Senior Senate Republican Surprises by Announcing He Won't Seek Re-Election
Republican Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri will not seek a third term in the U.S. Senate, he said Monday in a surprise announcement.
Blunt, who turned 71 in January, was widely expected to seek a third term in 2022.
Before election to the Senate, he served seven terms in the U.S. House. He also served two terms as Missouri’s secretary of state from 1985 to 1993.
“In every job Missourians have allowed me to have, I’ve tried to do my best,” Blunt said in his announcement made via video. “In almost 12,000 votes in the Congress, I’m sure I wasn’t right every time, but you really make that decision based on the information you have at the time.”
“After 14 General Election victories — three to county office, seven to the United States House of Representatives, and four statewide elections — I won’t be a candidate for re-election to the United States Senate next year,” he said.
Thank you, Missourians, for the opportunity to work for you and a better future for our state and our country. pic.twitter.com/1GjX74zhZB
— Senator Roy Blunt (@RoyBlunt) March 8, 2021
Blunt is No. 4 in Senate Republican leadership and is the fifth Senate Republican to decide against running for re-election in 2022. The others are Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Rob Portman of Ohio, Richard Shelby of Alabama and Richard Burr of North Carolina.
Two other Republicans — Sens. Charles Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin — have not yet said whether they plan to seek re-election.
The open seats will set up contested GOP primaries likely to highlight divisions between establishment Republicans and candidates aligned with former President Donald Trump.
In Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, in particular, Democrats have hopes of winning seats.
Such hopes are muted in Missouri, which was for decades a swing state but has moved decidedly conservative in recent elections.
Several Republicans are likely to seek Blunt’s vacated post.
They could include former Gov. Eric Greitens, who told a St. Louis radio interviewer last week he was “evaluating” a run, even before Blunt’s announcement.
An ex-Navy SEAL, Greitens resigned as governor amid a sex scandal and ethics investigations in 2018, but a nearly 18-month investigation cleared him of any wrongdoing in the ethics case.
Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe could also run. In a statement, he praised Blunt’s half-century of service to Missouri.
“A history teacher and the son of a dairy farmer, his traditional Missouri values made him one of the most effective members of the United States Congress,” Kehoe said. “Roy Blunt’s American dream story is inspiring to us all.”
After a failed gubernatorial bid in 1992, Blunt was elected to the House in 1996 and re-elected six times, winning by wide majorities each time. He was House majority whip from 2003 to 2007.
After incumbent Republican Sen. Kit Bond announced his retirement in 2009, Blunt ran for the vacated seat and defeated Democrat Robin Carnahan by a 54 percent to 41 percent vote in 2010. He narrowly won re-election in 2016, defeating Democrat Jason Kander by less than 3 percentage points.
Kander indicated he wasn’t interested in trying again, noting his role as president of an organization that helps provide housing for veterans.
“Love this work, don’t want a new job,” Kander said on Twitter. “I’ll campaign for the Dem nominee!”
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The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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