Roy Blunt

Roy Blunt was first elected to serve the people of Missouri in 1984 as Missouri secretary of state. He spent the next 38 years doing just that, advancing to the United States Senate before his retirement in 2023. 

He was first elected to federal office in 1996 where he served as U.S. representative for Missouri’s seventh congressional district for 14 years. In 2010, he was elected U.S. senator for the Show-Me State, where he served for another 12 years. 

While in Congress, Blunt tallied numerous achievements. He served as chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee and Senate Rules Committee and led the Presidential Inaugural Committees for the 45th and 46th presidents. In addition, Blunt was a key member of the Appropriations and Commerce committees, and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.   

Throughout his career, Blunt developed long-lasting, bipartisan partnerships that led to major legislative achievements in health care, infrastructure and national security. He worked to focus resources and awareness on issues that impact millions of Americans, increasing funding for the National Institutes of Health by nearly 60% and quintupling funding for Alzheimer’s disease research. Sen. Blunt’s decade of bipartisan work on mental health issues dramatically expanded access to community behavioral health clinics. 

Not only was Blunt the first Republican elected as Missouri’s secretary of state in more than 50 years; he is also one of only two Americans in history to be elected to a leadership position by his colleagues in both the U.S. House and the Senate.   

Prior to his tenure in Congress, Blunt was a history teacher, clerk and chief election officer for Greene County and served four years as the president of his alma mater, Southwest Baptist University (SBU). He is the current president of State Historical Society of Missouri and chairman of Husch Blackwell Leadership Strategies Advisory Services. 

Blunt has a bachelor’s from SBU and a master’s from Missouri State University, both in history. He’s married to Abigail Blunt and has four children and six grandchildren.