Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt running for U.S. Senate in 2022

On Apr 2, 2021

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt on Wednesday announced he’s making a bid to replace Roy Blunt in the Senate, setting up a Republican primary against disgraced former Gov. Eric Greitens.

Schmitt is a strong contender with a record of winning statewide elections and who is backed by Missouri mega-donor Rex Sinquefield. In a written release, Schmitt pushed his conservative credentials and railed against “the radical left.”

Blunt’s March 8 decision not to run for another term opened the floodgates for ambitious Republicans interested in succeeding him. But the GOP field is narrowing. Early favorite Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft bowed out, as did Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe.

Political scientists have speculated that Republicans are trying to unify around a single candidate to avoid a potentially damaging primary. Greitens’ candidacy complicates that.

Greitens, who has been laying the groundwork for a comeback for months if not years, is a polarizing figure unpopular with the state’s Republican establishment.

The former Navy SEAL officer was once seen as a rising star in Republican politics, possibly even a future presidential candidate.

Those aspirations seemed to vanish in 2018 when his extramarital affair was exposed. A felony charge accused him of taking a compromising photo of the woman as potential blackmail if she spoke of their encounters.

Greitens then faced a second criminal charge accusing him of using a donor list from his charity for his political campaign.

Greitens, who is now divorced but was married at the time, admitted to the affair but denied wrongdoing in both cases. Still, he resigned in June 2018 and the criminal cases were dismissed.

He maintains a core of support that could be enough to win a primary, but political observers have said the scandals that pushed him out of the governor’s mansion could thwart Republicans’ chances of keeping the U.S. Senate seat.

Voters first elected Schmitt to the state Senate in 2008 to represent a suburban St. Louis district. He was elected state treasurer in 2016, then took over as the state attorney general after Josh Hawley vacated the seat to join the U.S. Senate in 2019.

He won another term as attorney general in 2020.

Read the Schmitt Campaign Announcement:

”With the radical left controlling all of the levers of power in Washington, we can already feel our values, our culture and our country slipping away. Now more than ever Missourians need a conservative leader willing and able to take on the left, protect our values and be a voice for all Missourians.”

“We also need a leader who can hold this Senate seat in firm Republican hands without giving Democrats any chance to take this seat back. Republicans won the last two U.S. Senate seats in Missouri by approximately 3 percent and 6 percent. In my public service, I have never quit fighting for Missouri and our conservative values. Missourians deserve a life-long conservative who they know will never quit fighting for them.”

”Missourians know from my public service that they can count on me to stand up to the Biden administration, fight to preserve President Trump’s America First agenda and keep this seat in safe pro-Trump Republican hands.”

”We need more fighters in Washington willing to stop the radical cancel culture agenda being advanced by the left that is destroying lives and suppressing speech.”

“I am fighting every day to protect and defend our constitution in my service to Missourians as their Attorney General. I fought alongside President Trump in defending election integrity, championing pro-growth economic policy, protecting our energy independence, and standing up to radical prosecutors who have allowed violent crime to rule our cities instead of upholding the rule of law. As Attorney General, I’ve already sued the Biden administration and I’m going to keep suing Joe Biden to protect all Missourians when necessary. I’ve been holding the Biden administration and the Democrats accountable on important issues like border security, the Second Amendment and regulations that cripple our economy.”

“In the U.S. Senate, I will continue the fight to preserve the conservative policies championed by President Trump that built the strongest economy in American history.”

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