Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt has secured the Republican nomination for United States Senate in the Show Me State.
We did it. Now let's go save America! pic.twitter.com/nstw9WgkgT
— Eric Schmitt (@Eric_Schmitt) August 3, 2022
With 76 percent of the vote counted Tuesday night, Schmitt was leading with 45.9 percent of the vote, U.S. Rep. Vickie Hartzler was in second place with 22.3 percent of the vote, and scandal-plagued former Governor Eric Greitens was lagging in third place with 18.9 percent.
In November, Schmitt will face the winner of Tuesday’s Democrat primary between Marine veteran Lucas Kunce and Trudy Busch Valentine, a nurse and heir to the Anheuser-Busch beer fortune. With 71 percent of the vote counted Tuesday night, Busch Valentine was leading Kunce 44 percent to 37 percent.
Monday night, former President Trump issued a cop-out endorsement of “ERIC,” telling Missouri voters that he trusted them to “make up their own minds.” Trump likely felt obliged to endorse Greitens because his oldest son’s fiancé Kimberly Guilfoyle was chairing his campaign. But the baggage-free Schmitt was the stronger candidate to fill the seat of retiring Republican Sen. Roy Blunt.
Trump ruled out U.S. Congresswoman Vickie Hartzler for an endorsement, earlier this month, saying he didn’t think she had “what it takes to take on the Radical Left Democrats.”
In his victory speech in St. Louis, Schmitt spoke movingly about his special needs son Stephen.
“The birthright of American is freedom, and liberty, and opportunity,” the AG declared at his watch party in St. Louis.
Our children are our most precious resource. Every dream counts, and every life has dignity, and matters. And some of the greatest gifts God has given us, are children with special needs, like my son Stephen. I thank God every day for his life. He will never be typical, but he will always be special, and a great gift. He was my inspiration to want to have a greater impact on the world.”
Stephen suffers from epilepsy, tuberous sclerosis, and has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. The boy is also unable to speak and requires near-constant care. When he was a state senator in 2014, Schmitt fought for legislation to allow CBD oil to be used to treat epilepsy patients who don’t respond to conventional treatments. The hemp oil bill passed 32-0 in the Missouri Senate, and later passed in the Missouri House 136-12.
Schmitt told the crowd that he wasn’t interested in being invited to cocktail parties in D.C., or in being the most popular person in Washington, or to “go along to get along.”
“I want to be your senator to push back against the wokeness and weakness that is undermining America,” he declared.