Mark McCloskey, the man who attracted headlines for brandishing an AR-15 outside his St. Louis home in June 2020 as Black Lives Matter protesters marched by, is running for the open U.S. Senate seat in Missouri.
On Tuesday, McCloskey filed paperwork to run for the seat, ending speculation about his political ambitions. The St. Louis resident previously teased that a run for the seat was “a consideration.”
“I’ve always been a Republican, but I’ve never been a politician. … All we hear is talk, and nothing ever changes. It just seemed to me that people have to stand up,” he said in the first interview after announcing his candidacy during a Fox News appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight.
MARK MCCLOSKEY CONSIDERING A RUN FOR SENATE IN MISSOURI
https://twitter.com/Mark__McCloskey/status/1394817969339965443
McCloskey enters a growing field of contenders vying to replace outgoing Sen. Roy Blunt, who announced in March he won’t seek reelection in 2022. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, who resigned the governorship on May 29, 2018, amid a sex scandal, have already entered the race, and several members of Congress, such as Reps. Blaine Luetkemeyer and Ann Wagner, have publicly expressed interest.
At least one former elected official in Missouri was unimpressed with news that McCloskey had been considering a run, with former Sen. Claire McCaskill criticizing “the new Republican Party in [her] state.”
“The only qualification you need to run for US Senate is to wave a gun around at Black people,” she tweeted.
McCloskey and his wife, both attorneys in St. Louis, gained national attention after images and video showed the two standing armed with guns outside of their home June 28, 2020, as they stared down Black Lives Matter protesters who had entered their private neighborhood.
“A mob of at least 100 smashed through the historic wrought-iron gates of Portland Place, destroying them, rushed toward my home, where my family was having dinner outside and put us in fear of our lives,” McCloskey said at the time. “This is all private property. There are no public sidewalks or public streets. We were told that we would be killed, our home burned, and our dog killed. We were all alone facing an angry mob.”
After the couple was hit with charges of unlawful use of a weapon and tampering with evidence last July, the McCloskeys pleaded not guilty. Each charge carries a maximum punishment of four years in jail and a fine of $10,000.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner was originally assigned to the case, but she was disqualified by Judge Thomas Clark after counsel for the McCloskeys argued Gardner’s fundraising emails mentioning the couple presented a conflict. Gardner appealed, but the original ruling was upheld last month, and Richard Callahan, who served as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri under former President Barack Obama, will now serve as the special prosecutor in the case.
The McCloskeys spoke at the Republican National Convention in support of then-President Donald Trump last August, telling the audience that their experience “could just as easily happen to any of you.”
