James Matthes Talent (born October 18, 1956) is an American politician who was a U.S. senator from Missouri from 2002 to 2007. He is a member of the Republican Party.
After serving for eight years in the U.S. House of Representatives and then working as a lobbyist, he ran for Governor of Missouri in 2000, losing to Democrat Bob Holden. Two years later, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, defeating Democrat Jean Carnahan in a special election to complete the term to which Carnahan's husband, Mel, had been elected posthumously in 2000. In the Democratic wave of November 2006, Talent lost his re-election bid to Claire McCaskill, 50% to 47%.
Talent, a senior adviser to Mitt Romney's 2008 presidential campaign, served as a member of Romney's 2012 economic policy team during the 2012 U.S. presidential campaign. Talent is a distinguished fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a member of the Defense Policy Board. He is also a co-chairman at Mercury, a Washington D.C. lobbying firm. Following Donald Trump's victory in the 2016 presidential election, Talent was rumored to be on the short list for United States Secretary of Defense, a position ultimately offered to James Mattis.
Talent grew up in Des Peres, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. His father, Milton Oscar Talent, was the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, and was the first in his family to go to college, graduating from Harvard Law School and becoming a successful lawyer. Talent's mother, Marie Frieda (née Matthes), was an independent court reporter who was raised on a small farm near DeSoto, Missouri. She was from a Christian background; her German ancestors had settled in Jefferson County, Missouri beginning in 1832.
Talent graduated from Kirkwood High School in Kirkwood, Missouri, in 1973. He earned his B.A. in political science from Washington University in St. Louis, graduating with the Arnold J. Lien Prize as the most outstanding undergraduate in political science. Talent graduated Order of the Coif from the University of Chicago Law School, receiving his J.D. in 1981. Following law school, he served as a law clerk to Judge Richard A. Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Before winning political office Talent served as an adjunct professor at the Washington University School of Law. He married Brenda Lee Lyons in 1984. The Talents have three children.
Talent's interfaith family did not attend religious services, and later in life Talent became a member of the Presbyterian Church in America. He was inspired to become a Christian while listening to one of Luis Palau's radio broadcasts in his car. He pulled over and accepted Jesus Christ into his life then. He refers to it as the moment he "passed from death to life."
Talent began his political career in 1984 when he was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives. He served four terms there, the last two as minority leader.
In the 1992 House of Representatives election, Talent defeated Bert Walker, the cousin of then-president George H. W. Bush and won the Republican nomination for the state's 2nd Congressional District, based in St. Louis's western suburbs. He went on to defeat Democratic incumbent Joan Kelly Horn in the general election, despite being heavily outspent.
The district had been altered after the 1990 census to preserve large Democratic majorities in the neighboring 1st District of Bill Clay and 3rd District of Dick Gephardt. Horn had appealed for a new map, even asking for a share of St. Louis, but was rebuffed by Clay and Gephardt.
Although Talent won narrowly in 1992, he never had another close race in what became a solidly Republican district. The only challenge he faced came in the 1996 House election, when Horn sought a rematch. Even though popular Democratic Governor Mel Carnahan won the district in his concurrent election, Talent won the rematch with 61% of the vote.
As a freshman in Congress, Talent authored and introduced the Welfare Reform Act of 1994, which was the precursor to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act. Talent served as chairman of the Small Business Committee from 1997 to 2001.
House Small Business Committee, chair (1997–2001)
House Armed Services Committee
House Education and the Workforce Committee
2000 Missouri gubernatorial election
Talent did not seek re-election to Congress in 2000, instead running for governor. He was narrowly defeated by Democratic state Treasurer Bob Holden, 49.1% to 48.2%.
For ten months in 2001, Talent worked for Washington lobbying firm Arent Fox, During this time, Talent was not allowed to directly lobby Congress, and he was not licensed to practice law in Washington, leading some Democratic opponents to accuse the lobbying firm of using his appointment as an illegal conduit to donate toward his upcoming Senate race. Arent Fox said the idea that Talent was not paid for genuine work was "absurd", but that "Talent's Republican ties did play a role in his hiring."
In the November 2000 elections, Mel Carnahan, who had died in a plane crash three weeks before, remained on the ballot for election to the Senate. Missouri election law would not allow for Carnahan's name to be removed from the November ballot. Carnahan received more votes than his Republican opponent, incumbent senator (and later United States Attorney General) John Ashcroft. Lieutenant Governor Roger Wilson, as he had promised before the election, appointed Carnahan's widow, Jean, in her husband's place.