GOP Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri fended off a tough challenger to keep his job Tuesday.
The 66-year-old Blunt beat Democrat Jason Kander, the Secretary of State, in what had been a close race.
Blunt met his supporters at a Springfield hotel early Wednesday morning and talked about that remarkable Republican sweep.
“Never in the history of the state, have we reelected majorities in the Missouri General Assembly, the House and the Senate, reelected a senator and elected five statewide Republican officials,” Blunt said.
If Blunt sounded surprised, he wasn’t alone. The race pitted a Washington insider versus an outsider, two men from two very different generations and polling showed the contest in a dead heat going into Election Day.
"I had a call about 20 minutes ago from Secretary Kander," Blunt said. "It was a generous call and it was both a concession call and a congratulatory call. What a fight he put up.”
Kander met with the few Democrats left at the Uptown Theatre in Kansas City after midnight, many already having downed their beers and a few even shedding some tears over the presidential returns.
Much like he did on the campaign trail, the 35-year-old Kander focused on his young supporters – he had hoped to become the first millennial to serve in Congress. He urged others his age not give up just because they lost.
“This is a generation that is capable of greatness, it is a numerous generation and it has a lot of work left to do,” Kander said.
The race set a record 46 million dollars in spending by outside groups and helped the Republicans keep the majority in the Senate.
