent of Missouri voters support McCaskill's reelection bid, putting her eight percentage points behind Missouri Attorney General and Republican challenger Josh Hawley. The poll also found that Trump enjoys a higher approval rating in Missouri than McCaskill at 55 percent.