Roy Blunt

Roy Blunt, a Republican former history teacher, secretary of state for Missouri, and US congressman, defeated his Democratic opponent Robin Carnahan by a wide margin and was elected to the US Senate in November 2010. Although Carnahan received more votes than Blunt in urban areas of Missouri, Blunt's overwhelming lead in rural areas propelled him to an easy victory. Blunt's win helped Republicans diminish the Democratic majority in the US Senate, and since Democrats lost their majority in the US House of Representatives as a result of the 2010 election, the Republican gains in the Senate became even more significant. Blunt is known for supporting legislative funding for faith-based groups, his strongly pro-life voting record throughout his years in the House of Representatives, for voting consistently to support the views of the National Rifle Association (NRA), for favoring less government regulation of businesses, and for his service as Majority Whip of the House. Although Blunt, at the time married to his first wife, aspired to become speaker of the House (the highest position in the House of Representatives), his involvement with a female lobbyist raised concerns with Republican colleagues about potential negative publicity.

Early Life & Education

Roy Blunt was born on January 10, 1950, in Niangua, Missouri. His parents owned a dairy farm in rural Missouri, where he grew up helping his father with the farm work during summers. His grandmothers both worked as teachers, and his father spent time working on the local school board and dabbled in local politics. After high school, Blunt earned his bachelor's degree from Southwest Baptist University in 1970. Wanting to become a history teacher or professor, he obtained a master's degree in history from Missouri State University. For the next few years, he taught high school history and worked on various education-related and history-related projects for Missouri.

Political Career

Blunt's first elected position was serving as county clerk for twelve years beginning in the early 1970s. As Blunt became more involved with politics, he had less and less time for his career as a teacher. He developed a network of political contacts and gained visibility as a local politician.

In 1984, Blunt became Missouri’s Secretary of State. This was his first major position in politics, and he focused his work on the financial industry and on prosecuting ethical violations in that field, such as securities fraud and market manipulation. He had his eye on Wall Street firms and federal organizations that shortchanged Missouri consumers during the 1980s. Blunt was reelected in 1988 and worked to cut taxes for small businesses and educate Missourians about investments such as securities, hoping to prevent consumers from falling prey to financial scams. Blunt spent four years as president of Southwest Baptist University, his alma mater. Again, he focused on finances, looking for new ways to create funding for the university.

First elected to the US House of Representatives in 1996, Blunt served eight terms as a congressman in Washington, DC. His voting record reflected efforts to bring more business and funding into Missouri. He supported traditional Republican values such as strengthening national defense spending, winning a huge tax break for corporations, ensuring that veterans would receive medical benefits, and voting to allow the federal government wider investigatory powers to aid in the so-called "War on Terror." It was through his work as a congressman that Blunt met his second wife, Abigail Perlman, a lobbyist for a firm called Altria (the new name chosen for the lobbying firm which represents Philip Morris, the tobacco giant). Because Blunt had been very supportive of the tobacco industry throughout his political career, because of his history of supporting religious and faith-based organizations, and because he was not yet divorced when he began seeing Perlman, their relationship raised some eyebrows. The fact that some of Altria's major clients, such as Kraft, Miller Brewing, and Philip Morris, later hired Blunt's son, Andy, as a lobbyist was also noticed by some of his colleagues.

However, Blunt moved on in 2010, campaigning against the Democratic candidate, Robin Carnahan. Their competition quickly turned negative, focusing more on personal and emotional attacks than on a more constructive debate of the issues. Carnahan, who grew up in a family of politicians herself, accused Blunt of spending "fourteen years…taking care of the special interests, raising the deficit and sticking us with the bill." Blunt responded that Carnahan supported "Barack Obama's big-government job-killing agenda ahead of Missouri jobs and seniors." Although Carnahan received more votes during the election in urban areas of the state, Blunt had an overwhelming majority in the rural areas of the state and in the election results. The race was not close.

As a senator, Blunt was assigned to the Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, the Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Committee on Rules and Administration (this committee, according to the US Senate website, monitors and administers "Senate rules, attendance, corruption, member qualifications, contested elections, federal elections" and other things such as office assignments). In 2022, Blunt announced he would not run for another term and he left the office in 2023.

Personal Life

Blunt had three children with his first wife, Rosann, whom he divorced in 2003, as well as six grandchildren. One of Blunt's sons was elected governor of Missouri in 2004 but did not seek reelection in 2008. Both of his sons and his daughter from his first marriage worked as political advisers on Blunt's 2010 campaign; one son is a former lobbyist. Blunt and his second wife adopted their young son, Charlie, from Russia. Although he was just six years old, Charlie appeared at campaign stops with Blunt during the 2010 race. Because all three of Blunt's older children were also present, working on his campaign as political advisers, Blunt was surrounded by family during his 2010 campaign travels.

Bibliography

“Roy Blunt.” History, Art, and Archives United States House of Representatives, history.house.gov/People/Detail/9520. Accessed 31 Mar. 2023.

“Roy Blunt.” The State Historical Society of Missouri, shsmo.org/about/trustees/roy-blunt. Accessed 31 Mar. 2023.