Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt won the Republican Senate primary race on Aug. 2, bringing the expensive, hard-fought race to a conclusion.
Polls closed in the race at 7 p.m. CST. Decision Desk HQ called the race for Schmitt roughly an hour later.
Schmitt will be facing the winner of the Democratic primary, Trudy Busch Valentine, in the general election on Nov. 8. Busch Valentine, an heiress to the Anheuser-Busch brewing fortune, was declared the victor soon after 10 PM CST.
The contest for the Republican nomination kicked off after incumbent Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) announced in 2021 that he would not be seeking reelection in 2022.
The race was shaken up by former President Trump’s last-minute, Aug. 1 endorsement, in which he pledged his support to “Eric.”
Two of the top contenders in the race are named Eric: Schmitt and former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens.
Trump in July issued a definitive non-endorsement of another candidate, Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.)
Mark McCloskey, who was also running in the Senate primary, predicted to The Epoch Times in an Aug. 1 interview that a Trump non-endorsement of Greitens would “cut the legs out of the Greitens campaign.”
Yet others think tonight’s result was in the bag regardless of what Trump did or said, in light of recent polling that has shown stronger support for Schmitt.
Both Greitens and Schmitt raised millions in outside funding from billionaires in and outside of Missouri, including a flood of anti-Greitens spending in the past month.
Greitens had 16.9 percent of the vote as of shortly after 8 PM. Hartzler was in second with 28.8 percent, Ma and McCloskey had 3.1 percent.
Both Schmitt and Greitens accepted Trump’s endorsement, which he publicized on Truth Social, as an endorsement for their respective campaigns.
Schmitt also received a last-minute endorsement from anti-critical race theory (CRT) activist Chris Rufo:
Missouri AG @Eric_Schmitt has been a true warrior in the fight against critical race theory. He's got what it takes to move public policy in the right direction. I hope my friends in Missouri send him to the Senate.
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) August 2, 2022
Schmitt has been AG in Missouri since 2019, after a stint as State Treasurer.
Greitens served as governor of Missouri between 2017 and 2018, when he resigned while under investigation for ethical and sexual misconduct.
A McConnell -Scott -Rove RINO got the nod-
Sorry Rufo- we need more than a one trick pony