Missouri Attorney General election, 2016

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Missouri Attorney General Election

Primary Date: August 2, 2016

General Election Date: November 8, 2016

November Election Winner: Josh Hawley (R)

Incumbent Prior to Election: Chris Koster (D)

State Executive Elections Top Ballot Governor • Lt. Governor Attorney General • Secretary of State Treasurer Down Ballot None

Key election dates

Filing deadline (major parties): March 29, 2016

Primary date: August 2, 2016

Filing deadline (general election): August 23, 2016

General election date: November 8, 2016

Recount request deadline: TBD

Inauguration: January 9, 2017

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.

HIGHLIGHTS

Incumbent Attorney General Chris Koster (D), although eligible for re-election to a third term, did not run, having decided to run for governor of Missouri instead.

Cass County Prosecutor Teresa Hensley defeated Jake Zimmerman in the August 2 Democratic primary election. Law professor Josh Hawley defeated state Sen. Kurt Schaefer in the Republican primary election.

The general election was rated as a Toss-up; Democrats were at risk of losing control of the seat in November.

Hawley won the general election on November 8, 2016.

This election was one of Ballotpedia's top 10 state-level races in 2016.
Click here to read the full list.

Overview

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.

Though Missouri voters have a tendency to re-elect incumbent attorneys general by large margins, open races have been determined by narrower margins in recent years. Incumbent Chris Koster (D) declined to seek re-election in 2016 in favor of a bid for the governorship, foreshadowing a highly competitive race for the attorney general seat.

Law professor and national appellate lawyer Josh Hawley (R) and state Sen. Kurt Schaefer (R) competed for the Republican nomination. The two were engaged in an expensive and contentious primary race, with Hawley emerging the victor. Eight days before the primary, both candidates reported just under $3 million in contributions. Hawley had also earned several national endorsements, while Schaefer had been endorsed by a large majority of Republican state senators. In May 2016, the Missouri Ethics Commission announced that Schaefer was under investigation for allegations that he used his office to lobby the former president of the University of Missouri system in an attempt to hurt Hawley's ability to run for office. The investigation was prompted by a complaint by the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust.

Cass County prosecutor Teresa Hensley (D) defeated St. Louis County assessor and former state Rep. Jake Zimmerman in the August 2 Democratic primary election. Zimmerman had reported almost twice as much in fundraising as Hensley eight days prior the primary election.

Hensley and Hawley competed in the November general election, which was rated as a Toss-up. Hawley won the general election on November 8, 2016.

Candidates

Teresa Hensley (D)
Cass County prosecutor

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Josh Hawley (R)
Professor, University of Missouri Law School since 2011

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Click [show] to view candidates who declined to run in this election or who were defeated in the primary elections.
Declined Chris Koster (D)- Incumbent Scott Sifton (D) - state senator Defeated Jake Zimmerman (D) St. Louis County assessor since 2011 Kurt Schaefer (R) State Sen. since 2009

Results

General election

Josh Hawley defeated Teresa Hensley in the Missouri attorney general election.

Missouri Attorney General, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Josh Hawley	61.10%	1,389,196
	Democratic	Teresa Hensley	38.90%	884,354
Total Votes				2,273,550
Source: Missouri Secretary of State

Primary elections

Democratic primary election

Teresa Hensley defeated Jake Zimmerman in the Missouri Democratic primary for attorney general.

Missouri Democratic primary for attorney general, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Teresa Hensley	52.72%	167,626
Jake Zimmerman	47.28%	150,322
Total Votes (3214 of 3214 precincts reporting)		317,948
Source: Missouri Secretary of State

Republican primary election

Josh Hawley defeated Kurt Schaefer in the Missouri Republican primary for attorney general.

Missouri Republican primary for attorney general, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Josh Hawley	64.22%	415,702
Kurt Schaefer	35.78%	231,657
Total Votes (3214 of 3214 precincts reporting)		647,359
Source: Missouri Secretary of State

Context of the 2016 election

Primary elections

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.

Missouri's primary elections took place on August 2, 2016.

Incumbent Chris Koster

Though he was eligible for re-election, incumbent Attorney General Chris Koster (D) declined to seek another term. He chose instead to run for the governorship as incumbent Gov. Jay Nixon was prevented from running by term limits.

After narrowly securing a position in the primary in 2008, Koster easily defeated Republican Mike Gibbons in the general election. He went on to again easily win re-election in 2012 against challenger Ed Martin (R). Previously, Koster had served three terms as prosecuting attorney for Cass County.

Party control in Missouri

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.

