These GOP candidates for Senate agreed to a joint poll of Missourians, with the loser dropping out
By Chuck Raasch St. Louis Post-Dispatch May 11, 2018
WASHINGTON • Two candidates for the GOP nomination for Missouri’s U.S. Senate race agreed in writing that one would drop out of the race after a joint poll determined which of the two had the better chance to defeat state Attorney General Josh Hawley in the Aug. 7 primary.
One of the candidates, Austin Petersen, said Thursday that the other, Tony Monetti, has withdrawn from the agreement. But Monetti told the Post-Dispatch hours later that he still wants to go ahead with it. Monetti blamed Petersen’s campaign manager, Jeffrey Carson, for making demands and interjecting arguments that scuttled the plan.
Petersen said in an interview that Monetti told him Wednesday he would not honor an agreement he had signed April 13. But Monetti subsequently told the Post-Dispatch that he wants to try to iron out differences — mainly involving which questions to ask on the poll — in subsequent conversations, including before a debate in suburban St. Louis on Friday night.
The dispute adds another layer of debate over trust in the GOP Senate primary. Hawley has been attacked by his rivals for ridiculing politicians who try to use one election to climb to another during his successful 2016 campaign for state attorney general.
The winner of the primary will face incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill in November.
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