Independent U.S. Senate candidate Jared Young received the endorsement of a Republican leader and former mentor of current Senator Josh Hawley on Thursday.

Republican John Danforth, who represented Missouri in the U.S. Senate for three terms from 1976 to 1995, announced his support for Young, a Webb City resident, in a written statement. Young is a conservative and is running for the Missouri Senate seat as an independent candidate of the Better Party.

“I am honored by Senator Danforth’s support,” Young said. “We believe that there are real solutions to complex problems when we reject the angry, divisive tactics that have overtaken American politics.”

Danforth, 87, also served two terms as Missouri attorney general and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. He is a partner at the law firm Dowd Bennett and currently serves on the national advisory board of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University.

Danforth is an ordained Episcopal priest and author of resurrection (1994), Faith and Politics: How the “moral values” debate divides America and how we can move forward together (2006) and The importance of religion (2015).

In his written recommendation, Danforth said Young “represents the ideas that have always characterized the Republican Party and are generally accepted by all its members.”

According to Danforth, these ideas include:

• Allegiance to the United States Constitution, including accepting the results of the people’s election, obeying the decisions of the courts, and supporting a peaceful transfer of power. “We believe the events of January 6, 2021, the date of the mob attack on the Capitol, represented a direct attack on the Constitution and caused one of the darkest days in American history,” he said.

• Support for Abraham Lincoln’s founding principle that the GOP is the party of the union, holding America together as one indivisible nation. “We reject the politics of grievance and anger that divide Americans into an us-versus-them conflict,” he said.

• Emphasis on fiscal responsibility. “We oppose the explosion of our national debt, which weakens America and places a burden on future generations,” Danforth said.

• Belief in the free market economy and the private sector as the greatest source of prosperity, not in major government intervention, rejection of high protective tariffs and price controls.

• Advocating for peace through strength and believing that a peaceful world depends on a strong America with a national defense that is second to none.

“We are committed to NATO and condemn Vladimir Putin’s ambitions in Europe,” Danforth said. “We are steadfast in our opposition to Russian aggression. Jared Young, a lifelong conservative and now running for the Better Party, stands for the Constitution, unity, fiscal responsibility, free markets and peace through strength. Josh Hawley rejects all of these.”

Danforth’s strong support for Josh Hawley – he called Hawley “extraordinary” and “a winner” – helped the then-Missouri Attorney General win the Republican primary for U.S. Senate and the general election in 2018. Three years later, after the Jan. 6 attack, Danforth said supporting Hawley was the “worst mistake” of his life.

Hawley will also face Democratic candidate Lucas Kunce, Libertarian WC Young and Socialist Equality Party candidate Doris Canady on November 5.