Jay Nixon

Jay Nixon
55th Governor of Missouri
Incumbent
Assumed office January 12, 2009
Lieutenant	Peter Kinder
Preceded by	Matt Blunt
40th Attorney General of Missouri
In office January 11, 1993 – January 12, 2009
Governor	Mel Carnahan Roger Wilson Bob Holden Matt Blunt
Preceded by	William Webster
Succeeded by	Chris Koster
Personal details
Born	Jeremiah Wilson Nixon February 13, 1956 (1956-02-13) De Soto, Missouri
Political party	Democratic Party
Spouse(s)	Georganne Nixon
Children	Jeremiah Will
Residence	De Soto, Missouri
Alma mater	University of Missouri
Profession	Attorney
Religion	Methodism
Website	Governor's Website Campaign Website

Jeremiah Wilson "Jay" Nixon, Sr. (born February 13, 1956) is the 55th and current Governor of the U.S. state of Missouri. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as Missouri's Attorney General before his election in 2008.

Life and political career

Nixon is a lifelong resident of De Soto, a suburb of St. Louis, where he was born. His mother, Betty Lea (née Willson), was a teacher and president of the local school board, and his father, Jeremiah "Jerry" Nixon, served as the city's mayor. He graduated from the University of Missouri in 1978, later earning a law degree from the same institution. After a period of private practice in his hometown, he was elected to the Missouri Senate from a district in Jefferson County, serving for three terms.

He made his first bid for statewide office in 1988, an unsuccessful effort to oust incumbent U.S. Senator John Danforth. Nixon only won 32% of the vote compared to Danforth's 68%--at the time, the most lopsided defeat a Democrat had suffered in a statewide race in Missouri history. Nixon was first elected as Missouri's Attorney General on November 3, 1992, on a platform of fighting crime, cleaning up government corruption, and protecting consumers and the environment. Nixon followed William L. Webster as Attorney General. The 1992 race for Attorney General between Nixon and former State House Minority Leader David Steelman was especially heated; however Nixon beat Steelman 51% to 45%, with an unusually high 4% of the votes going to the Libertarian Party candidate.

Nixon was re-elected as Attorney General by a wide margin in 1996, and in 1998 he again made an unsuccessful run for U.S. Senate, this time losing to incumbent Republican Kit Bond. In 2000 and 2004 Nixon was again re-elected as Attorney General, both times by similarly wide margins.

Accomplishments as Attorney General

One of the most popular programs Nixon has implemented is the state's No Call program. More than 3.5 million Missourians are a part of the No Call list, which reduces unwanted telemarketing calls. Nixon also has recovered more than $1.2 million from telemarketers who violated the No Call law.

Nixon's victory in the U.S. Supreme Court in Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Government PAC reinstated Missouri's campaign contribution limits and cleared the way nationally for campaign finance reform. In two other cases of significance, Nixon's work in the Blue Cross and Blue Shield and the Health Midwest cases have resulted in the formation of the state's two largest health care foundations, which will use more than $1.5 billion to help provide health care services to the state's population. Litigation by Nixon against tobacco companies for illegally marketing cigarettes to young people resulted in the largest settlement in the history of the state.

As Attorney General, Nixon created the Environmental Protection Division to enforce Missouri's environmental laws. Attorneys in this division take legal action to stop the pollution of the state's air, water and soil and to look after Missouri's agricultural interests. Successful litigation by the division has resulted in the cleanup of polluted sites and millions of dollars awarded to the state. Nixon also led the fight to protect the state's interests in the management of the Missouri River as well as to preserve some of the state's most valuable natural resources, such as Church Mountain and the waterways of the White River basin.^{[citation needed]}

Personal achievements

Nixon's aggressive actions in the Attorney General's Office earned him national recognition. Barrister magazine named him one of the 20 outstanding young lawyers in the nation, and the Missouri Jaycees selected him one of Ten Outstanding Young Missourians. Prior to becoming Attorney General, he was recognized by the Conservation Federation of Missouri for his environmental work as a state senator.

Officials with the Great Rivers Council of the Boy Scouts of America have notified Gov. Jay Nixon that he has been selected to receive the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award (DESA). Of those Scouts who have attained the rank of Eagle Scout, fewer than one in 1,000 have received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. Gov. Nixon attained the rank of Eagle Scout in 1969 at the age of 13 as part of Troop 559 in DeSoto. The award will be presented by the Great Rivers Council on behalf of the National Eagle Scout Association and the Boy Scouts of America during 2010 as part of the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America. The Great Rivers Council is headquartered in Columbia and covers 33 counties in central and north central Missouri.^{[citation needed]}

Controversies

As Attorney General, Nixon has also been heavily involved in controversial decisions regarding school desegregation, capital punishment, and abortion. Nixon has overseen the state's involvement in the court settlements that ended mandatory urban busing in St. Louis and Kansas City's public schools. His role in the desegregation cases has caused friction with some African American leaders. In addition, Missouri Republicans have criticized Nixon for his campaign soliciting campaign contributions from utility companies, including Ameren during an ongoing criminal investigation by his office of the company, which were immediately returned when the matter drew attention.

