Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens appointed Kimberly Guilfoyle as the national chairwoman of his Missouri Senate campaign, hoping the addition of the national finance chairwoman of Donald Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign leads to the former president endorsing him in the Republican primary.
Guilfoyle is the girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr., the 45th president’s eldest son, and the two often collaborate to raise money for Republican congressional candidates. Greitens made the announcement on Monday in a press release as his bid for Senate, and political redemption, intensifies. Greitens, 46, a retired Navy SEAL once viewed as presidential timber, resigned as governor in 2018 amid fallout from a sexual misconduct scandal, although his campaign insists that he has since been vindicated.
“We know Democrats will come after this campaign, just like they came after President Trump,” Greitens said. “With Kimberly Guilfoyle as our national chair, I know we have a true fighter that will further elevate this campaign and help us win the support of every Missourian.”
Trump’s endorsement in red-state Republican Senate primaries could be the key factor that voters consider when deciding whom to support.
To that end, Greitens is comparing himself to Trump, saying that each of them was a victim of an unfair political witch hunt — and wooed Guilfoyle to join his campaign. The Washington Examiner reported this development on April 1. At that time, a Republican familiar with the matter said that if Guilfoyle did join Greitens’s campaign, it should not be interpreted as a de facto endorsement from Trump or his son.
“The Greitens campaign is trying to hire Kim, but she hasn’t made up her mind yet on whether she’s going to accept a role with him,” this Republican said at the time. “Kim’s work is independent of Don Jr., and he is currently not supporting him or anyone else in that race yet. Even if Kim were to go work with Greitens, that should not be seen as an implicit endorsement from Don or his father.”
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In a statement, Guilfoyle said that Greitens “is a fighter who has stood with President Trump and has a proven record of advancing conservative, American First policies.”
Trump won Missouri by 18.5 percentage points and 15.4 percentage points in 2016 and 2020, respectively, solidifying the state’s transformation from perennial bellwether to ruby-red bastion with a grassroots Republican base that is very supportive of the 45th president. That offers Trump an opportunity to exert outsize influence in the primary, with the winner being well positioned to defeat the Democratic nominee.
But some Republicans worry that Greitens’s abbreviated, scandal-ridden tenure in the governor’s mansion would sink him in the general election. Many of them are looking to Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt as the most formidable candidate, both to unite the Trump and traditional wings of the party in the primary and hold off the Democrats in November of 2022. Greitens has led Schmitt and other Republicans in initial polling.
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Sen. Roy Blunt, a Republican, is retiring next year after serving two terms.
