FENTON, Mo. — The GOP nominee for U.S. Senate in Missouri spoke to a group of St. Louis County Republicans on Sunday and talked about concerns of "radical ideology" in schools.
Eric Schmitt, currently the state's attorney general, gave a campaign speech at the private event but stopped to talk with reporters for less than two minutes afterward. A Belgian television crew reporting on "culture wars" in the United States asked the nominee if children were "under threat" in schools.
"I think what's happened in a lot of our school districts is crazy," Schmitt said. "We've exposed a lot of them with this radical ideology, critical race theory, and people who tell you it's not happening in our schools, that's not truthful. That's not truthful at all."
Schmitt became known during the COVID-19 pandemic for filing lawsuits to stop mask mandates in schools, and he has sought records from school districts he suspected of pushing critical race theory, an academic framework that centers on the idea that racism is systemic in the nation's institutions.
Schmitt faces Democratic candidate Trudy Busch Valentine in the Nov. 8 election.
The St. Louis Young Republicans hosted the Freedom Fest BBQ luncheon at the county GOP's headquarters. Other speakers included U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner, who's running for reelection in Missouri's 2nd Congressional District.
