The Show Me State's Republican voters selected incumbent Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt as their candidate for U.S. Senate in November's midterms, denying ex-Governor Eric Greitens the political comeback he attempted this cycle.
Decision Desk HQ projects Eric Schmitt (@Eric_Schmitt) is the winner of the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Missouri.
— Decision Desk HQ (@DecisionDeskHQ) August 3, 2022
Race call: 9:12pm EDT
More results here: https://t.co/i8Kfj7R3z1
The race saw Schmitt leading several polls in the days leading up to Tuesday's primary as Greiten's star faded among Missouri's voters. On primary election night, at the time the race was called by Townhall and Decision Desk HQ, Schmitt had more than 45 percent of the counted votes while current U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler came in second with 23 percent and Eric Greitens had less than 20 percent of the vote.
Eric Schmitt's win follows a somewhat confounding endorsement from former President Donald Trump. On the eve of the primary election, Trump finally weighed in on the race — but gave his "complete and total endorsement" to "ERIC." Just ERIC:
There is a BIG Election in the Great State of Missouri, and we must send a MAGA Champion and True Warrior to the U.S. Senate, someone who will fight for Border Security, Election Integrity, our Military, and Great Veterans, together with having a powerful toughness on Crime and the Border. We need a person who will not back down to the Radical Left Lunatics who are destroying our Country. I trust the Great People of Missouri, on this one, to make up their own minds, much as they did when they gave me landslide victories in the 2016 and 2020 Elections, and I am therefore proud to announce that ERIC has my Complete and Total Endorsement!
The primary contest also saw a campaign ad war erupt between the two Erics with Greitens releasing ads depicting armed raids to hunt RINOs — Republicans in Name Only — to which Schmitt responded with an ad of his own using a flamethrower to "torch" the Democrat agenda.
Missourians want a fighter in the U.S. Senate and I’m taking a blowtorch to Biden’s socialist agenda. #MOSen pic.twitter.com/N2vjPPoh2P
— Eric Schmitt (@Eric_Schmitt) July 5, 2022
