The advert offensive was probably the most public a part of a year-long, behind the-scenes marketing campaign to cease Greitens from successful the GOP nomination for retiring Sen. Roy Blunt’s (R-Mo.) seat, which was described to POLITICO by greater than a dozen individuals concerned within the race.
Celebration higher-ups from Republican Nationwide Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel to Nationwide Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Rick Scott to GOP megadonor Steve Wynn repeatedly pressed former President Donald Trump to not again Greitens. The lobbying effort would prolong to the eve of the first, when McDaniel suggested Trump to withstand giving a late, full-throated endorsement to the previous governor, who had been aggressively courting him.
On the identical time, a small group of Republican strategists corralled donors like Sinquefield and Anheuser-Busch scion August Busch, who shared a visceral need to dam the previous governor. Senate Minority Chief Mitch McConnell’s political machine, in the meantime, weighed its choices till close to the tip of the competition, when it quietly contributed round $6.7 million to the anti-Greitens TV blitz, a beforehand unreported funding that helped seal the ex-governor’s destiny.
“There may be no query that Greitens’ candidacy threatened Republican management of this Senate seat. Nominating him would have put in play a seat that Republicans completely shouldn’t have to fret about,” stated Peter Kinder, a former Missouri lieutenant governor. “There was clear want for somebody to assemble the sources to inform the reality about him that had by no means been informed.”
Holding off Trump
Whereas a lot of highly effective Republicans have been aligned in opposition to Greitens, there was nonetheless one determine who might have given his marketing campaign an enormous GOP main enhance: Trump.
This spring, McDaniel and Scott went to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property to satisfy with the previous president. The three talked concerning the 2022 electoral panorama — and McDaniel and Scott took the chance to argue that backing Greitens can be an error, in accordance with an individual acquainted with the dialogue.
The GOP chairwoman felt that Trump ought to stay impartial within the main and believed Greitens can be a weak common election nominee. Scott had the identical message, and he spoke with Trump roughly a half-dozen separate occasions to bolster it, oftentimes presenting polling to make his case that Greitens would jeopardize the get together’s maintain on the seat.
McDaniel and Scott have been a part of a broader group of Republicans attempting to keep off a Trump endorsement for Greitens. They have been joined by Trump allies like South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and Trump White Home adviser Kellyanne Conway, who additionally relayed their considerations to Trump.
However they confronted sturdy opposition from an array of MAGA loyalists who selling Greitens, a roster that included conservative megadonor Bernie Marcus and Kimberly Guilfoyle, the fiancée of Donald Trump Jr., each of whom lobbied the previous president on Greitens’ behalf. The previous governor additionally grew to become a frequent visitor on “Battle Room,” the favored podcast hosted by former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon.
Trump at first appeared cool to thought of an endorsement. Throughout one assembly with advisers final 12 months, he poked enjoyable at Greitens, who stepped down as governor in 2018 amid accusations that he had tied up and blindfolded his hairdresser earlier than sexually assaulting her.
“You realize what I name him? ‘Whips and chains,’” Trump stated, in accordance with one individual acquainted with the assembly, including that the alleged incident would make it exhausting for Greitens to be elected.
However the ex-president by no means appeared to totally rule out an endorsement — and Greitens had been noticed at Mar-a-Lago, alarming Republicans. Early this 12 months, he landed a gathering with Trump.
Schmitt, the Greitens rival who in the end gained the first, additionally moved to dam a Greitens endorsement. He grew to become a customer to Mar-a-Lago and the previous president’s Bedminster, N.J. golf membership, the place in conferences with Trump he highlighted Greitens’ previous scandals and referred to as him a “quitter,” a phrase Trump considered as an insult, in accordance with an individual acquainted with the discussions.
Each time Schmitt’s crew heard that Greitens was at Trump’s South Florida resort, they handed alongside polling data and memos to Trump’s aides geared toward undermining the ex-governor. When Schmitt’s supporters have been taking journeys to Mar-a-Lago, they have been provided with comparable anti-Greitens supplies to share.
And Schmitt grew to become an everyday visitor on TV networks Trump was identified to observe, like Newsmax and One America Information. His marketing campaign even booked appearances on Fox Information that have been timed to once they believed Trump can be coming back from his common golf outings.
The St. Louis assembly
In early Might, David Polyansky, a strategist for a brilliant PAC supporting Schmitt, flew to St. Louis to satisfy with Busch, the previous brewing firm government. The 85-year-old had been a significant contributor to Greitens’ 2016 gubernatorial marketing campaign — however like many one-time backers, he was not a fan and wished to see Greitens lose his Senate bid.
However Polyansky informed Busch, a Schmitt supporter, that his tremendous PAC was primarily targeted, in the meanwhile, on elevating Schmitt and focusing on one other candidate, Rep. Vicky Hartzler. The strategist argued that it made extra sense for an additional group solely targeted on attacking Greitens to take the lead.
At round that point, phrase started to percolate by Missouri’s tight-knit Republican donor world that DeStefano was focused on forming such a PAC.
DeStefano, a Kansas Metropolis native who spent years as a Republican political operative earlier than serving within the Trump White Home, noticed that no exterior group had but emerged to tackle Greitens, and believed that except somebody stepped up he would win the get together’s nomination.
