Eric Schmitt, the Attorney General of Missouri, smashed through the competition this past Tuesday evening in regards to the Republican primary race for the U.S. Senate seat of the state.
The New York Times issued a report that stated that with 58% of the results counter, Schmitt was up at 46.1% to Vicky Hartzler at 22.7% and Eric Greitens at 19.0%.
The editor of the non-partisan Cook Political Report, Dave Wasserman, stated via social media: “Eric Schmitt (R) wins the #MOSEN GOP primary, defeating Vicky Hartzler (R), Eric Greitens (R) and others.”
I've seen enough: Eric Schmitt (R) wins the #MOSEN GOP primary, defeating Vicky Hartzler (R), Eric Greitens (R) and others.
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) August 3, 2022
With this win, Schmitt greatly increases Republican’s chances of keeping the seat in the wake of the announcement from Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) regarding his retirement.
There was quite a bit of angst over this past summer regarding Greitens could win and that he would face an uphill fight in order to win the general election.
As a lifelong Democrat who swapped over to being a Republican when it was politically relevant for him to do so, Greitens went after a new pro-gun law in the state near the end of last year, but then changed his tune in the wake of extreme backlash to his stance.
This past summer, Greitens put out a severely embarrassing campaign ad in which he ran into a house alongside of squad of combat operators and stated that he was issuing RINO (Republican in Name Only) hunting permits, which was heavily condemned due to the implied violence that went along with the ad.
Greitens officially resigned from his office in disgrace back in 2018 instead of dealing with impeachment concerning allegations of campaign finance violations and allegations of sexual misconduct.
He was accused of being extremely “unstable” and overtly violent via a sworn affidavit from his wife as part of their child custody battle.
“Prior to our divorce, during an argument in late April 2018, Eric knocked me down and confiscated my cell phone, wallet, and keys so that I was unable to call for help or extricate myself and our children from our home,” claimed the signed affidavit. “In early June 2018, I became afraid for my safety and that of our children at our home, which was fairly isolated, due to Eric’s unstable and coercive behavior. This behavior included physical violence toward our children, such as cuffing our then three-year-old son across the face at dinner in front of me and yanking him around by his hair.”