Missouri: Seventh District

Rep. Roy Blunt (R)

Roy Blunt (R) Elected 1996, 6th term up
Born:	01-10-1950, Niangua
Home:	Strafford
Education:	SW Baptist U., B.A. 1970, SW MO St. U., M.A. 1972
Religion:	Baptist
Marital Status:	married (Abigail Perlman)
Elected  Office:	MO Secy. of State, 1984–93.
Professional Career:	H.S. teacher, 1970–73; Greene Cnty. Clerk, 1973–85; Adjunct Instructor, Drury Col., 1976–82; Pres., SW Baptist U., 1993–96.
DC Office	217 CHOB, 20515 202-225-6536 Fax: 202-225-5604 Website: blunt.house.gov
State Offices	Springfield:417-889-1800;
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One of the biggest tourist destinations in America today is Branson, Missouri—something almost no one predicted 30 years ago. Even today Branson has only 7,010 residents, is served by two-lane roads, is nowhere near a major airport; but it thrives, paralleling the surging popularity of country and western music. Branson was put on the map early in the century by Harold Bell Wright’s novel, The Shepherd of the Hills, about the hardy people of the mountains, hills and meadows of southwest Missouri, just north of Arkansas. More tourists came in with completion of the Ozark Beach Dam that created Bull Shoals Lake in 1913, lured by the native bass and stocked trout. Then in the 1960s, new lakes were formed, a Shepherd of the Hills pageant and Silver Dollar City were started, and entertainers—the five Maybe brothers performing as “The Baldknobbers” and Box Car Willie from the Grand Ole Opry—started performing. Today Branson has nearly 8 million visitors a year, 80% of whom have visited before, and more than two dozen theaters with 56,000 seats—more than Broadway. What do people like about Branson? The non-stop entertainment and fishing and boating; country music and family style entertainment; plenty of shopping and a safe atmosphere. These are also the things that have made southwest Missouri the fastest growing part of the state in the past 20 years, generating new businesses and attracting retirees as well as vacationers.

Workers come to Branson from as far away as Springfield, the biggest city in southwest Missouri and the self-styled “buckle of the Bible Belt.” Springfield is home to more than 200 churches as well as the headquarters of such middle American institutions as the Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World, probably the nation’s largest fishing equipment store; the Assemblies of God, one of the nation’s and the world’s largest and fastest-growing Protestant denominations; and two of the nation’s three largest coachbuilders (stretch limousine manufacturers), Springfield Coach and DaBryan Coach Builders, with a third nearby in Seymour, Executive Coach, run by a Nigerian immigrant. Southwest Missouri is dairy country with a growing poultry industry; Latinos have been moving into McDonald County to work in chicken processing plants. The Ozarks, long considered a backwater, are on the cutting edge of many trends in today’s America.

The 7th Congressional District of Missouri includes Branson and Springfield in the southwest corner of Missouri. Historically, this area has been Republican since it opposed secession in 1861: pro-Union Springfield changed hands several times as Missouri staged its own civil war. Its conservative response to the big-spending government of the 1960s and cultural liberalism of the 1970s reinforced its allegiance, and now this is the most Republican part of Missouri.

The congressman from the 7th District is Roy Blunt, a Republican first elected in 1996 and the House Republican Whip. Blunt grew up on a dairy farm near Springfield, in a political family; his father was a state representative who won election in 1978 by defeating Senator Claire McCaskill’s mother. He graduated from Southwest Baptist University, 25 miles north of Springfield, and taught high school and college history and government. He got his start in politics by volunteering for John Ashcroft’s unsuccessful campaign for Congress in 1972; the story goes that he showed up at campaign headquarters in his pickup truck, Ashcroft asked, “Have you got gas in this truck?” Blunt said yes and became his driver. In 1973, 33-year-old freshman Governor Christopher Bond, in his second appointment, named the 23-year-old Blunt to be Greene County clerk. In 1980 Senator John Danforth asked him to run for lieutenant governor; he did and lost. In 1984, at 34, Blunt was elected Missouri secretary of state, the first Republican to win that office in half a century; he was reelected with 60% of the vote in 1988. In 1992 he ran for governor and lost the Republican primary to William Webster, 44%-39%. Blunt then became president of Southwest Baptist University. In 1996 Congressman Mel Hancock kept his pledge to serve only four terms and retired. In the primary Blunt faced Gary Nodler, businessman and one-time staffer to Congressman Gene Taylor, and won 56%-44%. In the general election Blunt won 65%-32%, running ahead of the Republican ticket and carrying every county with at least 62% of the vote. He has been reelected easily since.

Blunt’s voting record has been solidly conservative, with an occasional move toward the center on social issues. He has on occasion pursued a bipartisan approach, as with his proposal to increase charitable giving. In 2006, he sponsored the Combat Meth Act, the first comprehensive approach enacted to fighting the supply of methamphetamines. With Senator Barack Obama, he passed a measure that year to set up an Internet database of federal spending. In 1999, Blunt was among the original 10 members of then-Governor Bush’s presidential exploratory committee. Bush has called him “a leader who knows how to raise his sights and lower his voice.”

With his considerable political skills, he wanted to run for freshman class president. But at then-Majority Whip Tom DeLay’s suggestion, he ran for the freshman spot on the Republican Steering Committee, where he worked to get good committee assignments for freshmen. After the 1998 election Blunt won a seat on the Commerce Committee. Then, in January 1999, DeLay plucked him from the ranks of 48 deputy whips and appointed him chief deputy whip, the position Dennis Hastert held until his astonishing elevation to speaker. Blunt has said that he never lobbied for the job and didn’t even know he was being considered until he read it in a newspaper. On a number of issues Blunt was given the job of making more palatable to core Republicans measures that were going through in any case.

