JEFFERSON CITY — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a former presidential candidate, is backing Attorney General Eric Schmitt in the crowded Missouri GOP primary for U.S. Senate.
“I’m proud to endorse Eric Schmitt for U.S. Senate in Missouri. Eric is a fighter who will hold China accountable, defend religious freedom, take on Big Tech, and he will protect American jobs,” the Texas Republican said in a news release on Wednesday.
Schmitt’s campaign, according to the latest filings with election regulators, is paying , the political consulting firm of Jeff Roe.
Roe in 2016 against former President Donald Trump.
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The Cruz endorsement follows U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley’s foray into the race on Saturday.
Hawley, R-Mo., endorsed U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Harrisonville, in the primary. Both Hawley and Hartzler have paid the firm OnMessage Inc. in their respective Senate bids.
Hawley’s Hartzler endorsement didn’t sit well with U.S. Rep. Billy Long, R-Springfield, ahead of the Hartzler endorsement.
Long told the Missouri Independent , but an unnamed source familiar with a meetup between Long and Hawley last week told the publication that Long didn’t specifically ask about whether the Hartzler endorsement was in the works.
On Wednesday, Long complained that Hawley could have told him about the endorsement Saturday morning, when they were both at the GOP’s Lincoln Days gathering in St. Charles. Long said on Twitter: “Josh has my cell number, if he was honorable and wanted to give me a heads up he sure could have done it in person at the breakfast which ended shortly before the endorsement. We stood and visited there.”
Other candidates vying for the nomination include Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, former Gov. Eric Greitens and Ƶ attorney Mark McCloskey.
Greitens resigned in 2018 amid an investigation of an extramarital affair in which he was accused of restraining a woman, insisting she give him oral sex, taking a photo and threatening to release it if she told anybody. Greitens said he and the woman had a consensual affair and denied there was a photo or a blackmail attempt. He has been , a former New York City mayor and Trump lawyer.
McCloskey and his wife, Patricia, became household names in 2020 after waving guns at racial injustice protesters outside their Portland Place mansion.
Filing opens Feb. 22; the primary is Aug. 2.
Updated at 4:21 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 16.