Days after former President Donald Trump revealed his opposition to Rep. Vicky Hartzler in the race for the Republican nomination for Senate in Missouri, a super PAC supporting ex-Gov. Eric Greitens poured $900,000 into this key primary.
Sources tracking political media buys say the pro-Greitens television advertising from Missouri First Action is airing statewide, excluding the Kansas City and St. Louis media markets. State Attorney General Eric Schmitt, meanwhile, is running a new baseball-themed television spot strictly in the St. Louis market. Schmitt has led in recent polling, and with Trump rejecting Hartzler, both he and Greitens now seem to be front-runners for Trump’s endorsement, which could tip the scales.
“Eric is tough and he’s smart — a little controversial, but I’ve endorsed controversial people before,” Trump said in a television interview with One America News, just prior to issuing one of his signature anti-endorsements announcing that Hartzler was out of the running for his backing in the Aug. 2 Missouri GOP Senate primary. “I don’t think she has what it takes,” the former president said in a statement.
Hartzler, who has the endorsement of Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), is undaunted.
Advisers confirmed Tuesday that the congresswoman responded to Trump’s rejection by redoubling her efforts to win over grassroots conservatives in the state’s rural counties, a deep wellspring of Republican votes, with a focus on face-to-face retail politicking. This sort of detailed, voter-oriented campaigning is something Hartzler fancies herself an expert at. She’s even written a book about it: Running God’s Way: Step by Step to a Successful Political Campaign.
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Missouri is a solidly red state likely to elect a Republican in November to succeed retiring Sen. Roy Blunt (R), particularly with President Joe Biden’s job approval ratings in free fall. But Republican insiders in Missouri and Washington worry Greitens could jeopardize the GOP’s hold on this seat. Greitens, once considered a presidential contender, resigned the governor’s mansion in 2018 after 17 months in office amid a sexual misconduct scandal.
Recently, concerned Republican insiders banded together to launch an anti-Greitens super PAC that is airing television ads attacking the former governor. The group, Show Me State Values, also publicized internal polling showing Schmitt leading the field with 28%, followed by Hartzler at 24% and Greitens at 16%. The survey was conducted early last week and had an error margin of 4 percentage points.
Trump likes Greitens at least partly because the former governor vows to oppose Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and vote against him for Senate GOP leader should he win election to the Senate on Nov. 8. But Gregg Keller, a Republican strategist in Missouri who is an outspoken Greitens critic, said backing Greitens would be a mistake, emphasizing that he would be vulnerable to a Democratic challenge given his scandal-ridden past.
“Greitens started this race in the mid-40s and [has] been dropping like a stone ever since,” Keller said. “Commercials detailing sworn allegations he beat his then wife and 4-year-old son just began running and, presumably, will continue running through primary day.” Greitens vociferously denies these allegations. Offered an opportunity to comment for this story, the Greitens campaign pointed to Trump’s complimentary words about the former governor during his July 8 interview with One America News.
Like Greitens, Schmitt has been campaigning hard for Trump’s endorsement. But outdoing the former governor’s political pugilism is a difficult task.
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Greitens recently released a campaign video in which he brandished a gun and said he was going “RINO” hunting, a reference to the “Republicans in name only” label Trump uses to mock members of his party he does not like. Schmitt seems to have settled on an approach visible in his latest television spot airing in metropolitan St. Louis, in which he talks about his conservative bona fides while taking batting practice.
As a sixth-generation Missourian, it’s always been about God, family, country, and the Cardinals for me,” Schmitt says, standing on a baseball diamond and talking straight to the camera, referring to the MLB’s St. Louis Cardinals franchise. “As your senator, I’ll swing a big stick in Washington, crushing Biden’s socialist agenda.”
