U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo. told Spectrum News this week he expects to run for re-election in 2024.

Luetkemeyer, 70, won a bid for this 8th term in November, representing a new third Congressional district which now stretches from the Lake of the Ozarks into St. Charles County. 

“I think we proved in the last go-round when we had redistricting that we were able to address the new district which is 330,000 new people and get around enough to be able earn their trust and support and did so in a way that we actually over-performed in the district by about 9 points so yeah, we’re excited about the upcoming election,” Luetkemeyer told Spectrum News during an appearance at a Montgomery County GOP Lincoln Days dinner Thursday night.

Luetkemeyer serves on the  House Financial Services and Small Business Committees, and is also a member of the House Special Committee dealing with China.

He expects the House to consider some form of legislation to address the problem with liquidity in the financial sector, “a teachable moment” in the wake of two high-profile bank failures nationally.

“They were outliers in what they did and how they managed their banks. The regulators did a really lousy job of managing those banks as well so both are equally to blame in my mind. But the problem with those two banks is that it exposed another underlying problem that is in our banking system right now which is the liquidity problem that we had–which these two banks had an extreme problem with,” he said.

In the interview and in his remarks to the GOP audience, Luetkemeyer portrayed the first 90 days of the 118th Congress as delivering legislatively on what Republicans have promised with their majority and serving as a check on the Biden administration.

The generally buttoned-up former banker from St. Elizabeth thanked the audience for helping Republicans win back the majority and “fire” Nancy Pelosi as Speaker and St. Louis native and U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters  as chairwoman of House Financial Services. 

Last month, Luetkemeyer waded into the-then pending indictment of former President Donald Trump by a New York City grand jury, saying “an indictment could do irreparable damage to our justice system for years to come.” The grand jury ultimately indicted Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records, with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office alleging a violation of state election law. Thursday, Luetkemeyer said it wasn’t a “serious legal exercise” and that prosecutors lacked “the authority or facts to back it up.”

While Trump has already garnered the 2024 endorsement of members of the St. Louis area congressional delegation including U.S. Rep. Mary Miller R-Ill. and U.S. Rep. Mike Bost R-Ill., along with U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt R-Mo. 

Luetkemeyer wasn’t ready to make a choice but said the former President could still get his backing.

“I could endorse him. We’ll see how this all plays out. There’s a lot of guys in the race. Let’s see how the pack sorts itself out,” he said.