Talent, James Matthes (1956-…), was a member of the United States Senate from 2002 to 2007. Talent, a Republican, represented Missouri. Before becoming a senator, Talent served for eight years in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Talent was born on Oct. 18, 1956, in Des Peres, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. He received a bachelor’s degree from Washington University in 1978 and a law degree from the University of Chicago Law School in 1981. In 1982 and 1983, he clerked for U.S. Appeals Court Judge Richard A. Posner. Talent was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 1984 and served as House minority leader from 1989 to 1992.
Talent was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1992 and took office in 1993. As a congressman, Talent had a consistently conservative voting record. He was a leading supporter of the 1996 welfare reform act that limited how long people can receive welfare benefits, and shifted much responsibility for administering welfare from the federal government to the states. With Representative J. C. Watts, Jr., of Oklahoma, he coauthored the American Community Renewal Act of 2000, which provided tax incentives to attract businesses to impoverished urban and rural communities. Talent also chaired the Small Business Committee and served on committees on education and on the armed services.
In 2000, Talent ran for governor of Missouri rather than seek a fifth term in the House. He lost the election in a close race.
In 2002, Talent ran for the U.S. Senate in a special election to fill out the remaining four years of the term of Democrat Mel Carnahan, who had died in an airplane crash in 2000. Talent defeated Carnahan’s widow, Jean A. Carnahan, who had held the seat for the first two years of her husband’s term. Talent took office in November 2002. In November 2006, Talent lost a reelection bid to State Auditor Claire McCaskill, a Democrat.
