After Roy Blunt: Local politicians react to senator's retirement

This story is updated.

Monday's announcement by Missouri's senior U.S. senator, Roy Blunt, not to seek reelection in 2022 did not catch the state's former lieutenant governor, Peter Kinder of Cape Girardeau, off guard.

"I'm not surprised," said Kinder, who himself left statewide office in 2017.

"Next year, (Blunt) will be 72, and for nearly 50 years has been in public office for all but four of them," he added, noting the Springfield Republican was first appointed Greene County clerk in 1973, later serving as Missouri secretary of state and clocking the last 24 years in Washington -- most recently in the U.S. Senate since 2011.

"(Blunt's) health is good and he has done great service to the state," Kinder said.

Blunt becomes the fifth sitting GOP senator to decline to seek another term in Congress' upper chamber.

North Carolina's Richard Burr, Ohio's Rob Portman, Pennsylvania's Pat Toomey and Wisconsin's Ron Johnson are also joining Blunt in impending Senate retirement.

"I respect (Blunt's) decision," said Matt Henson, chairman of the Cape Girardeau County Republican Central Committee.

Henson said he doesn't have a specific GOP hopeful in mind for Blunt's seat but suggested the party has real talent who may be waiting for an opportunity to step up.

"We have a deep bench of young Republicans," Henson continued, making note of three serving GOP statewide officeholders: Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and Attorney General Eric Schmitt.

"All would be acceptable candidates," the county party chairman said.

Other possible GOP hopefuls

Just last week, Eric Greitens, who resigned the Missouri governorship in 2018, said he was contemplating a primary challenge to Blunt.

In the U.S. House, Ann Wagner of St. Louis County and Southeast Missouri's Jason Smith are said to be interested.

Smith, who was first elected as 8th District representative in 2013 to succeed Jo Ann Emerson, said in a statement Monday he is grateful to Blunt for encouraging him to run for Congress and is currently weighing his options.

"I will continue talking to working class families, farmers and small business owners across our state to see how I can best serve and protect them from the radical Pelosi-Schumer-Biden agenda," Smith said.

Former state House Rep. Kathy Swan, who lost a hotly contested Missouri Senate District 27 race against Holly Rehder in August by 139 votes out of 33,539 cast, was asked about her availability for the 2022 U.S. Senate contest.

"I have no intention of running," Swan said Tuesday. Swan was term-limited out in House District 147 representing Cape Girardeau.

"I am laying no plans," said Kinder, who said he is enjoying life in his hometown.

"My life is simpler and more agreeable, my blood pressure is better and I'm enjoying being home in Cape and singing in the church choir," he added.

Kinder, who served in the Missouri Senate for 12 years before becoming the state's No. 2 official from 2005 to 2017, said six Republican members of Congress are all possibilities to succeed Blunt.

"I think there's an 80% chance (Republicans) will take back the (U.S.) House in 2022 and at least two members of our delegation could stand in line to become committee chairs," he said, a reference to Smith's status as current ranking member of the House Budget Committee and to Blaine Luetkemeyer of Jefferson City, who is on the lower chamber's Financial Services Committee.

Democratic reaction

Former U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, who was defeated by Missouri's junior senator, Josh Hawley, in 2018, was definitive when asked whether she would run for Blunt's seat.

"I will never run for office again. Nope. Not gonna happen. Never," McCaskill tweeted Monday.

Jason Kander, who lost to Blunt 49%-46% in the 2016 Senate election, appears equally certain, also tweeting his disinterest.

"I'm the president of Veterans Community Project and we're building campuses for vets around the USA. Love the work, don't want a new job," Kander tweeted.

Cape Girardeau County Democratic Committee chairman Andy Leighton has his eye on several hopefuls.

"I welcome (former state Sen.) Scott Sifton's entry into the race and I think Crystal Quade, the Missouri House minority leader, would also make a fine candidate if she chooses to run," Leighton said.

Sifton, a Kansas City native now living in Affton, Missouri, has already won the endorsement of Missouri's only current statewide Democratic officeholder, Auditor Nicole Galloway, who lost her bid to unseat Mike Parson in the 2020 governor's race.

Leighton said he also likes Elad Gross of St. Louis, who lost in last year's Democratic primary for state attorney general.

Leighton said Democrats are in the "superminority" in Missouri and said to win back Blunt's current seat, his party will have to be bold.

"I think we need a strong candidate who will run as a progressive, not a middle-of-the-roader, Republican-lite, who will just get run over," Leighton said.