MO Attorney General Bailey promotes endorsement from couple who waved guns at protesters

Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who pleaded guilty to brandishing guns as Black Lives Matter demonstrators marched by their St. Louis home in 2020, on Friday backed Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s campaign for a full term – an endorsement the state’s top lawyer quickly embraced.

“A heartfelt thank you to the McCloskey family — true patriots who stand firmly in our corner,” Bailey, a Republican, wrote on social media just minutes after the McCloskey endorsement, saying the couple’s “steadfast dedication to our shared values and the Second Amendment is not only inspiring but absolutely essential in this ongoing battle.”

The decision by Bailey, the top law enforcement official in the state, to champion an endorsement from the couple underscores the extent their case remains a cause célèbre among Missouri conservatives. Republican Gov. Mike Parson pardoned the couple in 2021.

The endorsement comes as Bailey embarks on a campaign for a full term in November against Republican challenger Will Scharf, a former assistant U.S. attorney who is currently part of former President Donald Trump’s legal team.

The McCloskeys, both attorneys, were captured on video in June 2020 holding guns on their lawn and confronting nonviolent protesters heading past their house. The two were initially charged with felony unlawful use of a weapon, but pleaded guilty in 2021 to misdemeanor charges. Mark McCloskey pleaded guilty to fourth-degree assault, while his wife was charged with harassment.

McCloskey ran a failed campaign for U.S. Senate in 2022, receiving roughly 3% of the vote in the Republican primary.

A federal appeals court found late last year that while Parson’s pardon removed the McCloskeys’ convictions, it didn’t eliminate their guilt, barring them from getting back guns that were confiscated after the 2020 incident.

McCloskey, in the video announcing his endorsement of Bailey, celebrated the 2020 gun-brandishing incident, saying he and his wife exercised their “Second Amendment and God-given rights.”

“We need a true conservative like Andrew Bailey in the attorney general’s office,” McCloskey said.