In 1984, at the age of 28, Senator Talent was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives, where he served for eight years and succeeded in passing numerous pieces of legislation, including legislative efforts to build roads, toughen drug laws, secure taxpayer rights and reduce taxes.

At the age of 32, Senator Talent was unanimously chosen by his colleagues as the Minority leader, the highest ranking Republican leadership position in the Missouri House.

He served in that capacity until 1992 when he was elected to Congress from Missouri's Second District.

Jim served Missouri in the U.S. House for eight years where he began changing Washington by co-authoring the historic Welfare Reform bill, championing national security issues on the House Armed Services Committee, enacting legislation to help revitalize urban neighborhoods and passing legislation to help lower health care costs.

In 2002, Missourians elected Jim to serve in the United States Senate where he has continued to change Washington for Missouri jobs, health care, energy and the nation's security.

In 2006, Jim narrowly lost to Claire McCaskill. He now serves as a senior advisor to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign.

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