Mark McCloskey, the St. Louis attorney who shot to fame when he and his wife threatened Black Lives Matter protesters with guns outside their home in the summer of 2020, lost in the Republican primary for US Senate in Missouri on Tuesday night.
Mr McCloskey received just three percent of the vote in the hotly contested primary to replace retiring Sen. Roy Blunt, finishing in fifth place behind victor Eric Schmitt and three other candidates.
“I can tell you one thing: there’s one genuine, MAGA, America First, strong border, law-and-order real American patriot in this race, and that’s me,” Mr McCloskey said in a campaign video recorded the day before he recieved fewer than 20,000 votes.
Mr McCloskey and his wife Patricia McCloskey were responsible for one of the defining images of the national racial justice uprising that followed the murder of George Floyd in 2020. They notably stood outside their large home in the exclusive Portland Place neighborhood of St. Louis and aimed an AR-15 and a handgun at a small group of protesters marching past.
Mr McCloskey said that he feared he and his wife would be “murdered within seconds” by protesters, but they did not face any type of bodily harm. There was no evidence that any of the protesters in the crowd were carrying weapons.
Images and footage of the incident made Mr McCloskey a celebrity on the right, where he was celebrated for apparently threatening to shoot Black Lives Matter activists. He and Ms McCloskey were invited to speak at that summer’s Republican National Convention, where Mr McCloskey said “it seems as if the Democrats no longer view the government’s job as protecting honest citizens from criminals, but rather protecting criminals from honest citizens.”
Mr and Ms McCloskey were both charged with unlawful use of a weapon, a class E felony, but eventually pleaded that charge down to a misdemeanour. They were ultimately pardoned by Missouri Governor Mike Parson.
Mr McCloskey, a personal injury lawyer whose law license has been indefinitely suspended, attempted to turn his moment of fame into a political career by announcing his candidacy for the Senate. After failing to raise a large amount of money or secure notable endorsements, he was ultimately a non-factor in a race that garnered plenty of national attention.
Among the major storylines was former Missouri governor Eric Greitens’ attempt to make a political comeback after he was forced to resign from the governorship in 2018. His resignation was tendered after an allegation of sexual assault from his former hairdresser made headlines. Republicans around the country pushed back on Mr Greitens running again as they believed his nomination would make the seat competitive for Democrats in November.
Mr Greitens was the polling leader in the race as late as June, but ultimately faltered as Mr Schmitt, the state attorney general, surged. Former President Donald Trump’s decision to endorse “ERIC” on the eve of the primary resulted in confusion, as both candidates named Eric claimed his support, but it was Mr Schmitt who won a resounding victory on Tuesday — defeating his closest competitor by more than 20 percentage points.
Mr Schmitt will now face the Democratic nominee Trudy Bush Valentine in November in a race that the Republican candidate will be expected to win. Mr McCloskey’s brief foray into politics, meanwhile, appears to be over.
