Eric Schmitt’s lawsuits made headlines. Will they make him Missouri’s next senator?

Flames and a string of headlines shoot across the screen as Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, blowtorch in hand, rattles off a list of lawsuits he filed as the state’s top lawyer in a campaign video released earlier this month.

“As your attorney general, I put a stop to Biden’s open border policies, I sued to get rid of Fauci’s COVID mandates and I stood with President Trump to stop election fraud,” he said in the 30-second ad. “In the Senate, I’ll turn the heat up on the Biden Democrats.”

Over the last two years, Schmitt has used his office to file a bevy of headline-grabbing litigation as he courts conservative voters ahead of the Aug. 2 Republican primary for U.S. Senate.

He unsuccessfully tried to sue China for the COVID-19 pandemic. He filed lawsuits against 47 school districts for enacting mask mandates. He sued the city of St. Louis last week for passing an ordinance to help women get abortions out of state. And he’s filed legal actions against the federal government and the Biden administration over a host of policies from vaccine mandates to immigration.

“I think it’s self-evident that Attorney General Schmitt has been extremely energetic in taking on Biden Administration overreach,” said Tim Jones, a former Missouri House speaker who now hosts a conservative radio show.

Those highly publicized lawsuits have been the center of Schmitt’s campaign strategy as he tries to elevate himself to the top spot in the contentious race to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Roy Blunt. In press releases, social media posts and frequent appearances on Fox News, the attorney general has touted the suits as proof that he used his office to champion strict conservative ideals.

“I don’t think Eric Schmitt gives a damn about winning or losing a lawsuit,” said Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, a vocal critic of Schmitt who briefly weighed a run for Senate as a Democrat. “He only cares about winning the election.”

The Republican primary has largely been a three-way race between Schmitt, former Missouri Gov. Eric Grietens and U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler. As the race enters its final week, three polls show Schmitt in the lead and Greitens falling to third place, with Hartzler in second. The polls were all conducted within the past week, and show Schmitt with 26% to 32% support, depending on the poll.

The office has long been a political stepping stone in Missouri. Attorneys general of both parties— John Danforth, John Ashcroft and Jay Nixon— all used the office as a pathway to higher office. Schmitt’s immediate predecessor, Republican Josh Hawley, began his successful Senate campaign less than a year after being sworn in as attorney general.

Attorneys general have often filed attention-grabbing lawsuits to garner political support, but for some political and legal observers Schmitt’s litigation strategy has been different from his predecessors.

Attorneys general “always are cognizant of press strategies when they’re filing lawsuits, but Schmitt has really put it on steroids,” said Chuck Hatfield, a Jefferson City attorney who frequently represents Democrats. “Since he’s been in the office, I don’t think anybody has used the office to this level of political gain.”

Schmitt’s strategy has given him national name recognition and generated support from a hyper-conservative base that’s eager for someone to take on what they perceive as government overreach. Some Republicans say it’s been effective regardless of the case outcomes in court.

“I haven’t kept up with the winning and losing aspect of it or how the lawsuits are doing, but I think, politically, when I talk to people, especially parents, about the masks and stuff, they have a positive response,” said Jean Evans, former executive director of the Missouri Republican Party.

“They see it as somebody advocating for them when they were feeling pretty helpless.”

Schmitt’s lawsuits

However, many of Schmitt’s lawsuits haven’t gained much traction in the courts. He’s been criticized for using state resources for what many see as politics instead of valid litigation. All but two of his lawsuits against school districts over mask mandates have been dismissed without legal decisions.

“As legal results, they’ve been positively lousy,” said Michael Wolff, a former Missouri Supreme Court judge and chief justice appointed by Democratic Gov. Mel Carnahan.

Aside from legal wins, the true test of whether Schmitt’s litigation strategy was successful will be at the polls next week where Republican voters will decide whether to cast their ballots for the attorney general.

Chris Nuelle, Schmitt’s spokesperson, directed The Star to Schmitt’s campaign for this story. His campaign spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Much of Schmitt’s litigation has centered around perceived government overreach and various policies of the federal government.

Following the rhetoric of former President Donald Trump, Schmitt in 2020 joined Texas and 15 other Republican state attorneys general in an unsuccessful attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election in a case rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court.

But likely his most publicized role has been litigation related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Near the beginning of the pandemic in April 2020, Schmitt sued China, arguing that the country needed to be held accountable for the global outbreak. A U.S. District judge dismissed that suit earlier this month, ruling that U.S. courts don’t have jurisdiction over China.

Earlier this year, Schmitt filed suit against 47 school districts that imposed mask mandates in response to the virus. In legal filings, he argued that the mask rules violated state law. While nearly all of those cases have been dismissed, Schmitt has touted the lawsuits as victories because the districts dropped their mandates.

James Harris, a GOP strategist, said Schmitt’s lawsuits have kept his name in the news and branded him as a conservative fighter.

“I think it helped build a reputation as someone that will stand up for normal people,” he said.

Harris said many voters don’t take the time to read all of Schmitt’s lawsuits, legal filings or even the validity of his legal arguments. They simply understand that he’s fighting the federal government or the Biden administration.

Pandering or political strategy?

The attorney general, however, has frequently been criticized for using his office for political gain. This past legislative session, the GOP-controlled General Assembly last month agreed to cut from the state budget a $500,000 request from Schmitt’s office.

State Sen. Lincoln Hough, a Springfield Republican, requested the cut in April in response to Schmitt’s lawsuits against school districts. Both legislative chambers, with big Republican majorities, finalized the cut in May.

“As the Senate wisely put it, we probably shouldn’t be giving (Schmitt) that money when he seems to be using it to sue basically everybody in Missouri for campaign purposes,” state Rep. Peter Merideth, a St. Louis Democrat, said in May.

Jim Layton, a former Missouri solicitor general who served under Democratic Attorney General Chris Koster, said Schmitt’s lawsuits related to COVID-19 were extraordinary for the office, he said.

“You have an attorney general using the resources of the state – the state’s money – to sue local school districts, making them use money to defend lawsuits that otherwise could be spent in the classroom,” he said. “I don’t recall anything remotely close to that under General Nixon or General Koster.”

Kansas City has felt a large brunt of Schmitt’s legal actions. The attorney general sued the city last year alleging that its mask mandate was unconstitutional. Schmitt has also threatened to sue the city for pursuing legislation that could help people travel to get abortions in the wake of the state’s near total ban on the procedure.

Lucas, Kansas City’s mayor, painted Schmitt’s litigation strategy as an attempt to distance himself from a more moderate political past where he was known for working with members of both parties in the state legislature.

“It’s just been pandering to the greatest extreme I’ve probably seen ever from any state attorney general,” he said.

However, Evans, the former Missouri GOP executive director, said she sees a political strategy that’s working. When he promises in his campaign ads to fight against the federal government, voters believe it because he has the litigation to back it up, she said.

“This campaign has been about Eric the fighter, and he’s been fighting,” she said. “Whether, you know, through lawsuits, and through his ads. And I think that reinforces the image that folks have, and it’s an image that very many primary voters want to see.”

The Kansas City Star reporter Jonathan Shorman contributed reporting.