Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a defense appropriator and chair of the Senate Republican Policy Committee, said Monday he won’t seek reelection in 2022.
Blunt, who was first elected to the Senate in 2010 after serving 14 years in the House, is now the fifth Republican senator with plans to leave the chamber at the end of their current term.
During the latest defense budget cycle, Blunt noted he secured investments for F-15EX and Super Hornet fighter aircraft as well as the Navy’s MQ-25 drone and the new T-7 training aircraft, all of which will be built by Boeing [BA] in his home state of Missouri.
“This bill prioritizes resources to support the important role that Missouri’s defense installations play in our national security, including funding for the B-21 that will be based at Whiteman Air Force Base, further construction of the new National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency West headquarters in St. Louis, and additional funding for the new hospital at Fort Leonard Wood,” Blunt said in a statement prior to the budget’s passage in December.
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), who has served as the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee and its defense spending subcommittee, said last month he would not seek reelection, joining Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.).