Blunt, Roy Dean, 1950–, U.S. politician, b. Niangua, Mo., grad. Southwest Baptist Univ. (B.A. 1970), Southwest Missouri State Univ. (M.A. 1972). A Missouri county clerk and elections offficer from 1973 to 1984, he later served as state secretary of state (1984–93 and president of Southwest Baptist Univ. (1993–96). Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican in 1996, he became House Republican whip in 1999 and acting majority leader in 2005 when Tom DeLay stepped aside temporarily because he had been indicted. After DeLay made his resignation permanent, Blunt failed to win the majority leader's post; he remained the Republican whip until 2009. In 2010 he was elected to the U.S. Senate; he was reelected in 2016. He has chaired (2015–17, 2018–) the Senate rules committee.
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