Democrats controlled the attorney general's office for much of the eight decades prior to the 2016 election; Republicans held the seat for a 24-year period from 1969 to 1993. Missouri voters have a tendency to re-elect incumbent attorneys general by wide margins, though open contests have recently been decided by narrower margins. Then-Governor Jay Nixon (D) won the 1992 open race for attorney general against Republican David L. Steelman by just four percentage points. He won re-election in 1996, 2000, and 2004 by margins of over 20 percent. Incumbent Attorney General Chris Koster (D) was elected by five percentage points in the 2008 open race; he won re-election in 2012 by 15 percent.

The 2016 open election for attorney general was a highly competitive race.

Campaigns

Race background

Democratic primary

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.

Republican primary

The Republican Party's primary featured a contest between state Senator Kurt Schaefer and Josh Hawley, a constitutional law scholar and litigator, from which Hawley emerged the victor.

Hawley received early support from conservatives. The editorial board of National Review, a national journal of conservative opinion, endorsed him in August 2015, saying, "It’s especially important that conservatives choose smart, principled candidates for attorney general. Missouri conservatives face an especially stark choice in the race for the Republican nomination." They went on to say that Schaefer "began his political career seeking a Democratic appointment to the state courts"; that he "opposed attempts to reform the judicial-selection process to reduce the influence of trial attorneys"; and that, as a moderate-to-liberal Republican state lawmaker, he "won the endorsement of the AFL-CIO."

On January 19, 2016, Tim Wolfe, the former president of the University of Missouri system, wrote a letter stating that Schaefer had lobbied Wolfe in an attempt to hurt Hawley's ability to run for office. Hawley teaches law at the University of Missouri law school, which is part of the University of Missouri system for which Wolfe was president. Wolfe stated that Schaefer asked Wolfe to remove Hawley's "right to ask for an unpaid leave of absence" while running for public office. Wolfe elaborated on his response to Schaefer: "When I questioned the fairness of this and I refused to budge on his right to run for office, he then asked me to get in the middle of the tenure decision for Mister Hawley, which I refused as well." Schaefer responded to the letter Wolfe wrote, saying, "I think what he says about me is not true and wrong and I don't see anything truthful in that letter."

On May 5, 2016, the Missouri Ethics Commission announced an investigation into the allegations that Schaefer misused his office to prevent Hawley from running in the Republican primary election. The commission had previously rejected a complaint from the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust the previous week, but the foundation resubmitted the request, asserting that the commission was bound by law to investigate. An attorney for the foundation stated that the commission's initial refusal "raise[d] serious ethical questions." The foundation's complaint against Schaefer included allegations of misconduct and bribery.

Schaefer responded to the investigation in an email to KRCG: "The claims made by Professor Josh Hawley's secretly-funded D.C.-based entity are completely false. At no point in time did I ever advocate for a change in the University of Missouri's policies regarding leave. I did, however, urge the University multiple times to follow the policies they had in place. I look forward to Professor Hawley revealing who is paying to file these baseless claims."

The commission dismissed the complaint on August 15, 2016, stating that they found no evidence that Schaefer's conversation with Wolfe was had with the intent of personal gain.

Campaign donors

Large portions of both Hawley's and Schaefer's campaigns heading into the primary election were funded by single donors. Joplin businessman David Humphreys donated $1.75 million to Hawley's campaign; retired St. Louis investor Rex Sinquefield donated more than $2 million to Schaefer's campaign.

Race tracking

Race Rankings - Attorney General of Missouri
Race Tracker	Race Rating
Governing	Toss-up
Overall call	Toss-up
Note: Ratings are based on projections found in Governing, Larry Sabato, The Rothenberg & Gonzales Political Report, and The Cook Political Report where available. They were updated periodically throughout the election season.

Polls

Democratic primary match-up: Teresa Hensley and Jake Zimmerman
Poll	Zimmerman	Hensley	Undecided	Margin of error	Sample size
SurveyUSA for KSDK July 20-July 17, 2016	39%	41%	20%	+/-3.6	2,546
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to [email protected].

Republican primary match-up: Hawley vs. Schaefer
Poll	Josh Hawley	Kurt Schaefer	Undecided	Margin of error	Sample size
SurveyUSA for KSDK July 20-July 17, 2016	34%	39%	28%	+/-3.6	2,546
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to [email protected].

Endorsements

General election endorsements

Note: The table below includes endorsements earned by candidates during the primary elections.

Key endorsements, general election candidates
Jake Zimmerman (D)	Josh Hawley (R)
St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay (D)	Former Attorney General and U.S. Senator John Danforth (R)
St. Louis City Treasurer Tishaura Jones	Family Research Council
NARAL Pro-choice Missouri	National Review magazine
What is a key endorsement?