Whether or not an anti-Greitens blitz would work was unclear: DeStefano’s preliminary polling, like surveys elsewhere, confirmed the previous governor with a lead over a splintered group of rivals. However as he talked with donors, DeStefano introduced a sport plan and made the case there was a path.
He targeted his outreach on Missouri-based contributors, believing {that a} home-grown effort would have extra efficiency than a Washington-based one, and would insulate it from the inevitable cost from Greitens that he was the sufferer of a Beltway-orchestrated plot. DeStefano, who was one of many few operatives concerned in Missouri who hadn’t picked sides within the main, careworn that the brand new tremendous PAC would zero in on Greitens relatively than boosting one in all his rivals.
Earlier than lengthy, he acquired commitments from Sinquefield and Busch — signaling to different funders that it was secure to get off the sidelines.
“Missouri donors have been in, and so they lastly had a car,” stated Christian Morgan, a Missouri-based GOP strategist who helped introduce DeStefano to the state’s donors.
Present Me Values would publicly launch in late June, with hard-hitting TV advertisements highlighting the sexual assault allegations, which Greitens has denied. The previous governor responded to the barrage by declaring that he was being focused by “By no means-Trump, RINO politicians from all around the nation.”
The McConnell machine engages
From his workplace in downtown Washington, Steven Regulation, who runs the McConnell-aligned tremendous PAC Senate Management Fund, noticed a Greitens nomination as doubtlessly cataclysmic for the get together. He recalled that in 2012 a equally tarnished GOP nominee, Todd Akin, had misplaced a Missouri Senate race, and he was conscious that the state had a historical past of ticket-splitting, which means that Republican voters might find yourself ditching Greitens for an additional candidate, even whereas they supported different GOP candidates on the poll.
Pushing Greitens over the end line in a common election, Regulation believed, might price the get together as a lot as $40 million, funds the get together wanted for different races.
In June, Regulation caught wind that DeStefano was planning one thing. He favored that the Present Me Values tremendous PAC was Missouri-based, wasn’t aligned with a candidate, and had acquired an enormous monetary dedication from Sinquefield, a outstanding GOP donor. And he had a preexisting relationship with DeStefano, who was wired into Missouri politics.
On June 20, Regulation reached out to the tremendous PAC and stated he can be making a monetary dedication. Senate Management Fund ended up being the largest donor to Present Me Values, contributing $6.7 million of the $8 million-plus it raised.
“Finally, the consideration that actually made us look very lengthy and exhausting about intervening was purely monetary,” Regulation stated. “That’s tens of tens of millions of {dollars} that could possibly be higher spent to assist one other Senate race, and we concluded that it could simply be way more cost-effective if it have been potential to make sure that Greitens wasn’t the nominee.”
In simply over a month, the tremendous PAC grew to become the biggest-spending outfit within the race. Greitens noticed his help virtually instantaneously collapse: The tremendous PAC carried out a ballot 10 days after it launched which confirmed Greitens falling to 3rd place.
“What occurred was Greitens had extra of a glass jaw than lots of people thought,” Regulation stated.
The ‘ERICs’
In late July, Greitens linked by cellphone with Trump and made his last pitch.
Through the dialog, in accordance with one individual briefed on the decision, Trump requested him, amongst different issues, what his ballot numbers regarded like and the way he would reply to criticisms over his previous.
The struggle for Trump’s endorsement would attain a climax throughout the last weekend of the marketing campaign, whereas Trump was internet hosting a golf event at Bedminster. The Greitens and Schmitt campaigns squared off in a lobbying blitz that each would later describe as political hand-to-hand fight.
Greitens’ most forceful advocate that weekend was Guilfoyle, who pressed Trump to get behind her candidate, in accordance with individuals acquainted with what transpired on the event. Greitens’ marketing campaign additionally despatched Trump aides a sequence of paperwork presenting the previous governor in a positive gentle, together with polling knowledge geared toward pushing again on the concept he can be a weak nominee.
The Schmitt forces responded by forwarding their very own favorable polling knowledge and information protection. Every marketing campaign stored shut tabs on the opposite, getting updates from on-the-ground supporters in New Jersey about what the opposite aspect was doing.
Late Sunday night, Trump initiated a flurry of hypothesis that he was leaning Greitens’ method with a social media publish. Trump linked to a narrative from the conservative outlet Breitbart, which accused Remington Analysis — a polling outfit run by Schmitt operatives — of publishing a survey that understated Trump’s help in Missouri. Rumors of an imminent Greitens endorsement intensified Monday morning, when Trump stated he can be making an announcement on whom he would help later within the day.
However what ensued over the following chaotic seven hours at Bedminster would rob Greitens’ of his long-held hope of receiving Trump’s unique endorsement. Throughout a wild day of deliberations, Trump heard from Guilfoyle, who made a forceful case for Greitens. However others pushed again on the concept — together with McDaniel, who was there for a previously-scheduled assembly.
Trump settled on a compromise, drafting a press release during which he declared his help for “ERIC” — delivering, in essence, a twin endorsement for Greitens and Schmitt within the type of a pun. Simply after the assertion went out, Trump referred to as Greitens and congratulated him — with out mentioning that he was additionally backing Greitens’ rival.
It was the final gasp of a fading marketing campaign. On Tuesday — weighed down by a multimillion-dollar TV advert marketing campaign and missing the unique Trump endorsement he so coveted — Greitens’ hopes for a political comeback have been extinguished.
