Republican Senate candidate Josh Hawley is warning Missouri voters that “our way of life is at risk” in a new television ad that seizes on the Supreme Court vacancy to attack his Democratic opponent, Sen. Claire McCaskill.

Hawley began running the ad Monday, the same day President Donald Trump is scheduled to unveil his pick to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. The nomination is subject to Senate confirmation.

The Supreme Court vacancy is expected to energize Republican voters across the nation in this fall’s midterm elections. The 38-year-old Hawley, Missouri’s attorney general, has a special connection to the court: He clerked for Chief Justice John Roberts.

The ad says: “The eyes of the nation are on Missouri. We decide which values control the Senate, and the Supreme Court.”

(AP)