Missourians Leave Disgraced Former Gov. Eric Greitens in the Past, Rejecting Attempted Political Comeback
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Jeff Roberson/AP Photo Eric Greitens
Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens was defeated in the state's U.S. Senate primary Tuesday, losing the Republican nomination to Eric Schmitt, the state's attorney general.
While Greitens didn't win the primary, he commanded considerable attention in the race, due to years-long personal controversies and ads he aired during his campaign.
Greitens was seen as something of a rising star when he was elected as governor in January 2017. But that same year, the former Navy SEAL was indicted on a felony charge of computer tampering, following claims that he improperly took a donor list from his nonprofit veterans group to help his political campaign.
Then, in 2018, Greitens was indicted on a felony invasion of privacy charge related to allegations that he had tried to blackmail a woman with whom he had the affair (that charge was later dropped).
RELATED: Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens Accused of Unwanted Sexual Advances, Abuse in Government Report
As the Missouri lawmakers readied impeachment proceedings, Greitens announced that he would resign effective June 1, 2018 as part of a deal with the St. Louis prosecutor's office which withdrew the felony charges related to the veterans' charity email list.
But even after leaving office, the controversy continued.
In March 2022, Greitens ex-wife, Sheena Greitens, accused her ex-husband of "unstable and coercive behavior" that included "physical violence" toward their two young children in an affidavit filed in an ongoing child custody dispute.
PBS reports that Sheena alleged in the affidavit that Greitens had slapped their then-3-year-old son in the face and yanked him by the hair and at another point pushed her to the ground.
The former governor released a statement on Twitter at the time, calling his ex-wife's claims "completely fabricated, baseless allegations."
In a recent campaign stop, he again addressed the allegations, claiming that various other parties, including a therapist and a mediator "already said, all of these allegations were false."
Sheena addressed those comments on Twitter earlier this week, writing, "Not a *single one* of these people has ever said the allegations I made in 2018 were false. @EricGreitens is lying in public about court records that are private to protect our minor children."
Even amid the allegations of violence, Greitens worked to portray himself as a staunch defender of the Second Amendment, releasing an ad in July in which he can be seen carrying a large gun and telling those at home: "Today, we're going RINO hunting."
"RINO" stands for "Republican in name only," and has long been used as slang by far-right politicians to belittle moderate Republican opponents. Today, the acronym is most commonly associated with Donald Trump's Make America Great Again movement.
"The RINO feeds on corruption," Greitens says as he and men wearing military gear gather outside of a home, "and is marked by the stripes of cowardice."
The group then enters the home using force with guns in hand.
"Join the MAGA crew, get a RINO hunting permit," Greitens says. "There's no bagging limit, no tagging limit, and it doesn't expire until we save our country."
Greitens — who was endorsed by several Trump allies and has said he was endorsed by former President Trump himself — ultimately lost the Senate primary, with early results showing him in third place behind Rep. Vicky Hartzler and state Attorney General Schmitt, who won.
Schmitt will go on to face the winner of Tuesday's Democratic primary, nurse and Anheuser-Busch heir Trudy Busch Valentine, in November.
