announced her candidacy for the open U.S. Senate seat in Missouri in 2022. In February 2022, Hartzler's campaign released a 30-second ad criticizing Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer on the University of Pennsylvania women's team. In the ad, Hartzler said, "Women's sports are for women, not men pretending to be women", adding that, as Missouri's senator, she would not "look away while woke liberals destroy women's sports." U.S. Senator Josh Hawley endorsed Hartzler in February 2022. According to Politico, "His choice generated hard feelings among other contenders for the Senate nomination—in addition to raising eyebrows in Trump World. Of all the candidates in the field, Hartzler has done the least public pandering to win the former president's support." On July 8, 2022, Donald Trump refused to endorse Hartzler, saying, "I don't think she has what it takes to take on the Radical Left Democrats." Hartzler lost the August 2 Republican primary to Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, receiving 22% of the vote to Schmitt's 46%. Personal life Hartzler lives on a farm near Harrisonville with her family. She is an Evangelical Christian. She co-owns the Hartzler Equipment Company, later renamed Heartland Tractor, and Hartzler Farms Inc. with her husband and other members of the Hartzler family. Works Hartzler self-published the book Running God's Way, Pleasant Word (a division of the now defunct WinePress Publishing; December 13, 2007), and then later Xulon Press; See also Women in the United States House of Representatives References External links Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler official U.S. House website Vicky Hartzler for Congress 1960 births 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American women politicians 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century American women writers American evangelicals American gun rights activists American women educators American anti-same-sex-marriage activists Candidates in the 2022 United States Senate elections Christians from Missouri Female members of the United States House of Representatives Living people Republican Party members of the Missouri House of Representatives People from Harrisonville, Missouri Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Missouri Schoolteachers from Missouri Tea Party movement activists University of Central Missouri alumni University of Missouri alumni Women state legislators in Missouri Writers from Missouri