Attorneys general serve as the chief legal advisor and chief law enforcement officer for the state government and can play a significant role shaping national policy. Democrats held the attorney general office in Missouri from 1993 to 2016.
Missouri held an election for attorney general on November 8, 2016, with primary elections held on August 2. Republican Josh Hawley won election to the seat, which had previously been held by Democrats .
A primary election is an election in which voters select the candidate they believe should represent a political party in a general election. Primaries usually take place several months before a general election. Missouri utilizes an open primary system, in which registered voters do not have to be members of a party to vote in that party's primary.
citizen (number of years not specified) and have been a state resident for at least one year.
The Democratic Party 's primary featured a contest between Teresa Hensley, a former Cass County prosecutor, and Jake Zimmerman, the current St. Louis County assessor who once served in the Missouri General Assembly. Hensley won the primary election on August 2.
Missouri had a divided government during Governor Jay Nixon's tenure in office, ending a four-year Republican trifecta in 2009. However, Democrats had trifecta control of the state government as recently as 1993 to 2000. The governorship in Missouri has tended to alternate party hands since the 1970s, with no party controlling the seat for more than 12 years continuously. Historically a swing state, Missouri's electoral votes have gone to the Republican presidential candidate since 2000; voters chose Democrat Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996. Democrat Claire McCaskill first joined the U.S. Senate in 2007, while Roy Blunt (R) was elected in 2011.
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich are co-leading a coalition of 26 states to protect Americans’ right to self-defense at the United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS).
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt today filed a petition for writ of certiorari in Schmitt v. Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region, asking the Supreme Court of the United States to review Missouri’s law prohibiting abortions of unborn children with Down syndrome.
The 2012 Missouri Attorney General election was held on November 6, 2012, alongside the presidential and gubernatorial elections. The incumbent Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster, a Democrat, won re-election for a second full term against Republican attorney Ed Martin. As of 2022, this is the last time a Democrat was elected Attorney General of Missouri.
Koster was originally elected as attorney general in 2008 as a Democrat after switching from the Republican Party. Koster won despite accusations that his campaign violated state law in raising money from multiple committees. He also survived the disclosure that he played a supporting role in a plagiarism episode that damaged Attorney General William L. Webster’s campaign for governor in 1992. Fresh out of law school, Koster worked for Webster, a Republican, as an assist…
• March 27, 2012 - Filing deadline for Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians
• August 7, 2012 - Primary (gubernatorial and other statewide office) elections
• August 21, 2012 - Filing deadline for other third parties and Independents
• Chris Koster, incumbent Attorney General since 2008
Koster was unopposed for the Democratic nomination.
• 2012 United States presidential election in Missouri
• 2012 United States Senate election in Missouri
• 2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Missouri
• 2012 Missouri gubernatorial election
• Elections from the Missouri Secretary of State
Official campaign websites
• Chris Koster for Attorney General
• Ed Martin for Attorney General
• Elections from the Missouri Secretary of State
Official campaign websites
• Chris Koster for Attorney General
• Ed Martin for Attorney General