A Republican attorney working as an investigator for the congressional committee investigating the January 6 insurrection is reportedly leaving his post early to explore a run for the vacant US Senate seat from Missouri.
John Wood, a former federal prosecutor who clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is encouraged to run as an independent to replace retiring US Senator Roy Blunt. A committee was formed this week to persuade him to join the campaign.
Wood could not be immediately reached for comment, but CNN and the Washington Post both reported their decision to leave their committee jobs this week.
As a candidate who is not affiliated with any party, Wood would need to collect signatures to be on the November ballot.
Among those hoping Wood will run is former U.S. Sen. John Danforth, who earlier this year enlisted a polling firm and a PAC called the Serve America Movement to assess whether Missouri is ready to a centrist Republican to run as an independent.
In an interview Wednesday afternoon with The Independent, Danforth said he hasn’t spoken to Wood in at least a month and learned of his decision to drop the congressional investigation through the media.
He said he was hopeful the departure meant Wood was seriously considering running for Senate.
“John is a very serious person who would come together and be very good at working across the aisle,” Danforth said, “and trying to be a serious legislator instead of just someone putting out press releases about how angry he is, what What is the current style in politics?
Danforth, who left the Senate in 1994 after three terms, was an early supporter of Missouri’s other U.S. Senator, Josh Hawley, encouraging him to run in 2018 and helping him raise campaign money.
After last year’s Jan. 6 insurrection, Danforth said Hawley deserved some of the blame and expressed remorse for supporting his political career.
He said he would understand if people didn’t trust his endorsement after helping get Hawley elected, laughing, “The law of averages, I can’t always be wrong.”
He has known Wood much longer than Hawley, Danforth says, and is much more confident about the endorsement.
“We need to, we need to start focusing on coming together,” he said. “And John, by his nature, his character and his behavior, is that unifier.”
Wood, 52, is a close associate of US Representative Liz Cheney, one of two Republican members of the January 6 committee. In addition to working for Clarence Thomas, he has held various positions within the Bush administration, including chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security.
Wood recently served as general counsel for the US Chamber of Commerce.
In his role on the Jan. 6 committee, Wood appeared alongside lawmakers last week to cross-examine witnesses during the hearing focused on the lobbying campaign against then-Vice President Mike Pence.
“This campaign has national implications,” Danforth said. “It’s very important in our state, of course, but I think we can send a message from the people of Missouri that we have to change the policy.”
Reference-missouriindependent.com