Donald Trump picks Missouri’s Billy Long to lead IRS • Missouri Independent

On By Littum

Former Missouri congressman Billy Long was tapped Wednesday night by President Donald Trump to lead the Internal Revenue Service.

Trump called Long — who served six terms representing a district in southwest Missouri — a “consummate human being,” adding “the taxpayers and the wonderful employees of the IRS will love having Billy at the helm.”

Long was one of the first elected officials to jump on the “Trump train,” a phrase he claims to have invented. With most viewing Trump’s candidacy as a joke or a publicity stunt, Long said he was all in, touting Trump to foreign leaders and GOP insiders who laughed at the notion that the real estate mogul and reality TV star would be the next president.

“Trump, I saw it early,” 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 vacated when Roy Blunt decided to run for the U.S. Senate.

Long said no one took him seriously.

“It was an eight-way race,” Long said, “and I had 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 write that in the newspaper. They said, ‘You’re too fat. You can’t go on TV. You’re going to scare people.’”

Billy Long displays his tie signed by former President Donald Trump shortly before he filed to run for the United States on February 22, 2022 in Jefferson City (Madeline Carter/Missouri Independent).

In the end, Long won the primary by about 7.5 percentage points. He cruised to victory that fall, joining a massive class of freshman Republicans swept into office in the Tea Party wave.

He says the key to his victory was authenticity.

“I might not look the part,” Long said. “But I guaranteed the 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.”

In 2022, he gave up his congressional seat to run for the 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 IRS rules and regulations.”

“I’ve 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!”