Blaine Luetkemeyer

Summary

William Blaine Luetkemeyer (/ˈltkəm.ər/ LOOT-kə-my-ər; born May 7, 1952) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Missouri's 3rd congressional district since 2013, having represented Missouri's 9th congressional district from 2009 to 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Luetkemeyer formerly served as a member of the Missouri House of Representatives. On January 4, 2024, he announced he would not run for reelection in 2024.[1]

Blaine Luetkemeyer
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Missouri
Assumed office
January 3, 2009
Preceded byKenny Hulshof
Constituency9th district (2009–2013)
3rd district (2013–present)
Member of the Missouri House of Representatives
from the 115th district
In office
January 1999 – January 2005
Preceded byDon Steen
Succeeded byRodney Schad
Personal details
Born (1952-05-07) May 7, 1952 (age 71)
Jefferson City, Missouri, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
Jackie Luetkemeyer
(m. 1976)
Children3
EducationLincoln University (BA)
WebsiteHouse website

Early life and education edit

Luetkemeyer was born in Jefferson City on May 7, 1952.[2] He attended Lincoln University and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science with a minor in business administration.

Career edit

A lifelong farmer, Luetkemeyer has also owned several small businesses, as well as running a bank and serving as an insurance agent. He also served on the board of trustees for the village of St. Elizabeth, near Osage Beach.

Missouri state politics edit

In 1998, Luetkemeyer was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives from the 115th Legislative District.[3] As a state representative, Luetkemeyer chaired the Financial Services Committee and the House Republican Caucus and co-sponsored a statewide constitutional amendment defining marriage as being between a man and a woman, which was approved by 71% of Missouri voters in 2004. He also worked on legislation to allow Missourians to carry concealed firearms, ban partial-birth abortions, and reform worker compensation laws. He also supported deregulation of the financial industry—specifically the lending industry.

In 2004, Luetkemeyer did not seek reelection but instead was one of seven Republicans who ran for state treasurer. He finished second in the Republican primary, losing to Sarah Steelman, who won the general election.

In 2005, Governor Matt Blunt appointed Luetkemeyer Missouri Tourism Director, a post he held until he ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2008. One of his projects was working with Blunt and Lt. Governor Peter Kinder to start the Tour of Missouri, a cycling event modeled on the Tour de France.[citation needed]

U.S. House of Representatives edit

Luetkemeyer's district, currently the 3rd, was numbered as the 9th from 2009 to 2013. It contains most of east-central Missouri, including Jefferson City and some of the southern and northern St. Louis suburbs and exurbs.

Elections edit

2008 edit

Luetkemeyer became a candidate for the open seat in the 9th Congressional District after incumbent Kenny Hulshof’s resignation in his unsuccessful bid for governor. Luetkemeyer won the Republican primary with 39.7% of the vote against state representatives Bob Onder and Danie Moore, as well as Brock Olivo and Dan Bishir. Luetkemeyer narrowly won the general election.

2010 edit

Luetkemeyer defeated Charles Baker in the Republican primary. He faced token third-party opposition as the Democratic Party did not field a candidate for the district's seat. In the general election he received 77% of the vote.

2012 edit

Missouri was reduced to eight districts after the 2010 U.S. Census determined that the state's population growth was slower than the national average. Luetkemeyer's district was renumbered the 3rd Congressional District. It lost most of its northern portion to the newly drawn 6th Congressional District. To make up for the loss of population, it was pushed slightly to the west, gaining all of Jefferson City. Luetkemeyer already represented the share of the capital in Callaway County, but picked up Cole County in the redistricting process.

Luetkemeyer easily won the general election in his first run in the newly created district, with 63% of the vote.[4]

2014 edit

In the August primary, Luetkemeyer defeated two rivals with almost 80% of the vote. He won the general election with 68% of the vote.

2016 edit

2018 edit

2020 edit

Tenure edit

On October 23, 2013, Luetkemeyer introduced H.R. 3329; 113th Congress to enhance the ability of community financial institutions to foster economic growth and serve their communities, boost small businesses, and increase individual savings.[5] The bill would direct the Federal Reserve to revise certain regulations related to small bank holding companies (BHCs).[6][7] Current regulations allow BHCs with assets of less than $500 million that satisfy other tests to incur higher amounts of debt than larger institutions in order to acquire other banks.[6] H.R. 3329 would apply the less stringent standard to more BHCs by raising the asset limit to $1 billion and allow savings and loan holding companies to qualify.[6]

On June 26, 2014, Luetkemeyer introduced H.R.4986, which would end the controversial Operation Choke Point,[8] which was designed to limit the activities of money launderers but had come under criticism for alleged abuse.[9] On November 20, 2014, in a further effort to end Operation Choke Point, he introduced additional legislation that would require federal banking agencies to put in writing any suggestion or order to terminate a customer's banking account.[10][11]

In December 2020, Luetkemeyer was one of 126 Republican members of the House of Representatives to sign an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated[12] incumbent Donald Trump. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lacked standing under Article III of the Constitution to challenge the results of an election held by another state.[13][14][15]

In October 2022, Politico reported that Luetkemeyer criticized some US-based financial executives attending the Global Financial Leaders' Investment Summit, saying that "American executives attending an event with the CCP's so-called enforcer makes a person question whether human rights are a real concern," in reference to Chief Executive John Lee.[16]

Committee assignments edit

For the 118th Congress:[17]

Caucus memberships edit

Personal life edit

Luetkemeyer has been married to his wife Jackie since 1976. They have three children and six grandchildren. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus, the Eldon Chamber of Commerce, the Farm Bureau, and the National Rifle Association of America. He attends St. Lawrence Catholic Church.[22]

