I Will Not Be a Candidate
In the above video Blunt announces “I won’t be a candidate for the US Senate Next Year“.
“Another lesson I learned here, finish strong, and I intend to. Thanks for giving me the chance to work for you.”
Regardless of what one thinks of his politics, that was a classy exit by Roy Blunt.
5th Republican Announcement
Politico notes Roy Blunt Won’t Run for Reelection in Latest Blow to GOP.
In announcing his retirement, Blunt joins GOP Sens. Rob Portman of Ohio, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Richard Shelby of Alabama and Richard Burr of North Carolina, all of whom opted against seeking reelection in 2022. Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin have yet to reveal their plans.
Missouri is not likely to be a competitive state for Democrats on the Senate map next year — Trump won the state by 15 percentage points last year — though Blunt’s retirement is likely to set off a competitive primary battle to replace him and could give Democrats a chance to expand their 50-50 Senate majority.
The jockeying to replace Blunt is expected to begin in earnest. Just last week, Missouri’s scandal-plagued former Gov. Eric Greitens said he was “evaluating” whether to run for the seat in 2022.
On the GOP side, Greitens has already begun laying the groundwork as the pro-Trump, anti-Mitch McConnell candidate in the race. The former president and the Senate minority leader are at odds over the future of the GOP and the best way for the party to win back control of the Senate in 2022, with McConnell promising to back candidates regardless of their support for Trump, and the former president suggesting that McConnell should no longer lead Senate Republicans.
McConnell, for his part, said in a statement that Blunt’s retirement “will be a loss for the Republican conference and the entire Senate.”
Things Will Get Messy
Missouri could get very messy depending on Greitens. So can Pennsylvania and North Carolina, Iowa and Wisconsin.
Alabama is safely GOP, but there is sure to be a political mess somewhere.
These announced retirements are a benefit to the Democrats.
Mish
The more Trump the GOP becomes the less likely they are to have their candidates elected. Don’t get me wrong. It is clear that Trump has a very large base of support. What is also clear is that this large base is not enough on its own. The GOP is sewing the seeds of its own destruction. FYI. I was, up until recently, a registered Republican.
I think there’s a Twelve Step group for that now that can help. 🙂
Eric Greitens thought he was Christian Gray and tied a woman up in his basement for his sexual excitement. He is the exact type of guy the GOP embraces these days.
He was resigned from office early in his first term as governor. Considering Trump’s sexual immorality standards, he is perfect for the GOP.
Shame. Looks like his accuser was doing such a good job on his hair too. What was he thinking?
Some of these seats will flip to blue thanks to Trump. He is the gift that keeps on giving to the Dems. I hope he runs in 2024 and 2028 and in every election until he dies. Expect a bunch of 1/6 videos to run during every election cycle between now and forever. The Lincoln project is not stopping anytime soon.
Now if we could only get rid of Senator Candy Crush Josh Hawley in Missouri!
Clearly Blunt feels like he has no home in the Trumpian toxic GOP–a fish out of water.
VP on the Cruz for POTUS ticket?
I think his son Matt, the former governor of Missouri, would probably be a more likely pick considering his age.
How about this though. The auctioneer Billy Long who won his seat in Congress when he ran for a seat in the Senate runs for the Senate in 2022, and then rises up through the MAGA cultist ranks to run for President in 2024 using Trumpist populism. Then crosses the line to pick Anthoney Weiner as his running mate. How about that?
Eric Greitens thought he was Christian Gray and tied a woman up in his basement for his sexual excitement. He is the exact type of guy the GOP embraces these days.
He was resigned from office early in his first term as governor. Considering Trump’s sexual immorality standards, he is perfect for the GOP.
I expect the next crop of Republican replacements to be mostly Trumpites. One more reason to vote for the Dems, in spite of their ridiculous narrative around identity politics. I won’t vote with the “burn it down” crowd.
Martin Armstrong: “Build Back Better means You Destroy it First”
Democrats were silent while Antifa/BLM were burning it down.
Yes, they still are, AFAIK. And Antifa is still tearing shit up, as as of mid-February.
Nothing is going to get built back…..better or not. Things are just going to get wrecked from here on out, I’m afraid,
I still see Antifa as the lesser evil at the moment, compared with the Trumpites, who are stronger and apt to do more damage. But it depends on where you are……I wouldn’t want to live in a town like Portland..or even Seattle, where TPTB coddle Antifa. It isn’t a problem here. After the first bugaloo boi got shot, things settled right down.
I think the republicans will regain the house and senate in 2022. Biden being forced out and replaced by harris will cost the dems a few seats and mid terms almost always swing the other way.
This assumes DC and PR aren’t states by then.
This is your wet dream.
While I’m no fan Biden is nowhere as senile as what the right media portrays him to be. He’s someone that suffered from a bad stammer in his youth and public speaking is very difficult for him. Kamela Harris is his assasination insurance. Unless something breaks badly Dems will pick up seats because lots of folks are bailing from the Trump party.
Can’t blame anyone for stepping down in this climate. From a purely selfish standpoint, once a politician has made their bones they have little incentive to stick around.
Even if they do terrible things in office, most Americans have the attention span of gnats, so the day after stepping down people will have a new outrage to fixate on.
Probably a good idea to get out before you fail some purity test, and Trump’s Chumps come for you.
Trump only likes virgins.
Seems Republicans from the governing wing of the GOP have consistently concluded they can’t get reelected. GOP as we knew it is disintegrating
Political parties change as the years pass. In the latter 1/4 of the 1800s, it was the Democratic Party (through the “Bourbon” Democratic faction) that supported the gold standard, non-interventionism, and international trade. From around 1900 to about 1950, it was the GOP that was the anti-interventionist party, loathe to involve America in foreign entanglements; the Cold War prompted Republicans to abandon this position.
The GOP is much more working class and rural now than it was in 1980, so it’s not a surprise that perhaps positions on issues within the GOP will shift. For example, Sen. Tom Cotton has proposed raising the federal minimum wage to $10 and indexing it to inflation plus enacting mandatory e-Verify. Sen. Josh Hawley has proposed a $15/hour minimum wage for employees of companies with $1 billion in revenue. Reps. Kelly Armstrong and Ken Buck are advocating anti-trust action against Alphabet & Amazon. I cannot imagine a GOP congressman or senator endorsing such proposals 30 years ago when I first became involved in GOP politics.
The Senate Republican side is about to get Trumpier. The five Senators are from the governing wing of the GOP. McConnell is also in discussions with his state’s legislature to rewrite the rules limiting the Governor’s ability to place a Democrat in the Senate should he resign.
The more Trump flails is fine by me. Even IF he technically is leading the GOP he will NEVER EVER have a majority – or enough whatever to do more than stink and divide. LMAO.
Read yesterday Mitch and kentucy republicans are trying to change state law so that if he retires early the dem governor will not be able to pick his successor.
Im nervous about these old republicans retiring. Sometimes its better keeping the devil you know.
The retirement of any of the non term limited public serpents is a benefit to the country. We need all long serving senile Republicans or Democrats to retire.
I couldn’t agree more. Term limits of 20 years seem like plenty to me.
Fresh blood is badly needed on both sides. Too many are old boomers by boomer standards or even too old to be boomers! At that age your out of touch.
20 years total, both houses of Congress combined. Round down to 18 so that there are 3 clean Senate terms.
There is no way term limits would be voted in by those who it affects the most. This just isn’t gonna happen EVER.
Probably true. Might happen if they grand-fathered themselves in.