Primary elections endorsements

Key endorsements, Republican primary candidates
Josh Hawley	Kurt Schaefer
Former Attorney General and U.S. Senator John Danforth (R)	Speaker of the House Todd Richardson (R)
Family Research Council	Senate Majority Floor Leader Mike Kehoe (R)
National Review magazine	Senate President Pro Tempore Ron Richard (R)
Citizens United's political action committee	Senate Majority Whip Brian Munzlinger (R)
Former U.S. Attorney General Ed Meese	Missouri State Troopers Association
Former Governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal (R)	National Rifle Association
Gun Owners of America	Missouri Right to Life
Former U.S. Senator Kit Bond (R)
Family Research Council
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
What is a key endorsement?

Key endorsements, Democratic primary candidates
Teresa Hensley	Jake Zimmerman
NARAL Pro-choice Missouri	St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay (D)
EMILY's List	St. Louis City Treasrer Tishaura Jones
State Sen. and former 2016 attorney general candidate Scott Sifton (D)	NARAL Pro-choice Missouri
What is a key endorsement?

Campaign finance

General election candidates

Teresa Hensley Campaign Finance Reports
Report	Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions for Reporting Period	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
10/1/2015-12/31/2015	1/15/2016	$151,160.19	$113,602.00	$(33,963.58)	$228,198.61
1/1/2016-3/31/2016	4/15/2016	$228,198.61	$94,934.88	$(36,639.66)	$284,126.23
Second quarter	4/1/2016-6/30/2016	$284,126.23	$110,450.10	$(99,969.75)	$288,541.48
Pre-primary	7/1/2016-7/21/2016	$288,541.48	$67,471.00	$(291,931.15)	$44,681.33
30 days after primary	9/1/2016	$44,681.33	$620,056.96	$(205,745.57)	$457,792.72
October quarterly report	10/17/2016	$457,792.72	$1,105,496.76	$(400,778.97)	$1,148,376.41
			Running totals
			$2,112,011.7	$(1,069,028.68)

Josh Hawley Campaign Finance Reports
Report	Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions for Reporting Period	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
10/1/2015-12/31/2015	1/15/2016	$756,977.32	$140,886.59	$(35,106.19)	$802,542.33
1/1/2016-3/31/2016	4/15/2016	$802,542.33	$439,040.77	$(105,338.64)	$1,126,997.46
Second quarter	4/1/2016-6/30/2016	$1,126,997.46	$917,394.44	$(1,114,680.27)	$926,512.46
Pre-primary	7/1/2016-7/21/2016	$926,512.46	$1,416,735.07	$(1,372,509.81)	$970,717.72
30 days after primary	9/1/2016	$970,717.72	$1,364,416.36	$(1,180,685.32)	$1,152,678.76
October quarterly report	10/17/2016	$1,152,678.76	$3,279,965.81	$(99,871.46)	$4,323,648.11
			Running totals
			$7,558,439.04	$(3,908,191.69)

Primary candidates

Jake Zimmerman Campaign Finance Reports
Report	Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions for Reporting Period	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
10/1/2015-12/31/2015	1/15/2016	$1,069,217.01	$169,528.43	$(44,194.98)	$1,184,875.33
1/1/2016-3/31/2016	4/15/2016	$1,184,875.33	$212,084.56	$(45,627.01)	$1,342,738.57
Second quarter	4/1/2016-6/30/2016	$1,342,738.57	$224,625.80	$(292,975.54)	$1,264,049.88
Pre-primary	7/1/2016-7/21/2016	$1,264,049.88	$71,738.00	$(567,507.28)	$764,517.32
			Running totals
			$677,976.79	$(950,304.81)

Kurt Schaefer Campaign Finance Reports
Report	Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions for Reporting Period	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
10/1/2015-12/31/2015	1/15/2016	$1,485,926.80	$650,055.00	$(59,935.86)	$2,071,695.94
1/1/2016-3/31/2016	4/15/2016	$2,071,695.94	$93,363.00	$(82,615.70)	$2,082,443.24
Second quarter	4/1/2016-6/30/2016	$2,082,443.24	$608,743.29	$(1,424,876.91)	$1,266,309.62
Pre-primary	7/1/2016-7/21/2016	$1,266,309.62	$1,580,611.56	$(2,050,706.72)	$796,214.46
			Running totals
			$2,932,772.85	$(3,618,135.19)

Campaign media

Declared candidates' campaign and social media sites:
Note: If a candidate is not listed below, Ballotpedia staff were unable to locate any campaign media for that candidate. Do you know of any? Tell us!