The Missouri Information Analysis Center (MIAC) issued a report titled "The Modern Militia Movement" on February 20, 2009, informing the Missouri State Highway Patrol of several groups of people who could possibly be linked to domestic militia groups. According to the report, these groups included white Christians, supporters of third-party presidential candidates Ron Paul, Bob Barr, and Chuck Baldwin, as well as opponents of gun control, illegal immigration, abortion, the Federal Reserve System, and the Internal Revenue Service. Following a joint letter from Paul, Barr, and Baldwin condemning the report, Nixon and the MIAC issued an apology concerning the report and stated that it will no longer be displayed on any official state websites.

2008 Governor campaign

Governor Matt Blunt unexpectedly announced on January 22, 2008, that he would not seek a second term. By the filing deadline on March 25, 2008, three Democratic and five Republican candidates had filed.

In the primary election on August 5, 2008, Nixon was selected to be the Democratic nominee, and U.S. Representative Kenny Hulshof was selected to be the Republican nominee. Nixon won the gubernatorial race by 19 percentage points over Hulshof to become Missouri's 55th governor (by 58% to 39%) on November 4, 2008.

Penn Valley College incident

On September 14, 2010, a 22-year-old Metropolitan Community College (MCC-KC) student who suffered from schizophrenia slashed the throat of MCC-KC Dean Al Dimmit Jr., who survived the attack, in a hallway by the computer lab near where Nixon was to speak about a half hour later at the Penn Valley College campus in Kansas City's Penn Valley Park. In the scuffle College Chancellor Mark James wrestled with Casey Brezik and was also nicked. Brezik told police that he thought he had stabbed Nixon. Brezik had worn a bulletproof vest to school. Press reports indicate Brezik had an anarchist symbol tattooed on his right hand and a star, hammer and sickle tattooed on his left hand. Nixon, who was at Kansas City Downtown Airport en route to the engagement canceled the appearance. Nixon returned to the college at a different campus on September 24.

Electoral history

Missouri Gubernatorial Election 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Jay Nixon	1,680,611	58.40
	Republican	Kenny Hulshof	1,136,364	39.49
	Libertarian	Andy Finkenstadt	31,850	1.11	-
	Constitution	Greg Thompson	28,941	1.01

Missouri Attorney General Election 2004
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Jay Nixon	1,592,842	59.96
	Republican	Chris Byrd	1,000,503	37.66
	Libertarian	David R. Browning	43,538	1.64	-
	Constitution	David Fry	19,802	0.75

Missouri Attorney General Election 2000
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Jay Nixon	1,378,296	60.25
	Republican	Sam Jones	855,814	37.41
	Libertarian	Mitch Moore	53,363	2.33	-

Missouri U.S. Senate Election 1998
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Kit Bond	830,625	52.68
	Democratic	Jay Nixon	690,208	43.77
	Libertarian	Tamara A. Millay	31,876	2.02	-
	Constitution	David Fry	15,368	0.97
	Reform	James F. Newport	8,780	0.56

Missouri Attorney General Election 1996
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Jay Nixon	1,243,091	59.42
	Republican	Mark Bredemeier	767,962	36.71
	Constitution	Kimberly Lowe	81,074	3.88

Missouri Attorney General Election 1992
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Jay Nixon	1,154,714	49.94
	Republican	David L. Steelman	1,064,814	46.05
	Libertarian	Mitchell J. Moore	92,576	4.00	-

Missouri U.S. Senate Election 1988
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	John Danforth	1,407,416	67.70
	Democratic	Jay Nixon	660,045	31.75
	Libertarian	John Guze	11,410	0.55	-

External links

• Governor Jay Nixon official site
• Jay Nixon for Governor 2012 official campaign site
• Biography at the National Governors Association
• Biography, interest group ratings, public statements, vetoes and campaign finances at Project Vote Smart
• Biography at WhoRunsGov.com at The Washington Post
• Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
• Campaign contributions at FollowTheMoney.org
• Appearances on C-SPAN programs
• Profile at Notable Names Database

Legal offices
Preceded by William Webster	Attorney General of Missouri 1993–2009	Succeeded by Chris Koster
Political offices
Preceded by Matt Blunt	Governor of Missouri 2009–present	Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by Harriett Woods	Democratic nominee for Senator from Missouri (Class 1) 1988	Succeeded by Alan Wheat
Preceded by Geri Rothman-Serot	Democratic nominee for Senator from Missouri (Class 3) 1998	Succeeded by Nancy Farmer
Preceded by Claire McCaskill	Democratic nominee for Governor of Missouri 2008	Most recent
United States order of precedence
Preceded by Joe Biden as Vice President	Order of Precedence of the United States Within Missouri	Succeeded by Mayor of city in which event is held
		Succeeded by Otherwise John Boehner as Speaker of the House of Representatives
Preceded by Paul LePage as Governor of Maine	Order of Precedence of the United States Outside Missouri	Succeeded by Mike Beebe as Governor of Arkansas