JEFFERSON CITY 鈥 A decision could be coming within a week on whether a Missouri native will run for the state鈥檚 U.S. Senate seat as an independent.
John F. Wood, a senior attorney on the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, is leaving the panel to explore a bid, The reported Wednesday.
The report notes that he could make a decision in the coming days. If he jumps in, Wood must submit a candidate declaration form noting that he is a resident of the state.
The campaign must also collect 10,000 signatures from registered voters within the state by Aug. 1.
It is not clear if Wood has property in Missouri. Records show he owns a house in Virginia, where he has worked for years after serving as U.S. attorney for Missouri鈥檚 western district.
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A campaign committee for Wood launched a website Monday.
The website features , his wife, Julie, and their children. It urges voters to support Wood as an alternative, primarily, to former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens.
鈥淥ur choices must be better than two politicians, one who resigned in disgrace from his last job after blackmailing his mistress 鈥 and who has since been credibly accused of abusing his wife and child. The other will be a rubber-stamp for Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer鈥檚 radical, progressive agenda that is out-of-touch with the values of Missourians,鈥 the website says.
Wood鈥檚 Missouri roots reach into the 狐狸视频 area. According to the website, he graduated from 狐狸视频 Country Day School before heading to the University of Virginia and then Harvard Law School.
Although former Missouri Republican U.S. Sen. Jack Danforth supports Wood as a candidate, he is not heading the committee that is attempting to get his name on the November ballot.
鈥淚t was not coordinated with Danforth. It was all done independently,鈥 said Danforth spokesman Paul Wagman.
In February, Danforth predicted a center-right independent candidate would file to run for U.S. Senate in Missouri, based on the results of a poll suggesting an independent candidate 鈥 one who promotes a message of unity instead of division 鈥 would have a strong chance of winning the general election.
A sign of that divisiveness came Monday when Greitens released a video suggesting that people who aren鈥檛 sufficiently conservative should be hunted.
Greitens later said the video was meant to be humorous, but it caused outrage among both Republicans and Democrats.
Prior to becoming a lawyer, Wood worked on Danforth鈥檚 staff. He also clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit for Judge J. Michael Luttig, who recently testified before the Jan. 6 commission.
Wood, 52, was brought on to the Jan. 6 panel by U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming. He served on a team that probed former President Donald Trump鈥檚 involvement in the attack on the U.S. Capitol building.
Posted at 2:45 p.m. Wednesday, June 22.聽