Former Missouri Congressman Billy Long was tapped on Wednesday evening by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the Internal Revenue Service.
Trump called Long — who served six terms representing a Southwest Missouri district — a “consummate people person,” adding “taxpayers and the wonderful employees of the IRS will love having Billy at the helm.”
The current IRS commissioner’s term doesn’t expire until 2027.
Long was one of the first elected officials to jump on the “Trump train,” a phrase he claims to have coined. When most considered Trump’s candidacy a joke or publicity stunt, Long said he was all in, touting Trump to foreign leaders and GOP insiders who snickered at the notion that the real estate mogul and reality TV star would be the next president.
“Trump, I saw it early on,” Long told The Independent in 2022, “he has the ‘it’ factor.”
After a long career as an auctioneer, and a few years as a conservative talk radio host, Long decided to jump into the 2010 race for the Congressional seat being vacated when Roy Blunt decided to run for U.S. Senate.
Long said no one took him seriously.
“It was an eight-way race,” Long said, “and I was supposed to come in ninth. I was the Donald Trump of the race.”
He was pegged as a candidate who was only in the race “for publicity,” Long said, “to help my business and blah, blah, blah, the same things they said about Trump.”
His own campaign consultants told him he was “too fat to put on TV,” he said. “And you can put that in the newspaper. They said, ‘You’re too fat. You can’t go on TV. You’ll scare people.’”
In the end, Long won the primary by around 7.5 percentage points. He cruised to victory that fall, joining a massive class of freshmen Republicans who swept into office in the Tea Party wave.
He says the key to his victory was authenticity.
“I may not look the part,” Long said. “But I guaranteed to voters that I would be the part, that I would do the right thing for the right reason every day. And that resonated with people.”
His first year in Congress, according to The Lever, Long signed a letter urging the IRS to launch a probe of the tax-exempt status of the Humane Society of the United States, a nonprofit that focuses on animal welfare and opposes animal cruelty. The letter followed the Humane Society’s support of a successful Missouri ballot measure strengthening regulations on dog breeders.
In 2022, Long gave up his congressional seat to run for U.S. Senate, finishing fourth in the GOP primary behind the eventual winner, Eric Schmitt.
According to Trump’s Wednesday announcement, since leaving Congress Long has worked as a business and tax advisor, “helping small businesses navigate the complexities of complying with the IRS Rules and Regulations.”
“I have known Billy since 2011,” Trump said. “He is an extremely hard worker, and respected by all, especially by those who know him in Congress… Congratulations Billy!”
This story was originally published in the Missouri Independent, part of the States Newsroom.
