Veteran Navy SEAL Wants Top Job As Missouri Governor

Former Navy SEAL Greitens running for Missouri governor
The Associated Press
By Alan Scher Zagier and Summer Ballentine
September 28, 2015

MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. — Former Navy SEAL Eric Greitens, a political newcomer who was once courted to run for Congress as a Democrat, on Saturday launched a Republican campaign for Missouri governor in 2016.

Eric Greitens

Former Navy SEAL Eric Greitens smiles at a rally where he announced his candidacy into the

2016 race for Missouri governor onSept. 26, 2015, at Westport Plaza in Maryland Heights, Mo.

(Photo: uy Mach/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)

Greitens, 41, is already the top fundraiser in a crowded GOP field thanks to an exploratory campaign committee that's raised more than $1 million in recent months, boosting his total haul to more than $2 million.

He touted both his military background and lack of political pedigree before a crowd of several hundred supporters at an announcement in suburban St. Louis near his childhood home.

"I'm running for governor because we need a political outsider to move Missouri forward," Greitens said. "We have a political class of corrupt consultants, well-paid lobbyists, and career politicians who have been in Jefferson City for decades. They have produced nothing for us but embarrassment and failure."

Greitens grew up in St. Louis County, was a Rhodes Scholar after graduation from Duke University, served in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and as White House fellow. He's written three books that combine stories of his military service and humanitarian work with lessons on leadership. He founded the nonprofit group The Mission Continues, which connects veterans with volunteer work to ease the post-military transition.

He drew the loudest cheers with a call to extend term limits to all statewide offices and ban lobbyist gifts to state lawmakers.

"I will defeat you, I will expose your lies, I will root out your corruption, and I will see you out of the people's Capitol," said Greitens, adding his own lifetime pledge to never lobby government.
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