Texas Sen. Ted Cruz endorsed Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt in the state’s open Senate race, backing a different candidate in the competitive Republican primary than Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley is supporting.
“I’m proud to endorse Eric Schmitt for U.S. Senate in Missouri. Eric is a fighter who will hold China accountable, defend religious freedom, take on Big Tech, and he will protect American jobs,” Cruz said in a statement Wednesday.
Schmitt, 46, was elected the state’s attorney general in 2018 and was Missouri’s state treasurer before that. He also uses the same consulting firm as Cruz, Axiom Strategies.
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“Senator Ted Cruz is a conservative leader and fighter who has never been afraid to fight back against the Left who want nothing more than to eradicate our freedoms and accumulate more power and control,” Schmitt said in a statement. “We need more fighters in the United States Senate like Senator Cruz, and I am honored to have his support in my campaign and in the fight to save America.”
Longtime Republican Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt is retiring after the end of this term, and the winner of the open Republican primary race on Aug. 2 is favored to win the general election to replace Blunt in the GOP-leaning state.
But Schmitt has competition that caught the eye of the state’s junior Republican senator.
Hawley, over the weekend, endorsed 4th Congressional District Rep. Vicky Hartzler, 61, to be the Republican nominee for Senate. The pair also share a consulting firm: OnMessage, Inc.
Also in the Republican Senate primary race is 47-year-old former Gov. Eric Greitens, who resigned from office in 2018 amid multiple scandals; Mark McCloskey, the 65-year-old gun-toting lawyer whose image holding a weapon outside his house during a protest went viral; and Missouri 7th Congressional District Rep. Billy Long, 66.
Hawley’s endorsement of Hartzler peeved Long, who placed an “unsolicited phone call” to Politico after the endorsement announcement to tear into Hawley for allegedly misleading him about his plans to endorse Hartzler.
“I called Josh, and I said, ‘Vicky just hired your team, your consultants, does that mean you’re going to be supporting Vicky?’” Long said.
Hawley, Long told Politico, denied that he had made an endorsement decision based on his consulting firm also working for Hartzler.
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Schmitt also has endorsements from Matthew Whitaker, former acting attorney general under the Trump administration, and Americans for Prosperity Action, a super PAC under the umbrella of groups supported by billionaire Charles Koch.
Former President Donald Trump has not made an endorsement in the race.