Electoral history edit

2008 Election for U.S. Representative of Missouri's 9th Congressional District
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Blaine Luetkemeyer 161,031 49.99
Democratic Judy Baker 152,956 47.49
Libertarian Tamara A. Millay 8,108 2.52
Total votes 322,095 100.00
2010 Election for U.S. Representative of Missouri's 9th Congressional District
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Blaine Luetkemeyer (Incumbent) 162,724 77.36
Libertarian Christopher W. Dwyer 46,817 22.26
Write-In Clifford Jeffery Reed 748 0.36
Write-In Ron Burrus 69 0.03
Total votes 210,358 100.00
2012 Election for U.S. Representative of Missouri's 3rd Congressional District
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Blaine Luetkemeyer 214,843 63.49
Democratic Eric C. Mayer 111,189 32.86
Libertarian Steven Wilson 12,353 3.65
Total votes 338,385 100.00
2014 Election for U.S. Representative of Missouri's 3rd Congressional District
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Blaine Luetkemeyer (Incumbent) 130,940 68.33
Democratic Courtney Denton 52,021 27.15
Libertarian Steven Hedrick 8,593 4.48
Write-In Harold Davis 66 0.03
Total votes 191,620 100.00
2016 Election for U.S. Representative of Missouri's 3rd Congressional District
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Blaine Luetkemeyer (Incumbent) 249,865 67.84
Democratic Kevin Miller 102,891 27.93
Libertarian Dan Hogan 11,962 3.25
Constitution Doanita Simmons 3,605 0.98
Write-In Harold Davis 10 0.00
Total votes 368,333 100.00
2018 Election for U.S. Representative of Missouri's 3rd Congressional District
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Blaine Luetkemeyer (Incumbent) 211,243 65.08
Democratic Katy Geppert 106,589 32.84
Libertarian Donald Stolle 6,776 2.09
Total votes 324,608 100.00
2020 Election for U.S. Representative of Missouri's 3rd Congressional District
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Blaine Luetkemeyer (Incumbent) 282,866 69.44
Democratic Megan Rezabek 116,095 28.50
Libertarian Leonard J. Steinman II 8,344 2.05
Write-In Tom Clapp 43 0.01
Total votes 407,348 100.00
2022 Election for U.S. Representative of Missouri's 3rd Congressional District
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Blaine Luetkemeyer (Incumbent) 180,746 65.11
Democratic Bethany Mann 96,851 34.89
Total votes 277,597 100.00

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Brooks, Emily (2024-01-04). "Missouri Republican Blaine Luetkemeyer to retire". The Hill. Retrieved 2024-01-04.
  2. ^ "Members of Congress: Blaine Luetkemeyer". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 28 February 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
  3. ^ IT, Missouri Secretary of State -. "Missouri Legislators L". sos.mo.gov. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  4. ^ "Election Results U.S. House 3rd District". Missouri Secretary of State website. 7 November 2012. Archived from the original on 15 November 2012. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  5. ^ "H.R. 3329 - Summary". United States Congress. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  6. ^ a b c "CBO - H.R. 3329". Congressional Budget Office. 21 February 2014. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  7. ^ Marcos, Cristina; Cox, Ramsey (6 May 2014). "Tuesday: House reforms Dodd-Frank, Senate debates energy bill". The Hill. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  8. ^ "H.R.4986 - End Operation Choke Point Act of 2014". 113th Congress (2013-2014). United States Congress. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  9. ^ Raasch, Chuck (14 November 2014). "Luetkemeyer says feds to investigate 'Operation Choke Point'". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  10. ^ "Luetkemeyer Introduces Legislation to Protect Customers from Operation Choke Point". 20 November 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  11. ^ "H.R.5758 - Financial Institution Customer Protection Act of 2014". 113th Congress (2013-2014). United States Congress. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  12. ^ Blood, Michael R.; Riccardi, Nicholas (December 5, 2020). "Biden officially secures enough electors to become president". AP News. Archived from the original on December 8, 2020. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
  13. ^ Liptak, Adam (2020-12-11). "Supreme Court Rejects Texas Suit Seeking to Subvert Election". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on December 11, 2020. Retrieved 2020-12-12.
  14. ^ "Order in Pending Case" (PDF). Supreme Court of the United States. 2020-12-11. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 11, 2020. Retrieved December 11, 2020.
  15. ^ Diaz, Daniella. "Brief from 126 Republicans supporting Texas lawsuit in Supreme Court". CNN. Archived from the original on December 12, 2020. Retrieved December 11, 2020.
  16. ^ "U.S. lawmakers slam U.S. corporate executives' Hong Kong trip plans". POLITICO. 5 October 2022. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
  17. ^ "Blaine Luetkemeyer". Clerk of the United States House of Representatives. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
  18. ^ "Member List". Republican Study Committee. Archived from the original on 1 January 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
  19. ^ "Members". Congressional Constitution Caucus. Archived from the original on 14 June 2018. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  20. ^ "Members". Congressional Western Caucus. Archived from the original on June 25, 2018. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  21. ^ "Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute".
  22. ^ "Biography - Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer". The Office of Blaine Luetkemeyer. United States House of Representatives. Archived from the original on July 4, 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2014.

External links edit

Missouri House of Representatives
Preceded by
Don Steen
Member of the Missouri House of Representatives
from the 115th district

1999–2005
Succeeded by
Rodney Schad
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Missouri's 9th congressional district

2009–2013
Constituency abolished
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Missouri's 3rd congressional district

2013–present
Incumbent
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by United States representatives by seniority
85th
Succeeded by