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Republican Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer grew to become the primary member of Congress to announce his retirement within the new 12 months on Thursday, a call that units off an open seat race for a Missouri constituency that Donald Trump took 62-36 in 2020.
The candidate submitting deadline is March 26, and the winner of the Aug. 6 GOP major should not have any bother succeeding Luetkemeyer within the third District, which incorporates the east-central a part of the state and the St. Louis exurbs. Many names are certain to floor, although state Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman was the primary to react to the information, tweeting, “After all I’m contemplating it!!”
The eight-term congressman’s departure will not impression the battle for the Home, however his choice nonetheless got here as a shock to native observers. As St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum notes, Luetkemeyer appeared well-positioned to succeed North Carolina Rep. Patrick McHenry, who unexpectedly introduced his personal retirement final month, as the highest Republican on the highly effective Home Monetary Providers Committee.
Luetkemeyer himself has been protected ever since he was first elected to the Home in 2008, although he needed to make it by means of an unexpectedly tight normal election battle first. The longer term congressman gained a seat within the state Home in 1998, an period when Democrats nonetheless held the bulk they’d initially gained in 1954, although simply 4 years later, Republicans took management.
Luetkemeyer, although, did not stick round lengthy to take pleasure in his social gathering’s new and everlasting dominance, as he launched a 2004 bid for state treasurer. Although he misplaced the first to the eventual winner, Sarah Steelman, 39-24, he landed on his ft in 2006 when Gov. Matt Blunt appointed him the state’s tourism director. He was nonetheless serving in that capability in 2008 when the unpopular Blunt determined to not search a second time period and GOP Rep. Kenny Hulshof launched what can be a disastrous marketing campaign to switch him.
Luetkemeyer was one in every of a number of Republicans who campaigned to succeed Hulshof within the now-defunct ninth District, however he and state Rep. Bob Onder quickly emerged as the 2 frontrunners. The novel anti-tax Membership for Progress backed Onder and ran adverts attacking Luetkemeyer, however the former tourism chief loved the assist of the influential Missouri Proper to Life. Luetkemeyer gained the first 40-29, and on condition that George W. Bush had carried the ninth by a large 59-41 margin, that ought to have set him up for a straightforward victory within the normal election.
However the Republican nominee struggled towards Democratic state Rep. Judy Baker in what turned out to be the second successive horrible election cycle for the GOP. Luetkemeyer, whom the Swing State Challenge (our predecessor website) described on the time as “a moderately bland” candidate, self-funded to replenish his conflict chest following his costly major battle, a transfer that will have saved him from defeat. John McCain carried the ninth 55-44, however Luetkemeyer solely turned again Baker 50-47.
Regardless of that shut name, nonetheless, Luetkemeyer rapidly grew to become entrenched. His seat was renumbered the third District after Missouri misplaced a seat following the 2010 census, however that change did not hurt his electoral prospects. The congressman spent his profession as a dependable hardline vote, together with becoming a member of nearly all of his caucus in voting towards recognizing Joe Biden’s victory within the hours after the Jan. 6 riot.
Correction: This publish misstated George W. Bush’s efficiency in Missouri’s ninth Congressional District in 2004. He gained the district 59-41.
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