ST. LOUIS – While Eric Greitens’ opponents were quick to congratulate him for his win and pledge their support to his campaign last night, not all conservatives across the state are happy that he is the Republican nominee for governor.
Don Hinkle, the public policy advisor for the influential Missouri Baptist Convention, editor of The Pathway, and one of the state’s most vocal evangelicals, had strong words for those who helped Greitens win the nomination.
“The governor’s race turned into an absolute disaster,” Hinkle said in a Facebook post. “Missourians elected a former Democrat, who has praised President [Barack] Obama and was funded primarily by some controversial out-of-state interests… There is nothing in his background that even suggests he is a conservative. He only won one-third of the GOP vote and he did that by running to the left of the other candidates.
“He will have major problems uniting GOP voters in the general election.”
Hinkle criticized Greitens for his opposition to SJR 39, the “religious liberties” constitutional amendment defeated in a House committee that many believed would allow for discrimination against LGBT couples. Hinkle also said Greitens was pro-choice, and said that in terms of the evangelical voting bloc, Greitens and his opponent Democrat Chris Koster, were virtually identical.
While Greitens has stated he is anti-abortion, he was the only one of the four candidates not endorsed by Missouri Right to Life, the state’s foremost pro-life advocacy groups.
“I think much of the Republican base will be like me and simply skip voting in the gubernatorial race (there is no difference in the two),” Hinkle wrote. “We are going to pay a heavy price for this in coming years. With Koster virtually assured of a November victory, we can expect [eight] more years of liberal judicial appointments, an absolute disaster.”
Hinkle added that he would support Josh Hawley, Jay Ashcroft and Eric Schmitt in their races for attorney general, secretary of state and state treasurer respectively.
The Missouri Baptist Convention is a collection of over 2,000 Southern Baptist churches around the state with a socially conservative, evangelical bend. Hinkle holds a lot of sway within the agency and was a major proponent of SJR 39.
