Missouri Democrats see a winnable Senate seat but no obvious front-runner - NBC News

Eric Greitens, chased from office by accusations of sexual misconduct and campaign finance violations, is a top candidate to win the GOP nomination for Blunt's seat in 2022.

And the state’s other Republican senator, Josh Hawley, saw his popularity dip after his fist-raising devotion to former President Donald Trump became an enduring image from the Jan.

Recruiting is a challenge in a state Trump won by more than 15 percentage points in 2020 and Democrats have won only one statewide race in the last eight years.

Former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander, who became a national star during his unsuccessful campaign against Blunt in 2016, has said he’s not interested.

“When he was governor, he won in rural Missouri, and that's the area where we need to strengthen,” said Jim Kabell, a Missouri labor leader and national Teamsters official.

Sifton has been running since before Blunt announced his retirement and raised more than $300,000 in the first two months of his campaign.

“Obviously, if Nixon got in, I think it becomes easier to raise money from Democrats across the country than it is with Scott,” Kabell said.

He downplays speculation that Nixon or other better-known Democrats might enter the race.

Katharine Cooksey, a spokesperson for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which has not backed a GOP candidate, pointed to the early Democratic field as a sign that the seat is not competitive.

On the Republican side, Greitens and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt are already running.

He declared his candidacy on Fox News and has tapped Kimberly Guilfoyle, Donald Trump Jr.’s partner, as his national campaign chair.

And though at least two of the three won’t be on the ballot next year, Democrats see an opportunity to campaign against Trump, Hawley and Greitens as some sort of three-headed GOP monster.

“The Republican Party has gone too far,” said Missouri Democratic Party Chairman Michael Butler, who is neutral in the primary but believes “a guy like Sifton” could win a general election, despite lower name recognition.

“There are enough Democrats, and there's enough disdain for Republican extremism in our state that we can be successful,” Butler added.

A poll last month by Remington Research Group and the political news outlet Missouri Scout found Greitens and Schmitt both leading Sifton and Nixon in hypothetical matchups, with only the Greitens-Nixon contest (48 percent to 44 percent) within the margin of error

With or without Nixon, some Democrats find it hard not be pessimistic

“I can imagine how Democrats can talk themselves into it — how if Greitens is the nominee they could win,” said one Democratic strategist who has worked on Missouri races and requested anonymity to speak candidly about the race