Akin was born in New York City, the son of Nancy Perry (née Bigelow) and Rev. Paul Bigelow Akin. He moved to St. Louis and attended John Burroughs School. After graduating, he attended the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts where he earned a degree in management engineering, and in 1984 he earned a Master of Divinity degree at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis. During college he was member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.
From 1972 to 1980, Akin served in the Missouri National Guard. After his military career, he took up work at IBM as an engineer and later became a manager at Laclede Steel Company.
Akin was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 1988, representing Town and Country and much of West County. He won re-election in 1990 (59%), 1992 (100%), 1994 (70%), 1996 (67%), and 1998 (66%). 12 years in the state house, Akin voted for carrying concealed weapons, voted against the parks and soils sales tax, voted against the 1993 tax increase and education spending increase. Akin sponsored legislation to prohibit casino companies from contributing to Missouri state lawmakers. In 1995, he fought Democrat Governor Mel Carnahan on state-funding for abortion, which Akin opposed.
In 2000, Republican U.S. Representative Jim Talent vacated the seat in his unsuccessful run for Governor of Missouri. Akin won a closely contested Republican primary election to replace Talent, defeating former St. Louis County Executive Gene McNary and State Senator Franc Flotron. He defeated Democratic State Senator Ted House in the general election, winning 55 percent of the vote. He never faced another contest even that close, and was reelected five times.
In 2010, Akin won re-election with 67.9% of the vote. He had been challenged for the seat by Democratic nominee Arthur Lieber, Libertarian nominee Steve Mosbacher, and write-in candidate Patrick M. Cannon.
Akin has a lifetime ACU rating of 97.24.
He sounds like a great guy who said something really, really stupid in a moment in which he was caught offguard. Unfortunately, we are in an age of soundbites. This one is a killer. If he leaves, as I believe he should, I hope there is another good conservative to take out McCaskill.