“Kimberly Guilfoyle, the former Fox News host and Trump campaign adviser, will serve as the national chair of Eric Greitens’s Senate campaign, a move that suggests the disgraced former Missouri governor is deepening his ties to former President Trump’s orbit,” The Hill reports.
Greitens Holds Huge Lead In Missouri Senate Primary
An internal poll conducted for former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens (R) shows him with a nearly 40-point lead over the next closest contender in the GOP Senate primary.
Candidates Matter
First Read: “Greitens’ Senate candidacy is risky business for a Republican Party that’s seeking to win back the Senate with a challenging map and — so far — five announced Senate GOP retirements.”
“If he’s the nominee, Republicans will have decide whether to embrace someone with this kind of record.”
“We remember when Roy Moore lost a Senate seat in Alabama (a state Trump won by 25 points in 2020), and when Kris Kobach lost the gubernatorial race in Kansas (a state Trump won by 15 points). Candidates matter.”
Greitens Will Run for Senate In Missouri
Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens (R)–who resigned to avoid being impeached for trying to hide an affair where he allegedly sexually assaulted his hairdresser–announced on Twitter he will run for the U.S. Senate.
Said Greitens: “As a Navy SEAL, I fought for this country to ensure our freedoms are protected. Now, the Left wants to take those freedoms away from you. That’s why I’m running for the US Senate in Missouri. We must fight to take America back from the lunacy of the left.”
Kansas City Star: “He faced allegations that he photographed a woman nude without her consent in 2015 in an effort to keep from speaking about an extramarital affair. Greitens, who announced a divorce last year, has admitted to the affair, but repeatedly denied claims of blackmail and violent sexual abuse.”
Jay Ashcroft Won’t Run for Senate
Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (R) announced he would not run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by the retirement of Sen. Roy Blunt (R).
Claire McCaskill Won’t Try to Return to Senate
Former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) on Twitter:
“To all that are asking: thank you to the many who have said kind things. But I will never run for office again. Nope. Not gonna happen. Never. I am so happy I feel guilty sometimes.”
Roy Blunt Gets a Challenger
Former Missouri state Sen. Scott Sifton (D) announced that he will challenge Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) in 2022.
Eric Greitens Hints at Primary Challenge to Roy Blunt
Disgraced former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens (R) hints to Newsmax that he may run against Sen. Roy Blunt (R) in next year’s primary.
Greitens says Blunt is “criticizing President Trump, criticizing his administration and embracing Joe Biden” and therefore doesn’t represent Missouri Republicans.
Hawley Uses Sister’s Home as His Missouri Address
“Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) has frequently railed against ‘coastal elites’ in speeches. Last year, he sponsored legislation that would relocate thousands of federal workers from Washington to economically distressed areas in the heartland,” the Kansas City Star reports.
“But a review of property records shows that the first-term Republican is no longer a Missouri homeowner and that he is registered to vote at his sister’s home in Ozark, Missouri, while he is in-between homes in the state.”
“Hawley owns a $1.3 million house in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., where he spends most of his time with his wife, Erin Hawley, and their three children.”
Hawley Used State-Owned Car for Campaign Travel
“An employee of the Missouri attorney general’s office occasionally drove Josh Hawley to campaign-related events in a state-owned car, an arrangement that raises new questions about Hawley’s use of taxpayer-funded resources in the run up to his successful bid for U.S. Senate,” McClatchy reports.
“Hawley’s use of a state-owned car stands in contrast to how Missouri’s other statewide elected officials say they utilize such vehicles.”
Hawley May Have Violated Open Records Laws
“Not long after Josh Hawley announced in 2017 that he was exploring a U.S. Senate run, Democrats requested records of any emails between his attorney general’s office and the consultants running his campaign. Hawley’s office told them they didn’t have any emails to turn over,” the Kansas City Star reports.
“But the emails did exist.”
“The revelation that Democrats made a records request and that Hawley’s office denied it — uncovered in documents newly obtained by The Star — is now leading advocates for government transparency to question whether Hawley and his staff failed to comply with the state’s Sunshine Laws.”
Probe Begins of Hawley’s Office
Missouri state auditors have started their probe into former Attorney General Josh Hawley’s (R) office, a process that will include “heightened scrutiny” into allegations that Hawley illegally used state resources to support his successful campaign for the U.S. Senate, McClatchy reports.
McCaskill Says She’s Done with Elective Politics
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that she does not plan to run for elected office again after she leaves the Senate next month.
“McCaskill said she may teach and will remain involved in Democratic politics in Missouri after a new Congress is seated in January. She views Missouri’s heavy tilt toward Republicanism as a function of President Trump’s appeal to disaffected Missourians and failures by her own party to deliver on change.”
Ashcroft Enlists Auditor to Investigate Hawley
Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (R) has asked state Auditor Nicole Galloway (D) to begin investigating whether Sen.-elect Josh Hawley (R) “used public resources to support his Senate bid,” the Kansas City Star reports.
The auditor’s office has subpoena power.
Investigation Launched Into Josh Hawley’s Office
Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (R) has launched an investigation into the way Attorney General Josh Hawley (R) ran his office, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
Ashcroft is looking into accusations that Hawley may have “used public funds as Attorney General to support his candidacy for U.S. Senate.”
McCaskill Blames Democrats for Her Defeat
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) “blamed her defeat not on her own campaign, but on the Democratic Party for abandoning its moderate constituents,” Roll Call reports.
Said McCaskill: “This demand for purity, this looking down your nose at people who want to compromise, is a recipe for disaster for the Democrats. Will we ever get to a majority in the Senate again, much less to 60, if we do not have some moderates in our party?”
McCaskill Blames Fox News for Her Defeat
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) told the New York Times that the impact of Fox News on voters in her state led to her reelection defeat.
Said McCaskill: “It’s time we all quit dancing around what is now a state-owned news channel.”
McCaskill Just Ahead In Missouri
A new NBC News/Marist poll in Missouri finds Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) leading challenger Josh Hawley (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 50% to 47%.
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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