Senator Roy Blunt’s Hoping For A Better Week

Longtime Washington insider Senator Roy Blunt had an absolutely terrible week last week. It was pretty much the worst-case scenario for an incumbent as vulnerable as he is this close to the election. Senator Blunt faced headline after headline after headline highlighting the deep lobbyist ties at the heart of his campaign and questioning whether he actually lives in Missouri at all.

 

Let’s take a look at the week that was:

 

• McClatchy reported on the web of lobbyists surrounding Blunt, with a must see interactive graphic illustrating his complicated ties

 

• The FEC is looking at a handful of donations to the Blunt campaign that exceeded the legal limit, including two from groups connected to Blunt’s lobbyist campaign manager son, Andy

 

• USA Today questioned whether Blunt actually lives in Missouri, highlighting how he rented out his Missouri “residence”

 

• Almost immediately after this USA Today story, an article in The Georgetowner seemed to answer the questions surrounding Blunt’s residency, where they referred to Blunt as a “Georgetown resident”

 

• Local media picked up on the report asking, “Does U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt live in Missouri? A new report is casting some doubt.  USA Today poured through more than a decade of records, and couldn’t figure out what Blunt considers home base.”

 

• The St. Louis Post-Dispatch examined how Blunt’s changed during his twenty years in Washington, discussing his deep lobbyist ties and calling him a “major player at the intersection of money and influence in DC.”

 

And to make matters even worse for Blunt…

 

• Jason Kander crushed Blunt in the third quarter, raising more than $3 million to the incumbent’s $1.8 million

 

“With less than a month to go until Election Day, Senator Roy Blunt was probably hoping not to have to spend his time defending the complicated web of lobbyist ties surrounding his campaign or trying to convince voters he actually lives in Missouri,” said Lauren Passalacqua, DSCC National Press Secretary. “While Blunt faced a week of bad press, Jason Kander was traveling the state, holding roundtables with students and small business owners and campaigning with Senator Elizabeth Warren at an over-capacity crowd rally. Kander holds all the momentum heading into the final weeks of the campaign, and will be the Senator Missourians deserve.”