In March 2021, incumbent
Republican Senator
Roy Blunt announced that he would not seek reelection in 2022. Republican candidates for Blunt's Senate seat included former Gov.
Eric Greitens, U.S. Rep.
Vicky Hartzler, U.S. Rep.
Billy Long, and Missouri Attorney General
Eric Schmitt. Schmitt's candidacy was backed by Missouri mega-donor
Rex Sinquefield. In the speech announcing his candidacy, Schmitt tied himself to Donald Trump and spoke against "the radical left". In February 2022, Hartzler's campaign released a 30-second ad criticizing Lia Thomas, a
transgender swimmer on the
University of Pennsylvania women's team. In the ad, Hartzler said, "Women's sports are for women, not men pretending to be women", adding that, as Missouri's senator, she would not "look away while woke liberals destroy women's sports." U.S. Sen.
Josh Hawley endorsed Hartzler in February 2022. On July 8, 2022,
Donald Trump refused to endorse Hartzler, saying, "I don't think she has what it takes to take on the Radical Left Democrats." Many Republican officials, strategists, and donors maneuvered to stymie Greitens's attempted comeback, believing that the scandal surrounding his resignation as governor, his extramarital affair, and the sexual assault accusation against him would make him a weak general election candidate and lead to the loss of the Senate seat to a Democrat. Notable Republican opponents of Greitens's candidacy included
Karl Rove, After Greitens's ex-wife filed an affidavit against him in March 2022 accusing him of physical abuse, Senator
Josh Hawley (who had endorsed
Vicky Hartzler the previous month) called upon Greitens to drop out. Republican megadonor
Richard Uihlein funded a pro-Greitens
super PAC ("Team PAC"), contributing $2.5 million to it. Other Republican megadonors, including
Rex Sinquefield and
August Busch, aligned against Greitens. and ran $6.2 million in ads through late July 2022. Republican officials, including Rick Scott, waged a campaign to persuade Donald Trump not to endorse Greitens. In the primary election, Schmitt prevailed with 45.7% of the vote; Hartzler received 22.1%, Greitens 18.9%, and Long 5%.
Eliminated in primary • Robert Allen • Russel Pealer Breyfogle Jr., retired social worker • Dennis Lee Chilton, 2018
Missouri House of Representatives candidate •
Vicky Hartzler,
U.S. representative from (2011–2023) • Patrick A. Lewis, union construction laborer •
Billy Long,
U.S. representative from (2011–2023) •
Mark McCloskey, attorney and
2020 Republican National Convention speaker known for his involvement in the
St. Louis gun-toting controversy • Eric McElroy, comedian and
U.S. Navy veteran •
Dave Schatz,
president pro tempore of the
Missouri Senate (2019–2023), state senator (2015–2023) • Kevin C. Schepers • Dan McQueen, former
mayor of
Corpus Christi, Texas (2016–2017)
Declined •
Jay Ashcroft,
Missouri secretary of state (2017–present) •
Scott Fitzpatrick,
Missouri state treasurer (2019–2023)
(ran for state auditor) •
Timothy A. Garrison, former
U.S. attorney for the
Western District of Missouri (2018–2021) •
Mike Kehoe,
lieutenant governor of Missouri (2018–present)
(ran for governor) •
Peter Kinder, former
lieutenant governor of Missouri (2005–2017) •
Mike Parson,
governor of Missouri (2018–present) •
Jason Smith,
U.S. representative from (2013–present)
(ran for re-election) • Kathy Swan, former
state representative (2012–2021) •
Ann Wagner,
U.S. representative from (2013–present)
(ran for re-election) Endorsements The day before the primary, former president
Donald Trump released a statement endorsing "ERIC". There were three candidates with the first name Eric running in the Republican primary: Eric Greitens, Eric McElroy, and Eric Schmitt. Trump's statement did not offer any clarification on whether this was an endorsement for one or multiple candidates, and when reached for comment by
NBC News, Trump's office declined to clarify the endorsement.
Debates Polling Graphical summary Results == Democratic primary ==