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Ted Cruz's election manager's 'mocking' House of Cards style radio ad 'contributed' to suicide of Missouri governor candidate Tom Schweich, a Republican candidate for governor of Missouri, killed himself on February 26 last year at his home in Clayton, St Louis His political mentor, former Senator John Danforth, has said Ted Cruz's campaign manager Jeff Roe contributed to his death Roe took responsibility for an advert that criticized Schweich's appearance and said he looked like the deputy sheriff in The Andy Griffith Show Mr Danforth spoke to Schweich two days before his death and said he was upset about the...

ST. LOUIS • Tom Schweich, Missouri's Republican state auditor and a leading contender for the governor's office in next year's election, has died, according to his office. Earlier in the day, a police source said Schweich had sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The police source said Schweich's wife was in another room of their house when she heard her husband making phone calls, followed by a single gunshot. He was 54. His death was confirmed by his office early Thursday afternoon, just hours after Schweich had requested an interview with reporters for the Post-Dispatch and the Associated Press at his...

The Missouri state auditor’s post has been a launching pad for politicians with higher aspirations like Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and former GOP Sen. Kit Bond. But this year, Democrats concede they won’t field a serious candidate against incumbent Republican Auditor Tom Schweich — sparking questions about the strength of the party’s bench in the red-trending swing state. Schweich may also be using his position to mount a bid for higher office in 2016, making Democrats’ historic failure to recruit an opponent for Schweich even more costly. “The reality is we believed we had...