In Mexico, Missouri, Bond won his Republican Congressional primary in August 1968 but narrowly lost the general election to the incumbent Democratic Congressman Bill Hungate.
In 1969, Bond became an Assistant Attorney General under John Danforth. He next was chief counsel of Missouri's Consumer Protection Division, and was then elected State Auditor in November 1970,
In 1976, in a surprising upset, Bond was defeated for re-election by Democrat Joseph P. Teasdale, then Jackson County Prosecutor. In 1980 Bond made a successful comeback, defeating fellow Republican and incumbent Lieutenant Governor Bill Phelps in the primary and defeating Teasdale in November. Among his greatest accomplishments was taking the Parents As Teachers program statewide.
Bond was succeeded as governor in 1985 by John Ashcroft, a fellow Republican.
U.S. Senate
Elections
After Sen. Thomas Eagleton decided not to run for re-election, Bond was elected Senator in 1986, defeating Lieutenant Governor Harriett Woods. Bond was narrowly re-elected in 1992 over St. Louis County Councilwoman Geri Rothman-Serot. In 1998 Bond decisively defeated Attorney General Jay Nixon and Libertarian Tamara Millay after a hard-fought campaign, and in 2004 he handily won re-election over Democratic challenger State TreasurerNancy Farmer with 56 percent of the vote.
On October 5, 2005, Bond was one of only nine Senators to vote against the Interrogation Limits bill, which strictly defines the methods of interrogation that can be used by US forces.
On March 28, 2006, Bond voted [link] against creating the Office of Public Integrity, which would have looked into charges of corruption by lawmakers [link].
Personal life
Bond's son Sam, who completed a tour of duty in Iraq in 2005, is a member of the United States Marine Corps, making Bond one of only a few federal elected officials with a child serving in uniform.
In 1994, his wife, Carolyn, filed for a divorce, which was finalized the following year. Bond married Linda Pell, now Linda Bond, in 2002. She grew up in the Kansas City, Mo., suburb of Gladstone and works as a consultant to the National Republican Senatorial Committee. She and Bond had dated for about a year before they were engaged on May 17, 2001, and had also dated in 1996 and 1997. It is her second marriage as well.
After winning his second term as Governor, Bond sued his investment manager and PaineWebber, alleging his $1.3 million trust fund had been drained. He was one of several clients who sued, and he settled in 1996 for $900,000.