Updated at 4:50 p.m., Oct. 4, with comments from Claire McCaskill and Blaine Luetkemeyer
Former St. Louis-area Republican Congressman Todd Akin, who touched off a national debate about rape and abortion rights when he was running for the U.S. Senate in 2012, died late Sunday at his home in Wildwood.
Akin was 74 and had battled cancer for several years.
“As my father’s death approached, we had people from all different walks of life share story after story of the personal impact he had on them,” his son Perry Akin said in a statement.
“He was a devoted Christian, a great father and friend to many. We cherish many fond memories: from him driving the tractor at our annual hayride, to his riveting delivery of the freedom story at 4th of July parties dressed in the full uniform of a colonial minuteman.
"The family is thankful for his legacy: a man with a servant’s heart who stood for truth.”
Born in New York, Akin grew up in St Louis County.
Akin was a former engineer with a marketing background when he won a seat in the Missouri House in 1988. He quickly became known as a fiscal and social conservative, with strong support from the state’s evangelical community and home schoolers.
He was an opponent of Missouri laws passed in the early 1990s allowing casino gambling.
Akin’s devoted religious base helped him narrowly win a crowded GOP primary in 2000 for the 2nd Congressional District seat, which he won that fall.
In the U.S. House, Akin pressed for more military spending and supported the war in Iraq. But he was an outspoken critic of then-President George W. Bush’s successful effort in 2003 to add drug coverage to the nation’s Medicare program.
In August 2012, Akin set his sights on the U.S. Senate. He won a three-way GOP primary to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill.
But within weeks, Akin ignited controversy when he explained his anti-abortion position to then-Fox 2 News reporter Charles Jaco. Akin said he opposed any exceptions for rape victims because “if it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."
Akin swiftly found himself under fire, with U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Missouri, among the state and national Republicans calling for him to step down as a candidate. A national uproar over abortion rights ensued that involved several GOP U.S. Senate candidates in other states.
Akin aired an ad in which he apologized for his choice of words, while standing firm on his anti-abortion views.
But his effort to move on didn’t work. In November 2012, McCaskill defeated Akin by 15 percentage points and swept in most of Missouri’s other statewide Democratic candidates.
In a book he published in 2014, Akin said he regretted running that apology ad because he believed it overshadowed his message.
“By asking the public at large for forgiveness,” Akin wrote, "I was validating the willful misinterpretation of what I had said.”
Akin said in an interview with St. Louis Public Radio in 2014 that he believed many Missourians saw him as “a pretty common-sense guy” who shared their opposition to liberal, big-spending proposals.
McCaskill said in a statement on Twitter: “He was a nice man, and although we had major disagreements about just about everything, he was authentic to his beliefs. He actually believed in everything he said, which is a tribute to his character. My thoughts are with his lovely family.”
U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-St. Elizabeth, said: “Todd was a dedicated husband, father, grandfather and public servant, serving the Show-Me-State for decades at both the state and federal level. My prayers are with the Akin family as we mourn the loss of this son of Missouri.”
Survivors include his wife, Lulli, four sons, two daughters and 18 grandchildren.
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