About 35 Republican state legislators have thrown their support behind U. S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof in his bid for the party’s nomination for governor.

House Speaker Rod Jetton, R-Marble Hill, and Sen. John Griesheimer, R-Washington, led the cheering group during a press conference with Hulshof Wednesday in the Capitol.

“You could have scraped me off the floor” when Gov. Matt Blunt suddenly withdrew from the race last month, Griesheimer said. “But it’s a great day, because we’ve got a guy who’s outside the box, who’s going to carry us to victory in November.”

Griesheimer, who lives in Hulshof’s 9th Congressional District, was the only senator in the throng. All the others were House members.

Many senators are close to another gubernatorial hopeful, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, a former senator. Kinder led the campaign when Republicans took control of that chamber in 2001.

“It’s hard, because Peter brought us into the majority,” Griesheimer acknowledged.

Hulshof had praise for both Kinder and State Treasurer Sarah Steelman, the third candidate vying to be the GOP’s nominee.

“Everyone has the right to run for public office, so whether or not there’s a primary is really not my call to make,” Hulshof said.

Asked whether he would hire Jetton as his political consultant, Hulshof said he was still putting together his campaign team. It might not have been a good day for Jetton to make a pitch: He was a paid consultant for Mitt Romney, who came in third in the state’s presidential primary on Tuesday.