Former Missouri GOP Gov. Eric Greitens launches Senate bid

Former Missouri Republican Gov. Eric Greitens on Monday announced a bid to replace retiring Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.). 

Greitens’s announcement came nearly three years after he resigned as governor amid mounting scandals, including allegations that he photographed a woman nude without her consent in an effort to conceal an extramarital affair. 

Despite the scandals, Greitens has floated a Senate bid for weeks, even before Blunt announced his retirement earlier this month. On Monday, he made his decision official. 

“I have been so encouraged by the people of Missouri that I am happy to announce tonight that I am running for the United States Senate to continue serving the people of Missouri,” Greitens told Fox News’s Bret Baier. 

Other potential Republican candidates for Blunt’s seat include Reps. Ann Wagner and Jason Smith. Two other would-be hopefuls, Missouri Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe and Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, announced this month that they will not run for Blunt’s seat in 2022. 

A former swing state, Missouri has shifted to the right in recent years. But Democrats are still planning to contest the state in the midterms. So far three Democrats have jumped into the race: Marine veteran Lucas Kunce, activist Tom Shepard and former state Sen. Scott Sifton.

Both parties have much at stake in the 2022 midterms, which will determine which party will control Congress for the second half of President Biden’s first term in office. 

Republicans need to gain only one Senate seat next year to win back the majority, forcing Democrats to go on offense even in Republican-leaning states as they look to firm up their control of the upper chamber.