Blaine Luetkemeyer

William Blaine Luetkemeyer (born May 7, 1952) is an American politician and businessman who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Missouri from January 3, 2009, to January 3, 2025. Over eight consecutive terms in Congress, he represented Missouri’s 9th congressional district from 2009 to 2013 and, following redistricting, Missouri’s 3rd congressional district from 2013 to 2025. A lifelong resident of central Missouri, he built a career in farming, small business, banking, and state and federal public service before announcing on January 4, 2024, that he would not seek reelection to Congress.

Luetkemeyer was born in Jefferson City, Missouri, on May 7, 1952. He was raised in a rural, agricultural setting and developed early ties to the farming community that would shape his professional and political outlook. He attended Lincoln University in Jefferson City, where he studied political science and business. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science, with a minor in business administration, grounding himself in both public affairs and the fundamentals of commerce and management.

Before entering elective office, Luetkemeyer pursued a varied career in the private sector and local government. A lifelong farmer, he worked his family land and remained closely connected to agricultural issues throughout his life. In addition to farming, he owned several small businesses, gaining experience as an entrepreneur and employer. He also ran a bank and worked as an insurance agent, which gave him direct exposure to the financial services industry that would later inform his legislative focus in Congress. At the local level, he served on the board of trustees for the village of St. Elizabeth, near Osage Beach, Missouri, participating in grassroots governance and community decision-making.

Luetkemeyer’s state-level political career began in 1998, when he was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives from the 115th Legislative District. During his tenure in the Missouri House, he emerged as a leading Republican on financial and social policy. He chaired the Financial Services Committee and the House Republican Caucus, positions that placed him at the center of legislative strategy and oversight of banking and lending issues. He co-sponsored a statewide constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman, which was approved by 71 percent of Missouri voters in 2004. He also worked on legislation to allow Missourians to carry concealed firearms, to ban partial-birth abortions, and to reform workers’ compensation laws. In economic policy, he supported deregulation of the financial industry, particularly the lending industry. In 2004, rather than seek reelection to the Missouri House, he entered the Republican primary for state treasurer, one of seven Republicans in the race. He finished second in the primary, losing to Sarah Steelman, who went on to win the general election.

Following his state legislative service, Luetkemeyer was appointed Missouri Tourism Director in 2005 by Governor Matt Blunt, a position he held until he ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2008. As Tourism Director, he worked to promote Missouri as a travel destination and collaborated with Governor Blunt and Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder to launch the Tour of Missouri, a professional cycling event modeled on the Tour de France. This initiative was designed to raise the state’s national and international profile and stimulate local economies through tourism-related activity.

Luetkemeyer entered federal politics in 2008, becoming a candidate for the open seat in Missouri’s 9th Congressional District after incumbent Republican Kenny Hulshof left Congress to run unsuccessfully for governor. In a competitive Republican primary, Luetkemeyer won with 39.7 percent of the vote, defeating state representatives Bob Onder and Danie Moore, as well as Brock Olivo and Dan Bishir. In the general election, he narrowly defeated Democratic state representative Judy Baker. That contest marked the only time since Hulshof had unseated longtime Democratic incumbent Harold Volkmer that a Democratic candidate in the district managed to reach even 40 percent of the vote. Luetkemeyer took office on January 3, 2009, as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, beginning a congressional career that would span sixteen years and coincide with a period of significant economic, political, and international developments in American history.

Luetkemeyer was reelected to Congress multiple times with increasing margins. In one Republican primary, he defeated Charles Baker and advanced to the general election facing only token third-party opposition, as the Democratic Party did not field a candidate; he won that general election with 77 percent of the vote. Following the 2010 U.S. Census, Missouri’s congressional delegation was reduced from nine to eight seats due to relatively slow population growth. As a result, Luetkemeyer’s district was renumbered from the 9th to the 3rd Congressional District. The redrawn district, which contained most of east-central Missouri, including Jefferson City and portions of the southern and northern St. Louis suburbs and exurbs, lost much of its northern territory to the newly configured 6th Congressional District. To compensate for the population shift, the 3rd District was extended slightly westward and gained all of Jefferson City, adding Cole County to the area Luetkemeyer already represented in Callaway County. He easily won the general election in his first campaign in the newly numbered 3rd District with 63 percent of the vote, and in a subsequent cycle he prevailed in the August primary against two rivals with nearly 80 percent of the vote before winning the general election with 68 percent.

During his eight terms in the House of Representatives, Luetkemeyer was an active participant in the legislative process and became particularly associated with financial services, small business, and regulatory policy. On October 23, 2013, he introduced H.R. 3329 in the 113th Congress, a bill intended to enhance the ability of community financial institutions to foster economic growth, serve their communities, boost small businesses, and increase individual savings. The measure directed the Federal Reserve to revise regulations governing small bank holding companies by raising the asset threshold from $500 million to $1 billion and extending the more flexible standard to qualifying savings and loan holding companies, thereby allowing more institutions to incur higher levels of debt for bank acquisitions. On June 26, 2014, he introduced H.R. 4986 to terminate Operation Choke Point, a Department of Justice and regulatory initiative aimed at combating money laundering that had drawn criticism for alleged overreach and pressure on lawful businesses. On November 20, 2014, he introduced additional legislation requiring federal banking agencies to provide written documentation for any suggestion or order to terminate a customer’s banking account, seeking to increase transparency and limit informal regulatory pressure on financial institutions.

Luetkemeyer’s committee assignments reflected his focus on financial regulation, small business, and national security in the economic sphere. He served on the House Committee on Financial Services, including the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy, the Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance, and the Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance and International Financial Institutions, where he served as chair. He also served on the House Committee on Small Business, including the Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax and Capital Access and the Subcommittee on Rural Development, Energy, and Supply Chains, addressing issues affecting entrepreneurs, rural economies, and supply-chain resilience. In addition, he was a member of the Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, reflecting his engagement with U.S.–China relations and concerns about economic and security competition.

Throughout his congressional service, Luetkemeyer was active in several ideological and issue-oriented caucuses. He was a member of the Republican Study Committee, the Congressional Constitution Caucus, and the Congressional Western Caucus, aligning himself with conservative policy priorities and advocacy for natural resources and rural communities. He also participated in the Congressional Taiwan Caucus, the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, and the Rare Disease Caucus, indicating an interest in international democratic partners, child welfare and adoption policy, and health issues affecting individuals with rare medical conditions. In December 2020, he was one of 126 Republican members of the House 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 incumbent President Donald Trump; the Court declined to hear the case, ruling that Texas lacked standing under Article III of the Constitution to challenge other states’ election results. In October 2022, he publicly criticized U.S.-based financial executives attending the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit in Hong Kong, stating that “American executives attending an event with the CCP’s so-called enforcer makes a person question whether human rights are a real concern,” referring to Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee and underscoring his concerns about human rights and engagement with the Chinese Communist Party.

Luetkemeyer’s congressional tenure spanned a period of major national and international events, including the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, debates over financial regulation and deregulation, partisan realignments, and evolving strategic competition with China. From his initial election in 2008 through his final term ending in 2025, he consistently represented the interests of his east-central Missouri constituents, combining his background in farming, small business, and banking with his legislative responsibilities in financial services, small business policy, and national economic security.