Chuck Purgason

It’s anyone guess whether Missouri Rep. Roy Blunt will receive opposition for the Republican Senate nomination in next year’s primary election.

Less than a week after one potential Blunt challenger declined to enter the Senate race, Republican state Sen. Chuck Purgason late Tuesday announced an “exploratory” committee to gauge interest in a Senate campaign that would pit him against Blunt, a former GOP Whip who has the backing of party establishment figures.  

Purgason was first elected in 2004 to a state Senate district in southern Missouri that abuts Blunt’s congressional district. Purgason was re-elected in 2008 with more than two-thirds of the vote. He previously served eight years in the Missouri House.