Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, Blunt was called back into active naval service, after he had been elected to the office of Secretary of State for Missouri. He completed a six-month tour of duty in Great Britain during Operation Enduring Freedom, during which time he continued to work full-time for the state as well. He was a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy Reserve. In 1998, Blunt was elected as a Republican to the Missouri House of Representatives to represent the 139th legislative district for a two-year term. In 2000, he was elected Missouri Secretary of State; although only a first-term state representative, Blunt defeated the Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives, Steve Gaw. Blunt was the only Republican elected to statewide office in Missouri in 2000. In the general election on November 7, 2000, Blunt defeated Democratic opponent Steve Gaw with 51.4% of the vote, to Gaw's 45.1%. Blunt was 29 on election day, 30 at the time he assumed office, making him the youngest ever to win statewide office in Missouri. His father had been elected to the same office at age 34. As Secretary of State, Blunt promoted a state election reform bill in 2002, which won support of the Republican-controlled Senate and Democratic House. In 2004, Blunt required all electronic voting machines purchased by the state to produce a voter-verified paper ballot. Blunt faced only token opposition in the Republican primary, which he won with 534,393 votes (68.28%). In the general election, he faced Missouri State Auditor Claire McCaskill, who had defeated incumbent Governor Bob Holden in the Democratic primary. The first of two debates between Blunt and McCaskill was held on 18 October where McCaskill compared her experience to Blunt's inexperience; while Blunt said that McCaskill would not support the Marriage protection amendment to the State Constitution. In the two debates Blunt described himself as bringing change to Missouri and was assisted by President George W. Bush during the campaign. McCaskill kept her distance from Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry due to Bush's lead in Missouri. In the end Blunt narrowly defeated McCaskill with surveys showing his conservative stance on social issues and the strong showing of President Bush in Missouri helped him to victory. Blunt obtained strong leads in the rural parts of the state which was sufficient to overcome McCaskill's leads in St. Louis and Jackson County. Blunt defeated McCaskill by 1,382,419 votes (50.83%) to 1,301,442 (47.85%) and thus became Missouri's second-youngest Governor.