Retiring Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt joined a slew of GOP lawmakers sounding the alarm over the recent allegations lodged against former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, arguing the Senate candidate should drop out of the race if the accusations are accurate.
Greitens has come under fire after an affidavit filed by his ex-wife, Sheena, was made public on Monday, claiming that the Missouri politician physically abused both her and their children and threatened to use his connections to derail her career. Greitens has vehemently denied any wrongdoing.
“If the statements filed with the court are true, he should not be a candidate for the Senate,” Blunt told reporters on Tuesday.
Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, who endorsed Rep. Vicky Hartzler in the crowded primary race, swiftly called for Greitens to drop out following the latest development.
MISSOURI SENATE CANDIDATE ERIC GREITENS’S EX-WIFE ACCUSES HIM OF ABUSE IN COURT DOCS
Greitens has a history of controversy. He stepped down as governor in 2018 in the wake of a sex scandal in which he allegedly took a compromising photo of his hairstylist without her knowledge and used it as blackmail. Some within the party are voicing concerns that if he receives the GOP nomination, it will provide Democrats a chance at picking up the right-leaning seat.
“I don’t know why you would want to continue the race in this case,” Sen. John Thune told reporters on Monday. “I mean, it just seems like with that, coupled with all the other scandals, it’s hard to see how he could be a viable general election candidate.”
Doug Heye, a longtime GOP strategist, said it would not be strategic for Republicans to back Greitens in the race given his history of scandals, arguing that the newest accusations make him radioactive in a general election.
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“It seems very clear that the only path that Democrats have to potentially winning this race is running against Eric Greitens. Not even in a kind of an electability, winability kind of way that we would typically say these things, but based on what had already been his record, and now what’s been added to that, it seems crystal clear that Republicans should be running away from him as fast as possible,” Heye told the Washington Examiner.
“It’s not sustainable for him, and when you have the other sitting senator who, you know, frankly, makes his living out of trying to, you know, play an Eric Greitens role saying that you’ve got to get out, that further complicates your political life,” he added, referring to Hawley’s comments.
While the latest controversy complicates Greitens’s path to winning the election, he is still seen as one of the front-runners in the race, with former President Donald Trump stating he hasn’t ruled out endorsing the candidate.
Despite calls to bow out of the race, Greitens doesn’t appear to be backing down, with his campaign alleging his ex-wife’s accusations are politically motivated.
“Eric Greitens is a great Dad, who was married to a woman with a documented history of mental illness and emotionally-abusive behavior. While he spent all of last week on a Spring Break with both of his boys, his ex-wife went to Washington D.C. for the week and prepared to launch what is clearly a politically-motivated attack against him, by releasing gross, completely false and allegations [sic] to the press, on the very week that the people who falsely-accused Greitens in 2018 are now going to trial,” the statement released on Monday said.
“One of the documented reasons Eric sought a divorce from Sheena, was because of her constant threats to lie about him, which she made repeatedly over many years, in the belief that the press would believe anything that she said,” the statement added.
