Conservative PAC supporting female candidates endorses Hartzler in Missouri Senate GOP primary

EXCLUSIVE: A leading outside group that's dedicated to electing conservative women is making an endorsement in the 2022 Republican Senate primary in Missouri in the race to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Roy Blunt.

Maggie's List on Wednesday announced that it's backing Rep. Vicky Hartzler, who represents Missouri’s 4th Congressional District, in the predominantly rural west-central part of the state. The endorsement of Hartzler was shared first with Fox News.

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Hartlzer is one of the leading contenders in a GOP Senate primary field that also includes former Gov. Eric Greitens – who left office in 2018 amid multiple controversies – state Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Mark McCloskey, the St. Louis attorney who along with his wife grabbed national headlines during the summer of 2020 for holding guns outside their home to warn off Black Lives Matter protesters.

And the Republican field may grow in the coming months, with Reps. Billy Long, Jason Smith and Ann Wagner all considering bids.

In its latest slate of endorsements, Maggie’s List also formally backed Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds as she runs for a second four-year term steering the Hawkeye State, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers as she runs for reelection in Washington’s 5th Congressional District, Virginia state Sen. Jen Kiggans for her state’s 2nd district and Tina Ramirez for Virginia’s 7th district.

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"We are thrilled to add these dynamic women to our list of endorsed candidates for the critical 2022 election cycle. These women will continue working towards a future that honors our values of fiscal conservatism, less government, more personal responsibility and strong national security," Maggie’s List chair Sandra B. Mortham, a former Florida secretary of state, said in a statement to Fox News.

Aiming to build on successes in last year's elections, Maggie’s List last month made its initial endorsements, which included 18 House GOP incumbents, five candidates running in the 2022 midterms, two running in special elections this year, a Senate candidate and the endorsement of a candidate running for lieutenant governor.

There are 31 female House Republicans in the chamber. Eleven of the 15 House seats flipped by the GOP in the 2020 elections were by women.

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Two notable high-profile Republican women who are up for reelection next year that Maggie's List hasn't endorsed to date – Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. 

Both female lawmakers are vocal critics of former President Trump – with Cheney voting to impeach Trump in January for his role in inciting the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 by right-wing extremists aiming to disrupt congressional certification of now-President Biden’s Electoral College victory. And Murkowski voted to convict Trump in February’s impeachment trial in the Senate. The former president was acquitted.