GOP senator won’t seek reelection

In a surprise announcement Monday, Republican Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri said he will not seek a third term in the U.S. Senate.

Blunt, who turned 71 in January, was widely expected to seek a third term in 2022. Before election to the Senate he served seven terms in the U.S. House. He also served two terms as Missouri’s secretary of state from 1985 to 1993.

“In every job Missourians have allowed me to have, I’ve tried to do my best,” Blunt said in his announcement made via video. “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.”

Blunt is the fifth Senate Republican to decide against running for reelection in 2022, after Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Rob Portman of Ohio, Richard Shelby of Alabama and Richard Burr of North Carolina.

Two other Republicans — Sens. Charles Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin — have not yet said whether they plan to seek reelection.

The open seats will set up contested primaries likely to highlight divisions between farright, Trumpaligned Republicans and the old guard. In Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, in particular, Democrats have hopes of winning seats.

Any such hopes are muted in Missouri, which was for decades a swing state but has moved decidedly conservative in recent elections.

Several Republicans are likely to seek Blunt’s post. They could include former Gov. Eric Greitens, who resigned amid a sex scandal and ethics investigations in 2018.