Top House financial services committee member Luetkemeyer to retire

WASHINGTON — Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, the longtime Republican from Missouri and senior member of the House Financial Services Committee, will not seek reelection in 2024, his office said. 

Luetkemeyer had established himself as one of the committee’s most influential voices. He currently chairs the panel’s subcommittee on national security, and before his time in Washington, worked as a state banking examiner and community banker. He was first elected in 2009, and will retire when his term ends in January 2025. 

“It has been an honor to serve the great people of the Third Congressional District and State of Missouri these past several years,” Luetkemeyer said in a statement. “However, after a lot of thoughtful discussion with my family, I have decided to not file for re-election and retire at the end of my term in December. Over the coming months, as I finish up my last term, I look forward to continuing to work with all my constituents on their myriad of issues as well as work on the many difficult and serious problems confronting our great country. There is still a lot to do.” 

Luetkemeyer is the second senior Republican on the House Financial Services Committee to announce that he will not seek reelection in the upcoming races. 

The panel’s current chairman, Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, has also said he will retire from Congress at the end of the year, leaving open the top Republican spots on the committee. Before announcing his departure, Luetkemeyer was considered a frontrunner to take over for McHenry as the top Republican on the committee, and had previously expressed interest in the position. 

His departure leaves Reps. Andy Barr of Kentucky, French Hill of Arkansas and Bill Huizenga of Michigan as the most likely frontrunners to serve as the top Republican on the committee in the next Congress. Of those candidates, Hill is the most senior member and led the committee on an interim basis when McHenry was interim speaker last year. 

Luetkemeyer had staked out several signature banking issues in his time on the committee, but none more so than a crusade against the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s CECL, or “current expected credit loss” standard. Prior to Congress’ most recent recess, Luetkemeyer introduced a bill that would increase rulemaking guidelines for FASB and require it to report annually to Congress. 

Luetkemeyer was also one of the loudest voices criticizing “Operation Chokepoint,” and in hearings, has frequently complained that Biden administration banking officials have inserted politics into the industry. 

His departure is not likely to lose Republicans a seat. His district, representing central Missouri and some St. Louis suburbs, is considered safely Republican.