Former President Donald J. Trump categorically announced that Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) will not be receiving his endorsement for U.S. Senate in Missouri.
“You can forget about Vicky Hartzler for Senate from the Great State of Missouri,” Trump began in an emphatic post on Truth Social. “She called me this morning asking for my Endorsement, much as she has on many other occasions.”
He continued:
I was anything but positive in that I don’t think she has what it takes to take on the Radical Left Democrats, together with their partner in the destruction of our Country, the Fake News Media and, of course, the deceptive & foolish RINOs. I was very nice to Vicky on the call, but will NOT BE ENDORSING HER FOR THE SENATE!
Trump’s statement is a major development in Missouri’s Republican primary for the U.S. Senate, with voters hitting the polls in a little over three weeks. All 13 Trump-endorsed U.S. Senate candidates are undefeated in their primary races thus far in the mid-term election cycle, indicating that his refusal to endorse Hartzler could seemingly spell doom for her campaign.
The RealClearPolitics polling average has Hartzler in third place at 18.5 percent, behind both Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, at 22.3 percent, and the leading candidate, former Gov. Eric Greitens (R-MO), at 24.3 percent.
Donald Trump Jr.’s fiancee Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is the national chair of Greitens’s campaign, tweeted a screenshot of the 45th president’s Truth Social post.
“President Trump is exactly right. We need tough & courageous conservatives who will NEVER back down in the Senate,” she wrote, adding “[t]hat is why MAGA is all in for my friend, @EricGreitens.”
Greitens is the only candidate in the race who has vowed to vote against Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as the GOP Senate leader should he win the nomination and general election. Trump has repeatedly called on GOP Senators to oust McConnell from leadership.
“Look, Mitch McConnell, a disaster,” he said in December. “The Republicans have to get a new leader.”
Schmitt has been asked several times if he would vote against McConnell following Greitens’ categorical pledge, but the Missouri attorney general has sidestepped the question in each instance.
As Breitbart News reported in February:
At CPAC, Amanda Head of Real America’s Voice asked Schmitt if he would support McConnell as Senate Majority Leader, should Schmitt win the seat and Republicans take back the Senate.
“Oh look, I don’t even think anybody is running against him. I’m going to take my cues from people like Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley and Mike Lee and talk to them about that for sure,” Schmitt responded.
Schmitt also sidestepped the question when it was asked by Fox News at CPAC. The morning after hosting a private fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago estate in March, he again dodged the question while appearing on KCMO’s Pete Mundo Morning Show.
“Yeah, I have answered this now several times. I am exclusively focused on winning the primary and winning the general,” he said in part. “I am not going to get too far ahead of myself here, maybe it’s the old superstitious former athlete in me.”
The primary is set for August 3.
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