A lawyer working as a senior investigator for the U.S. House Committee investigating the January 6 uprising will leave the post amid calls urging him to run for a seat in the U.S. Senate in Missouri as an independent.
John F. Wood’s resignation takes effect Friday. The resignation was confirmed Wednesday by Steve Crim, a political consultant working with the group formed to support Wood as a Senate candidate, johnwoodformo.org.
Crim said Wood has not declared a candidacy for the Senate, but that he is investigating the possibility.
“We are encouraged by John’s decision to leave the select committee on Friday as an important next step in giving the Missourians a principled, common sense choice in November,” Crim said in a statement.
The committee launched a website on Monday calling on Wood to run for the seat of outgoing GOP senator Roy Blunt. The website called Wood a “principle leader who has put land over party when the stakes are highest, and is committed to serving the people of our state with integrity.”
The launch came the same day as a leading Republican candidate, former Gov. Eric Greitens, released a campaign video showing him swinging a shotgun and declaring that he is on the hunt for RINOs, which stands for Republicans by name. The violent imagery of the ad received strong criticism, even from some conservatives, although Greitens argued that it was meant to be humorous. Facebook removed the ad.
Former Republican US Senator John Danforth from the suburb of St. Louis Louis has also urged Wood to run as a right-wing independent. Wood once worked for Danforth’s staff.
Wood, 52, served as a U.S. attorney for the Missouri Western District from 2007 to 2009 and previously held key roles in the George W. Bush administration. He served as attorney general of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce when he resigned in September to become senior investigative adviser to the committee on January 6th.
Republicans are skeptical of a third-party bid in Missouri, but some acknowledged there is no backup plan if Greitens wins the primary.
Danforth plans to contribute $ 5 million from its Political Action Committee to advertise in support of a campaign and seeks to “raise significantly more to build on this donation,” a person familiar with Danforth’s decision told The Associated Press Wednesday. The person was not authorized to speak on behalf of Danforth and confirmed the amount on condition of anonymity.
To join the November vote as an independent, Wood had to submit petitions signed by 10,000 registered voters by August 1st.
Twenty-one Republicans are running in the primary in August. Greitens is considered a frontrunner despite retiring as governor in 2018 amid an investigation into whether he used a compromising image to blackmail a woman from talking about their extramarital affair.
Many Republican leaders fear Greitens may win the nomination, but lose to a Democrat in November and relinquish what should be a secure Republican Senate seat in an election where control of the Senate is at stake.
Other GOP challengers include Attorney General Eric Schmitt, U.S. Reps. Vicky Hartzler and Billy Long, Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz and St. Louis Attorney Mark McCloskey. Schatz positions himself as a “Reagan Republican.” The others are strong supporters of former President Donald Trump, who has yet to approve a candidate in the race.
Leading Democratic candidates include former Marine Lucas Kunce and Trudy Busch Valentine, who is part of the Busch brewing family.
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AP journalists Lisa Mascaro in Washington, DC and Tom Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.