Trudy Busch Valentine has won the Democrat nomination for the US Senate from Missouri, beating out Lucas Kunce in a close race. 

Valentine won the nomination with 43.3% of the votes with Kunce behind with 38.3% of the votes. This the first time that she has run for public office. Valentine will be going up against the GOP’s nomination, Eric Schmitt as the two will face off on November 8 during the midterms to replace the incumbent Republican senator Roy Blunt. 

Valentine went up against a long list of Democrats trying to get to the US Senate with only Kunce proving to be the only real competitor out at the ballots. The heiress to the Anheuser-Busch empire had stated previously that she was running for Senate because it was “time to put politics aside, to stand up for all the families who are just barely getting by, and put Missourians first.”

The 65-year-old funded her campaign herself and part of her platform while she was campaigning was her insistence that families have access to birth control services “without shame.” Despite her lack of political experience people have voted for her in light of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade and the Democratic Party’s positioning itself as the supporters of the repealed ruling. 

I never saw myself running for public office. I always wanted to be a nurse. When I was young, I saw nurses taking care of people, staying calm in crisis and solving problems,” said Valentine in her victory speech. 

However, it is unlikely that the Senate race in November will be an easy one for her as she goes up against Schmitt, who as the Attorney General was instrumental in implementing a statewide abortion ban in Missouri just minutes after the Supreme Court’s decision was announced.