Do we like them?

Do we like Josh Hawley?

Our score: 3 out of 10. Real, sourced good on workers, Big Tech and a stock-trading ban, but a record on trans people and women's health that weighs more.

Josh Hawley is the Republican senator for Missouri, and his recent bill list reads like a populist wish list: no tax breaks for data centres, a gas tax suspension, a rural hospital emergency room guarantee and a bill on AI-related job losses. It also includes a bill aimed at chemical abortion drugs. We couldn't open his full backstory today, so this card sticks to what we could source.

His biggest stoush with his own side came in July 2025, when he pushed a stock-trading ban covering members of Congress, the president and the vice president. He joined Democrats to block a carve-out that would have exempted the president, and Trump hit back by calling him a “second-tier” senator. That's taking a public belting for a position, and it counts.

Then there's Medicaid. He was reported as the loudest Republican critic of the cuts and said he wouldn't back a bill that cut Medicaid benefits. On 1 July 2025 he voted yes on the Big Beautiful Bill anyway, citing lingering misgivings, and Missouri protesters called it hypocrisy. The Congressional Budget Office estimated up to 250,000 Missourians could lose coverage, and he has since vowed to block parts of it taking effect.

Lately he has gone hard at Big Tech. Axios reported in January 2026 that he is betting kids' safety, job fears and power bills can turn Republicans against AI firms, and in June 2026 that he slammed AI “cheerleaders” while backing the Teamsters agenda. In September he introduced his data centre tax-break bill.

Not everything he says lands cleanly. In October 2025 he told a Senate hearing that the FBI tapped his phone and those of other senators, and PolitiFact asked his office for evidence. His office pointed to two documents. Read the fact-check and decide whether they carry the claim.

The real good is on work. He has backed bipartisan labour legislation with Democrat Jeff Merkley, sponsored the Know Your Labor Rights Act in April 2026, and courted the Teamsters. Critics say that sits oddly with some of his votes, and where you land depends on whether you read it as populism or positioning.