Another one bites the dust:
Sen. Roy Blunt won't run for reelection in latest blow to GOP
The veteran lawmaker is the fifth Republican incumbent to say he won't be on the ballot next year.
By ANDREW DESIDERIO
03/08/2021 10:20 AM EST
Updated: 03/08/2021 12:01 PM EST
Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri announced on Monday that he will not run for reelection in 2022, a surprise decision from the No. 4 GOP leader that comes amid a slew of retirements from top Senate Republicans.
Blunt, who was first elected to the Senate in 2010 and previously served for 14 years in the House, is the fifth Republican this cycle to announce his retirement. His decision is certain to set off a messy GOP primary in a state where former President Donald Trump remains popular.
“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 reelection to the United States Senate next year,” Blunt said in a video message announcing his retirement.
Blunt, 71, has been a mainstay in Washington politics and the Republican establishment for more than two decades. First elected to the House in the 1996 GOP wave, Blunt served as House Republican whip before jumping to the Senate.
In announcing his retirement, Blunt joins GOP Sens. Rob Portman of Ohio, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Richard Shelby of Alabama and Richard Burr of North Carolina, all of whom opted against seeking reelection in 2022. Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin have yet to reveal their plans.
Missouri is not likely to be a competitive state for Democrats on the Senate map next year — Trump won the state by 15 percentage points last year — though Blunt’s retirement could set off a competitive primary battle to replace him and could give Democrats a chance to expand their 50-50 Senate majority.
The jockeying to replace Blunt is expected to begin in earnest. Just last week, Missouri’s scandal-plagued former Gov. Eric Greitens said he was “evaluating” whether to run for the seat in 2022. Other potential GOP candidates include Rep. Ann Wagner, Rep. Jason Smith, Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, state Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, whose father, former Attorney General John Ashcroft, once held the state’s other Senate seat.
Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, vowed that Republicans “will hold this seat” and said the Senate GOP campaign arm “will work tirelessly” to do so.
Blunt narrowly defeated Democrat Jason Kander in 2016, but Trump carried Missouri handily twice. Kander indicated on Monday that he will not run for the seat, saying he wants to stay focused on the veterans group he runs. “Love this work, don’t want a new job,” Kander said.
Scott Sifton, a former Democratic state senator, announced his candidacy last month. He was backed immediately by the only current statewide elected Democrat, state Auditor Nicole Galloway, who lost a race for governor last fall.
In a statement on Monday, Sifton said Blunt’s announcement “shows just how high the stakes are for Missouri families next year” and called the race “an opportunity to vote for better leadership.”
Former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), who served for two terms in the Senate but was defeated in her bid for a third by Republican Josh Hawley, said Monday she won't run for public office again.
On the GOP side, Greitens has already begun laying the groundwork as the pro-Trump, anti-Mitch McConnell candidate in the race. The former president and the Senate minority leader are at odds over the future of the GOP and the best way for the party to win back control of the Senate in 2022, with McConnell promising to back candidates regardless of their support for Trump, and the former president suggesting that McConnell should no longer lead Senate Republicans.
Blunt voted to acquit Trump in the former president’s most recent impeachment trial in the Senate but occasionally broke with Trump throughout his term.
Blunt’s decision, combined with the other four senators not seeking reelection, could suggest a level of discomfort with the direction of the party, especially with Trump looming over the GOP’s future.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/08/gop-sen-roy-blunt-will-not-run-for-reelection-474342