Remember Eric Greitens? The former Republican governor of Missouri was forced to resign in 2018, after his hairdresser, with whom he was engaging in an extramarital affair, alleged that Greitens had coerced her into performing oral sex, slapped her face, and then had taken a photo of her naked without her consent to ensure her silence. Even Sen. Josh Hawley, then-Missouri Attorney General, called on Greitens to resign, which certainly says something! (Andrew Cuomo, are you paying attention?)
But bad men never stay down for long, especially bad men who are white and Republican and are eager for political power. According to Politico, Greitens has decided his three-year exile from politics has gone on long enough, and he is now eyeing a run for Senate, after current Missouri Senator Roy Blunt announced he won’t be running for re-election in 2022. Greitens, as Politico noted, “has been calling around to fellow Republicans to inform them of his deliberations, and many have come away convinced he’s running.”
This is apparently alarming his fellow Republicans, who aren’t exactly upset that Greitens is an alleged sexual assaulter (as well as a big fan of dark money groups and corruption), but are worried that even Republican voters might find Greitens distasteful enough to drive a Democratic win in next year’s Senate race.
Here’s just how worried Republicans are about losing another Senate seat, via Politico:
The concerns have grown so serious that former President Donald Trump and those in his orbit have heard from Republicans inside and outside Missouri, who warn that Greitens would be the one GOP candidate who could lose to a Democrat, according to a person familiar with the conversations.
Republican leaders say they aren’t ruling out taking aggressive steps to stop Greitens from winning the nomination, including waging a slashing advertising campaign against him. Party officials — ranging from members of the Missouri congressional delegation to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s political operation — have been united in their worry about the former governor and spent the week having conversations about the situation, according to people familiar with the discussions.
It’s tempting to hope that Greitens pulls a Roy Moore and runs, in the hopes that his candidacy could give a Democrat a shot at winning a Senate seat in Missouri. But men like Greitens should—and the operative word here of course is should—have no place in our political life. Just make a podcast like everyone else, Eric!