We’ve spent plenty of time looking at the attempted political comeback of former Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, so in the interest of fair play, we should probably talk about the attempted comeback of former Republican Missouri Governor Eric Greitens. As you may recall, Greitens was elected governor in 2016, taking office in 2017. He holds the distinction of serving the 10th shortest governorship in the state’s history at just 510 days. He wound up resigning in June of 2018 after a combination of scandals involving one of the more graphically described sexual incidents of marital infidelity in political history and an investigation into campaign finance malfeasance. But Greitens still thought he had some electoral juice left in him and he entered the 2022 Senate race, quickly taking a competitive position in the polls.

As of today, that momentum may have run into something of a snag. The AP is reporting that his ex-wife has filed court papers alleging that he was physically abusive during their marriage and that his behavior was so “unstable” that “steps were taken” to limit his access to firearms. The two are currently in the middle of a child custody battle in Missouri, though Sheena Greitens is trying to get the case moved to Texas where she now resides.

Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, now a leading Republican Senate candidate, was physically abusive and demonstrated such “unstable and coercive behavior” that steps were taken to limit his access to firearms, according to new allegations from his ex-wife revealed in court records on Monday.

The sworn affidavit from Sheena Greitens is part of an ongoing child custody dispute in Missouri. A public affairs professor at the University of Texas, she sought divorce from Eric Greitens after a sex scandal which led to his resignation as governor in June 2018. She’s now asking the court to move the custody case to Austin in part to spare her children from renewed public attention as Eric Greitens tries to mount a political comeback.

An attorney for Sheena Greitens did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. In an emailed statement, Greiten’s campaign manager, Dylan Johnson, called the allegations “completely false” and “politically-motivated.”

These types of tawdry accusations and politically related bouts of turmoil are always difficult to dissect. When one of them shows up in the heat of a campaign season threatening a leading candidate, it’s almost impossible to avoid wondering if the timing isn’t just a little too convenient, right? You can add to that the reality that ex-spouses who are embroiled in a bitter custody dispute will sometimes say almost anything to score some additional points with the court.

But at the same time, there’s definitely some history to draw on, depending on how much credibility you assign to the witnesses. The hairstylist who Greitens admitted to having an affair with (he referred to it as “a deeply personal mistake”) testified that he had been physically abusive with her, tying her up, slapping her, and knocking her to the floor. Greitens denied those allegations, however, and all criminal charges related to those events were eventually dropped.

Also, if “steps were taken” to limit his access to firearms, there should be some record of that, shouldn’t there? Unless she’s saying that steps were taken by family members (which could be very dangerous to attempt if he truly was acting in an unstable fashion), the police would probably have had to be involved, or so I would imagine. And if that’s the case there should be some sort of record of a warrant. And did she ever call the police if he was being physically abusive? That too should have left a paper trail.

Unless the ex-wife’s attorney coughs up some documentation relating to either of those claims this is going to turn into yet another “he said, she said” story in the middle of an election year. And this isn’t the sort of debate that will be settled by a jury, but instead in the court of public opinion with the voters. More than anything else, I find myself being at least mildly surprised that he’s doing as well as he is in the polls. After what the state was put through in 2017 and 2018, it must be fairly fresh in the minds of voters. Do they really want to put themselves in a position to possibly have to relive that? We’ll have to wait a while to know for sure, because Missouri doesn’t hold its primary until August 22.