The 2022 United States Senate election in Missouri was held on November 8, 2022, concurrently with elections for all other Class 3 U.S. senators and elections for the U.S. House of Representatives, to select a member of the United States Senate to represent the state of Missouri. Incumbent senator Roy Blunt, a Republican, did not seek a third term in office. Republican Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt won the open seat, defeating Democrat Trudy Busch Valentine.
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". He pledged to vote against Mitch McConnell for the Senate Republican party leadership position.
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."
Greitens was endorsed by former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, and Fox News personality Kimberly Guilfoyle, the latter joining his campaign as a national chair.
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, Johnny DeStefano, and Senator Rick Scott, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. 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. A Republican-funded anti-Greitens super PAC ("Show Me Values PAC") was created in June 2022 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. On the eve of the primary election, Trump issued a statement endorsing "ERIC" in the primary, leaving it unclear which "Eric" he was endorsing.
In the primary election, Schmitt prevailed with 45.7% of the vote; Hartzler received 22.1%, Greitens 18.9%, and Long 5%.
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.
Graphical summary<br />
As the Democratic primary season progressed, three main contenders emerged: Lucas Kunce, director of national security at the American Economic Liberties Project; Spencer Toder, a businessman; and Trudy Busch Valentine, heiress of the Anheuser-Busch brewing company. Kunce and Toder both campaigned as anti-establishment populists, whereas Valentine campaigned in a staid manner with few public appearances.
Graphical summary<br />
John Wood, a former Bush administration official and a January 6 Committee investigator, announced that he would run for the seat as an independent on June 29, but he withdrew from the race after former Missouri Governor Eric Greitens lost the Republican primary to Schmitt.
Aggregate polls<br />
Graphical summary<br />
Eric Greitens vs. Lucas Kunce<br />
Eric Greitens vs. Trudy Busch Valentine<br />
Vicky Hartzler vs. Lucas Kunce<br />
Vicky Hartzler vs. Trudy Busch Valentine<br />
Billy Long vs. Lucas Kunce<br />
Eric Schmitt vs. Lucas Kunce<br />
Eric Greitens vs. Lucas Kunce vs. generic independent<br />
Eric Greitens vs. Jay Nixon<br />
Eric Greitens vs. Scott Sifton<br />
Eric Greitens vs. generic Democrat<br />
Generic Republican vs. generic Democrat<br />
Vicky Hartzler vs. Scott Sifton<br />
Billy Long vs. Scott Sifton<br />
Eric Schmitt vs. Jay Nixon<br />
Eric Schmitt vs. Scott Sifton<br />
Roy Blunt vs. Jason Kander<br />
Roy Blunt vs. Scott Sifton<br />
Schmitt prevailed over Valentine on Election Day.
Schmitt won six of eight congressional districts.
Partisan clients<br />
Official campaign websites