<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1656519272468,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000017f-e2f4-de00-a7ff-e7fff8030000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1656519272468,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000017f-e2f4-de00-a7ff-e7fff8030000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"rn
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_56443913", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1042494"} }); ","_id":"00000181-b03e-da7c-a7c7-f17e1a890000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedA former top investigator for the House’s Jan. 6 committee announced Wednesday that he would run for the Missouri Senate seat being vacated by retiring Republican Sen. Roy Blunt.
John Wood, who resigned as the panel’s senior investigative counsel last week, is seeking to attract moderate and disaffected voters by presenting himself as an independent, third-party alternative in the race. In interviews announcing his candidacy, Wood criticized partisan divisions and pointed to the GOP’s potential nomination of scandal-ridden ex-Gov. Eric Greitens for the seat as a major factor motivating his candidacy.
OKLAHOMA SENATE REPUBLICAN FIGHT HEADS TO RUNOFF BETWEEN MULLIN AND SHANNON
“Nowhere is the division in America more evident than in our home state of Missouri, in this Senate race, where my party, the Republican Party, appears poised to nominate a disgraced former governor who just released an advertisement that seemed to glorify hunting down and shooting political enemies,” Wood told Kansas City’s NPR affiliate, referring to a recently released campaign ad in which an armed Greitens goes “RINO hunting.”
But Wood, who served as the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri during President George W. Bush’s administration, also chastised Democrats for being “out-of-step with voters.”
“Democrats are going to nominate somebody who would support Chuck Schumer for majority leader and who would support the Biden, Schumer, and Pelosi agenda, and I think that’s really out of step with the views and values of Missouri voters,” he said.
“I think both parties’ primaries have become races to the bottom to see who can be the most divisive and most extreme, and that may appeal to a very small sliver of primary voters, but it’s not what the majority of Missouri voters want,” Wood continued. “So I want to give them a third option, and that is a conservative but someone in the mainstream and will help bring our country back to something resembling normal.”
Former GOP Sen. Jack Danforth, who represented Missouri in the Senate from 1977-95, told the Washington Examiner that he was endorsing Wood’s candidacy.
“I’m all for him. He is, by far, the most highly qualified candidate in this race,” Danforth said. “This is an opportunity to restore the center [rather] than appealing solely to the hard edge of the base.”
The former senator and state attorney general had previously urged Wood to enter the race.
Danforth also noted that he believed Wood is in a strong position to win the general election, regardless of whether Greitens is the Republican nominee or not.
“Our polling shows that a huge margin of general election voters in our state … want somebody who can work across the aisle and get things done, and who is a uniter, not a divider,” Danforth said. “What do I think [Wood’s] chances are? I think they are very, very good.”
While Wood says he would caucus with the Senate Republican Conference if elected, it remains to be seen whether his last-minute candidacy will garner more GOP support. Prominent Republicans, including Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), have already weighed in on behalf of candidates in the race, and former President Donald Trump is expected to throw his support behind a Republican candidate. Blunt has also pledged to endorse his party’s eventual nominee, ruling out Wood.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
However, if Greitens wins the GOP’s nod, Wood could have an opening. The former governor and ex-Navy SEAL is controversial as a result of allegations of domestic and sexual abuse from various women, including his former wife and a hairstylist who he had an affair with. Greitens has been accused of attempting to coerce women into performing sex acts on him and taking nonconsensual, sexually explicit photos, as well as physically abusing his wife and son.
A Republican-led investigative committee in the Missouri General Assembly found the woman who accused Greitens of sexual abuse “overall credible” in an April 2018 report, prompting the governor to resign from office amid threats of impeachment.
GOP candidates in the race include state Attorney General Eric Schmitt, Rep. Vicky Hartzler, Rep. Billy Long, and Greitens. Republicans are seen as strongly favored to hold the seat unless Greitens becomes the party’s nominee, in which case the race could quickly become more competitive.
Spokesmen for Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), the two Republicans on the Jan. 6 committee, did not respond to requests for comment from the Washington Examiner asking whether or not they supported Wood’s campaign.