Democrats

Teresa Hensley (D)
Jake Zimmerman (D)

Republicans

Josh Hawley (R)
Kurt Schaefer (R)

Know of a candidate's campaign site not listed? Tell us!

About the office

The Attorney General of Missouri is an elected constitutional office within the executive branch of the Missouri state government. The office was created in 1806 when Missouri was part of the Louisiana Territory. Missouri's first state constitution in 1820 provided for an appointed attorney general, but since the 1865 constitution, the attorney general has been elected.

By law, the attorney general is a member of the Board of Fund Commissioners, the Board of Public Buildings, the Governor's Committee on Interstate Cooperation, the Missouri Highway Reciprocity Commission, and the Missouri Housing Development Commission.

As the state's chief legal officer, the attorney general must prosecute or defend all appeals to which the state is a party, including every felony criminal case appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court and courts of appeal. The attorney general also is required to institute, in the name and on behalf of the state, all civil suits and other proceedings that are necessary to protect the state's rights, interests, or claims. The attorney general may appear, interplead, answer, or defend any proceedings that involve the state's interests, or appear on behalf of the state in declaratory judgment proceedings when the constitutionality of a statute is challenged.

The attorney general also renders official opinions to the executive and legislative branch and the county prosecuting attorneys on questions of law relating to their duties. The attorney general may institute quo warranto proceedings against anyone unlawfully holding office or move to oust any public official for malfeasance in office.

Helpful Facts About U.S. State Attorneys General

Attorneys general are directly elected in 43 states. The remaining seven are appointed by the governor, the state legislature, or the state supreme court. Heading into the 2016 round of elections, there were 22 Democratic, 27 Republican, and one nonpartisan attorneys general. Ten states were scheduled to hold attorney general elections in 2016. In 2014 the annual salaries for state attorneys general ranged from $72,408 (Arkansas) to $176,988 (Tennessee). The office of attorney general exists in all 50 states; for 19 of them, the attorney general is not required to be licensed to practice law or even hold a law degree.

Incumbent

The incumbent was Chris Koster, a Democrat elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2012.

Qualifications

To qualify for the office of attorney general, an individual must be a U.S. citizen (number of years not specified) and have been a state resident for at least one year.

Authority

The Missouri Constitution addresses the office of attorney general in Article IV, the Executive Department.

Under Article IV, Section 12:

The executive department shall consist of all state elective and appointive officials and employees except officials and employees of the legislative and judicial departments. In addition to the governor and lieutenant governor there shall be a state auditor, secretary of state, attorney general...

Constitutional and statutory provisions

While the attorney general's existence and method of selection are established by Article IV of the state constitution, the office's duties are outlined in Title IV, Chapter 27 of the Missouri Revised Statutes.

Past elections

2012

See also: Missouri attorney general election, 2012

Attorney General of Missouri General Election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Chris Koster Incumbent	55.9%	1,491,139
	Republican	Ed Martin	40.6%	1,084,106
	Libertarian	Dave Browning	3.5%	92,819
Total Votes				2,668,064
Election results via Missouri Secretary of State

2008

On November 4, 2008, Koster defeated Republican Mike Gibbons in the race for attorney general.

2008 Race for Attorney General - General Election
Party		Candidate	Vote Percentage
	Democratic Party	a Chris Koster	52.9%
	Republican Party	Mike Gibbons	47.1%
Total Votes			2,784,366

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Missouri state attorney general election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Missouri Attorney General election, 2016 - Google News

State profile

Demographic data for Missouri
	Missouri	U.S.
Total population:	6,076,204	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	68,742	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	82.6%	73.6%
Black/African American:	11.5%	12.6%
Asian:	1.8%	5.1%
Native American:	0.4%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more:	2.4%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	3.9%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	88.4%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	27.1%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$48,173	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	18.2%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Missouri. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in Missouri

Missouri voted Republican in all six presidential elections between 2000 and 2020.

More Missouri coverage on Ballotpedia

• Elections in Missouri
• United States congressional delegations from Missouri
• Public policy in Missouri
• Endorsers in Missouri
• Missouri fact checks
• More...

See also

Missouri government:

• Missouri state executive offices
• Missouri State Legislature
• Missouri courts

Previous elections:

• State executive official elections, 2015
• State executive official elections, 2014

Ballotpedia exclusives:

• State executives compensation
• State of the state addresses
• Who runs the states?

External links

Suggest a link

• Office of the Missouri Attorney General