Republican Senate candidate Eric Greitens’ campaign promotionals targeting Republican in Name Only (RINO) conservatives were designed to raise eyebrows, according to a Missouri state representative.
“The media is talking about him and that's probably something his campaign is very pleased with is that they're talking about him and his campaign and his commercial,” said Rep. Nick Schroer.
Schroer was responding to Greitens’ campaign ads - featuring firearms - that were withdrawn from Facebook and restricted on Twitter.
“We are sick and tired of the Republicans in Name Only surrendering to Joe Biden & the radical Left,” Greitens posted on June 20. “Order your RINO Hunting Permit today!”
Critics, however, blasted Greitens for employing guns and the rhetoric of violence in the visuals, according to media reports.
“We do have to focus on those who claim to be Republican who aren't,” Schroer told the St. Louis Record. “We need to expose their voting records and make sure we have true conservatives running. I don't know if there's a better way or not to illustrate that we need to focus on Republicans who have abandoned the party platform and policies set forth by the Republican party."
The Trump-backed Greitens posted a second advertisement on Twitter last week.
“Because I fought for you, they came after me,” he wrote on July 6. “But we're back—wiser, stronger, still fighting— but this time, we are coming with an army. We will not stop until we take our country back and Make America Great Again.”
Greitens has been leading in the polls, however Attorney General Schmitt is in a close second.
“The Democrats are saying there's all this information they are going to spread if Greitens wins the primary and many people in the state of Missouri are scared of that,” Schroer said. “When you look at the top two candidates right now, Eric Schmidt and Eric Greitens, both of them have policies that I could definitely get behind. I just wish that if either one of them is elected, they will maintain that pit bull conservative tenacity they have right now on the campaign trail.”
As previously reported in the St. Louis Record, an Emerson College/The Hill Poll found that one-fourth of voters are undecided with Greitens leading with 26% of the vote, followed by Schmitt with 20% of the vote, Hartzler with 16% of the vote, Billy Long with 8% of the vote and Attorney Mark McCloskey with 4% of the vote.
“When we focus on policies I think a lot of people in the state of Missouri, including the people who have been polled, support what he's standing for,” Schroer added. “I know there's an apprehension because the Democrats in the state of Missouri keep pushing out scare tactics saying this could be another Todd Akin moment.”
Akin lost the 2012 election to U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill after he said that women victims of ‘legitimate rape’ rarely get pregnant.