Home Depot founder makes big move in Missouri Senate race
The Show-Me State leans Republican in next year's Senate race
Former Home Depot CEO Bob Nardelli on Home Depot getting backlash from activists for not getting involved in Georgia voting law protests.
FIRST ON FOX – Home Depot Founder Bernie Marcus has put $1 million behind former Gov. Eric Greitens in the 2022 U.S. Senate race in Missouri, Missouri First Action told Fox News. Marcus gave the donation to Missouri First Action in order for the organization to purchase media supporting Greitens' Senate campaign.
"Mr. Marcus’ generous contribution shows the broad support behind Eric Greitens," Brandon Wear, a spokesman for Missouri First Action, said in a statement first provided to Fox News. "With Americans suffering amid crisis after crisis brought on by the reckless, far-left policies of Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden, putting Missouri -and America- first has never been more important."
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"As Governor, Eric Greitens proved himself to be a conservative outsider capable of delivering results for the Show-Me State," Wear added. "Now, running to serve as the next Senator from Missouri, he stands head and shoulders above the rest of the field, and Missouri First Action stands ready to support him."
The facade of The Home Depot store is seen February 17, 2005 in Evanston, Illinois. (Tim Boyle/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Greitens, a former Navy SEAL officer who was awarded a Purple Heart for getting wounded while fighting Al Qaeda in the Middle East, served as the fifty-sixth governor of Missouri from January 2017 until his resignation in June 2018. He was Missouri's first Jewish governor.
In January 2018, Greitens publicly disclosed that he had engaged in an extramarital affair with a hairstylist in 2015. The hairstylist claimed that Greitens blackmailed and sexually assaulted her. A bipartisan Special Investigative Committee in the Missouri state legislature found the woman "overall credible," but Greitens has claimed the report was discredited. Greitens and his second wife, Sheena Elise Chestnut, divorced in 2020 after nine years of marriage.
Home Depot co-Founder Bernie Marcus (Fox News)
In April 2018, Greitens was indicted on felony charges of computer tampering, yet all charges were dropped a month later. Almost two years after Greitens resigned, the Missouri Ethics Commission reported that it did not find wrongdoing on Greitens' part individually, though it did fine his campaign.
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Greitens pursued a pro-business agenda, pushing regulation reform and signing a right-to-work bill.
Incumbent Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., announced that he would not run for reelection in 2022, leading to a contested GOP primary.
Greitens, endorsed by Michael Flynn, Sebastian Gorka, former Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Kimberly Guilfoyle and Dennis Prager, leads a crowded Republican field, according to the latest polls. He faces a stiff challenge from Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, and Rep. Vicky Hartzler is close behind them both.
The Republican nominee is likely to win the general election next November, but some Republicans have expressed skepticism about Greitens, due to his affair and the claims of sexual assault.
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Missouri First Action, an independent political action committee, advocates for Missouri candidates aligned with former President Donald Trump's "America First" agenda.