Eric Greitens made a bet that he could overcome his past as a disgraced ex-governor. On Tuesday night, that bet came due. Missouri Republicans gave Greitens a decisive answer: Nope.
Eric Greitens made a bet that he could overcome his past as a disgraced ex-governor—previously accused of sexual assault by his mistress and of physical abuse of his son by his wife—and win a political comeback by running a scorched-earth campaign for U.S. Senate.
The flameout of this former GOP rising star should prompt sighs of relief from Missouri to Washington, D.C. Many Republicans believed that Greitens’ mountain of baggage made him toxic with the broader electorate—and the only GOP candidate who could squander a safe seat for the party. Indeed, powerful GOP interests worked hard to ensure that happened. Influential Republican donors and power brokers spent heavily to try and bring Greitens down, with one anti-Greitens super PAC raising $8 million in the course of the primary.
Though Greitens courted the GOP’s far-right base with deliberately provocative ads—including one he released showing himself “hunting RINOs” with assault weapons during a spate of real mass shootings—it was clear that only a clear Trump endorsement could have vaulted Greitens into the top spot in the primary field.
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