In Missouri’s hotly contested primary election for retiring Roy Blunt’s open Senate seat, all the leading candidates courted Trump’s endorsement and touted their past support of Trump. Donald Trump finally issued his endorsement on the eve of the election but not definitively. In a race where two of the three front runners were named ‘Eric’, Trump announced that “ERIC has my complete and total endorsement!” Trump gave no last name, and both Erics immediately claimed the mantle of the Trump-endorsed candidate. Surprisingly in such a scenario, the election results were not close at all. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who has filed multiple lawsuits opposing Biden’s policies on issues such as the border crisis or Covid-related mandates, won with 45% of the vote, far ahead of Congresswoman Vicki Hartzler’s vote totals (22%) and former Governor Eric Greitens’ vote totals (18.5%). Eric Schmitt’s strong showing positions him well for the general election. Conservative candidates also won the two open Congressional seats, which Vicki Hartzler and Billy Long gave up to run for the Senate.
Noteworthy: Missouri voters must choose one party’s ballot in a primary election. While Democrats in the past have crossed over and requested a Republican ballot to vote for the weaker Republican candidate ahead of the general election, this time, Democrats had a competitive Senate primary race on their own ballot. Otherwise, Democrats might have been encouraged to cross over and vote in the Republican primary where there many close election races for state senate seats that pitted conservative candidates against RINOs.