Former state senator announces run for Sen. Roy Blunt’s seat

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMIZ)

A former Missouri state senator announced Monday morning plans to run against incumbent Sen. Roy Blunt (R - Missouri).

Scott Sifton (D - St. Louis) tweeted at 7:02 a.m. that he's going to run against Blunt in 2022.

In the Twitter video, Sifton said "Blunt was too weak to stand up to his party's lies," accusing the senator of not doing enough to stop the spread of misinformation around the 2020 Presidential Election.

"Missouri needs a Senator who promotes the truth, not conspiracy theories. And equality, not hate. A Senator who trusts science instead of denying in," Sifton said in the video.

Blunt did speak out against the false claims that former President Donald Trump was the victor in the election saying Trump's legal team did not have sufficient evidence.

Sifton served in the state legislature from 2010 to 2020 - he termed out of the Senate last year.

The former senator also distanced himself from Sen. Josh Hawley (R - Missouri) during the video. The announcement features a photo of Hawley from the day of the insurrection where he can be seen raising his fist to rioters.

Blunt was first elected to the US Senate in 2010 and won reelection in 2016 against Missouri's former Democratic Secretary of State Jason Kander.

ABC 17 reached out to Blunt's office for a comment on the campaign announcement but didn't immediately hear back.