Just over a month ago, Tom Schweich, a Republican candidate for governor of Missouri, shot himself in his home outside St. Louis. This weekend, his spokesman and media director Spence Jackson did the same at his apartment in Jefferson City.

In a press conference this afternoon, police said that though Jackson's body was discovered yesterday after a family member was not able to get in touch with him, they believe he shot himself at some point early in the weekend. They also stated that a note was found in Jackson's apartment, but that they won't be releasing its contents.

Schweich committed suicide on February 26 in the midst of a frenzied morning in which he appeared to be setting up interviews with reporters in order to reveal what he believed to be a religion-based whisper campaign being waged against him by John Hancock, the chairman of the state's Republican party.

In the wake of Schweich's death, Jackson called for Hancock to resign his position:

"There is no way that the Missouri GOP can move forward under his leadership for the reasons that Sen. Danforth made out this morning," Jackson said. "He needs to resign and Catherine Hanaway needs to call on him to resign. It is unconscionable to think that the Missouri GOP can be successful in 2016 as John Hancock as the chairman."

Hancock has repeatedly told the press that he will continue on as chairman of the party.

Update: The last sentence of this post originally referred to Spence Jackson, not John Hancock, as the chairman of the Republican Party in Missouri. It has been corrected.

[image of Jackson in 2002 via AP]