Senator Roy Blunt (R., Mo.) announced Monday he will not seek reelection in 2022.
“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,” said Blunt, who is the ranking Republican member of the Senate Rules Committee.
“In every job Missourians have allowed me to have, I’ve tried to do my best. 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,” the 71-year-old senator said in his announcement.
Blunt, who was first elected to the Senate in 2010, is the fifth Republican senator to announce he will retire rather than seek reelection next year. He joins Senators Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Rob Portman of Ohio, Richard Shelby of Alabama and Richard Burr of North Carolina, all of whom have announced they will not run again as Republicans look to reclaim control of the now-evenly divided Senate.