Schmitt Wins Hotly Contested US Senate Primary in Missouri

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. The outcome was announced shortly after 8 PM CST, with Schmitt receiving 41.6 percent of the vote with 6.3 percent counted, according to AP.

The contest 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

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