By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Missourians should brace for what could be a nasty political season now that veteran U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt has decided not to run for re-election.
Missouri Western State University political science professor Edwin Taylor speculates the increasingly bitter tone of politics might have been a big factor in Blunt’s decision.
“Politics in Washington is exhausting now and I think there are lots of people who are finding that they get less and less joy out of public service as elected officials, because of just how hostile things have become,” Taylor tells St. Joseph Post. “Again, it pretty feels like the parties are at war with one another.”
Several Republicans are likely to test the waters as a potential successor to Blunt. And, the decision of the long-time Republican to vacate the seat will give Democrats hope to pick up an open seat.
Republicans will get the focus, though.
Taylor says he doesn’t know who in the party perceives themselves as a viable candidate and what candidates might or might not seek former President Donald Trump’s endorsement.
“I think you’re going to see a lot of money come into the primaries, some that’s going to be dark money, some that is going to be coming from super PACS, which will be undisclosed money,” according to Taylor. “That’s the fight that we’re going to see in Missouri and I do think this is the bigger fight internally that the Republican Party’s having about the direction of and ownership of the party.”
Those internal Republican fights along with the escalated attacks from various social media platforms and hardened stances in both political parties make for a different political environment than when many veteran lawmakers went into politics.
Taylor says Blunt might just have had enough of an increasingly toxic political environment.
“Again, I think most of our senior politicians are at a point where I think they’re going to find that their influence is waning anyway, because we have so many younger politicians, especially in the Republican Party, who are louder, more vocal, less behind the scenes and are pushing the party in a very different direction.”
Taylor says Blunt, who is 71, will say all the right things when explaining his decision.
“He may just want to be done and do something different, come back and fish and hunt and do whatever he does with this life,” Taylor says. “I think a lot of it though, it just gets to the point where the environment has become just unsatisfying. There’s just no joy in it anymore.”