Greitens undeterred by abuse allegations in GOP Senate race

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Eric Greitens stepped aside as Missouri's governor in 2018 amid a scandal involving accusations of blackmail, bondage and sexual assault. As he attempts a political comeback this year with a U.S. Senate bid, his ex-wife has said Greitens physically abused her and one of their children.

It once took far less to end a political career. But at a recent meeting of the St. Charles County Pachyderm Club in a largely Republican area of suburban St. Louis, GOP voters engaged in genuine debate over whether they'd support Greitens in the August primary.

Bob Sullentrup, the club's 70-year-old president, dismissed Greitens as “damaged goods."

“He’s going to get creamed,” he said. “That baggage will follow him.”

Others, including several women, weren't so sure. Sharon Kumnick of Weldon Springs said she'd vote for Greitens if he's the GOP nominee, noting “everybody's divorce, when they want more than is offered, is contentious."

Tina Maloney, a real estate investor from St. Charles, said Greitens should stay in the race.

“I don’t think just because you’re accused of something in this day and age that you should drop out,” Maloney said. “This is what they always do,” she said, citing the sexual assault allegations that emerged against Brett Kavanaugh during his Supreme Court nomination hearing.

“It shows character to fight,” Maloney added.

That sentiment is reinforcing Greitens' refusal to leave the race, posing the latest test of the GOP's openness to men accused of physical or sexual abuse. Greitens is convinced that by casting himself as a conservative fighter in the mold of former President Donald Trump, he can win the Republican nomination for Missouri's open U.S. Senate seat even though many of his political benefactors abandoned him and the party's...