As chief deputy whip, Blunt spent much time meeting with lobbyists, organizing groups interested in various issues like trade, taxes and energy. He developed a reputation as a good listener with a soft touch and took care to pay attention to party moderates. Hastert assigned Blunt to mediate disputes between Republicans and to win over votes on critical issues. Blunt also weighed in on some local issues. After Democrat Rob Andrews complained that New Jersey-licensed limousines were not allowed into New York without paying a tax, Blunt, representing the number one stretch-limousine-producing district, sponsored a bill limiting local regulation of limousines that cross state lines. It was opposed by New York officials eager for revenue and Nevada limousine drivers, worried about competition from California drivers; but it was enacted by wide margins.

In 2000 Blunt began keeping a list of members who would back him for a higher leadership position. He headed the Battleground 2002 operation, which contributed $5.6 million to Republican House candidates. When Majority Leader Dick Armey announced that he would retire in 2002, DeLay immediately began to run for majority leader and Blunt said he would run for majority whip. Ray LaHood of Illinois announced he was running for whip too. Within weeks, he said he would not run and was supporting Blunt; he found that Blunt had the support not only of most Republicans but of most moderates. In November 2002 both DeLay and Blunt were elected to their new positions without opposition; DeLay presented Blunt with a velvet-covered hammer.

As whip, Blunt made two decisions that showed he was not DeLay’s puppet. One was his decision to name as his chief deputy whip Eric Cantor, who had served only one term in the House; Cantor was as surprised as everyone else. And he proposed to change House rules by repealing the eight-year term limit Newt Gingrich had imposed on speakers; that was agreed to by the whole House. Speculation grew that Blunt might some day run for Speaker, perhaps against DeLay. Blunt was for the most part successful as whip, but stumbled a couple of times. In June 2003 the leadership had to pull a compensatory time bill from the floor when it became apparent there were not enough votes to pass it. The Washington Post reported that Blunt in November 2002 had inserted into the homeland security bill a provision benefiting Philip Morris. He met his toughest challenge in passing the 2003 Medicare/prescription drug bill. In June he assembled a huge coalition and helped to produce a one-vote victory on the floor. In November on the vote on the conference report the leadership went to the floor without the needed 218 votes; the roll call started at 3 a.m. and lasted a record two hours and 53 minutes. Finally conservatives Trent Franks and Butch Otter were persuaded to switch their votes by the possibility that if the Republican bill failed the Democrats would get a vote on a bill with much more government involvement; they switched and the bill passed 220–215. In December 2004, after Republicans increased their majority to 232–203, Blunt worried that more Republicans would feel free to go off the reservation.

But that soon became the least of his worries. When DeLay was forced to step down as Majority Leader after he was indicted by a Texas grand jury in September 2005, Hastert initially planned to give the job to David Dreier for a temporary period. Just before the decision was to be announced, Blunt changed Hastert’s mind in a one-on-one meeting and he got the job while retaining his Majority Whip post. That was a heavy burden, especially with the House struggling to deal with the impact of Hurricane Katrina. During the next three months, Republicans struggled to pass bills in the House. In January 2006, DeLay announced that he would permanently give up his post as Leader. Blunt positioned himself as the Healer to replace the Hammer, but faced spirited month-long challenges from John Boehner and John Shadegg. After a week, Blunt claimed that he had the votes to win. But many members doubted his inevitability, and Boehner pushed ahead with his insurgent campaign. Scarred by multiple DeLay controversies and fearful of the November election, many worried that Blunt and his connections to Washington’s K Street would be a burden. In a dramatic second-ballot showdown, Boehner prevailed, 122–109. Blunt remained as Whip, and developed what appeared to be a smooth working relationship with Boehner. When House Republicans lost their majority in November, he received a new challenge: Shadegg challenged him for the downsized post of Minority Whip. Blunt won by an unexpectedly wide margin, 137–57. In the minority, he became more outspoken in criticizing Democrats’ management of the House and their efforts to “embarrass the president.”

Blunt has been reelected by wide margins. In January 2004, his son Matt Blunt announced his candidacy for governor with his father at his side in the high school gym in Strafford in Greene County. But the two then parted ways: Matt Blunt campaigned all over Missouri, while Roy Blunt did most of his campaigning for House Republicans across the nation. In November Matt Blunt was elected governor by a 51%-48% margin; he won 67%-32% in the counties in the 7th District.

Roy Blunt’s future is uncertain. In July 2007, amid speculation that he would retire at the end of the 110th Congress, Blunt said he would run for reelection in 2008. His goal to become Speaker of the House seems less likely to come to fruition. Some Republicans predicted that his loss to Boehner would lead him to quit the House but he has shown surprising resilience and remains an active Republican leader.

Committees

• Minority Whip.
  
• Energy & Commerce (13th of 26 R)
  Energy & Air Quality.
• Foreign Affairs (23d of 23 R).
  

Presidential Vote

District Demographics (More Info)

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: R +14
• Area size: 5,555 square miles
• Urban Population: 59.1%
• Rural Population: 40.9%
• Population 2000: 621,690
• Population 2005 (est): 664,214
• Median Income: $32,929
• Poverty Status: 13.0%
• Military Veterans: 14.4%
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 92.9% White; 1.2% Black; 0.7% Asian; 1.0% Native Am.; 0.1% Hawaiian; 1.5% Two+ races; 0.1% Other; 2.6% Hispanic Origin;
• Ancestry: 13.5% German%; 10.8% USA%; 9.2% Irish%;
• Occupation: Blue collar 28.5%; White collar 55.0%; Gray collar 16.5%;