Senator Talent is a Co-Chairman of Mercury and has been active in Missouri and national politics for 20 years.

Senator Talent's career in public service began in 1984, when at the age of 28 he was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives where he served eight years, the last four as the senior Republican leader in the Missouri House.  In 1992, he was elected to the first of four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives where he represented Missouri's Second Congressional District.  During his eight years in the U.S. House of Representatives, Talent co-authored the historic welfare reform bill, championed national security issues on the House Armed Services Committee, and enacted legislation to help revitalize urban neighborhoods and help lower health care costs.

In 2002, Missourians elected Talent to serve in the United States Senate where he worked with Republicans and Democrats to enact critical legislation for Missouri and served on the Senate Armed Services, Energy and Natural Resources, and Agriculture Committees.  Working with Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden, Senator Talent was successful in securing critical funding and construction bonds in the highway bill and with Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Talent succeeded in passing the most comprehensive anti-meth bill ever enacted into law.  In the summer of 2005, Senator Talent led the fight to add a renewable fuels standard to the energy bill and now, 7.5 billion gallons of renewable fuels like ethanol and bio-diesel must be added to the nation’s fuel supply by 2012.

Jim and his wife, Brenda, were married in 1984.  They have three young children: Michael, Kate and Chrissy.  Brenda practices law part-time at the law firm, Bryan Cave. Brenda also served four years as an officer in the United States Army.