JEFFERSON CITY — With Andrew Bailey departing for a job in the Trump administration, Missouri got its fourth attorney general in six years Monday when Republican Catherine Hanaway was sworn into the post.
Hanaway, 61, took the oath of office in a private event in the Missouri Supreme Court building, ticking another major box on her lengthy resume, which includes serving as speaker of the Missouri House and U.S. attorney in 51ºÚÁÏ.
A ceremonial swearing-in ceremony will take place in October.
“I want to get to work,†Hanaway said during a press conference in her office across the street from the Capitol.
Hanaway is the first woman to serve as Missouri attorney general. Among the roster of Republican statewide office holders, Hanaway is the only woman.
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She takes over an office of about 400 employees after serving as a partner in the 1,000-plus attorney Husch Blackwell law firm, where she also served as chair of the firm.
Hanaway first ran for elected office in 1998, winning a seat representing a 51ºÚÁÏ County district in the Missouri House. She also made an unsuccessful bid for Secretary of State in 2004, losing to Democrat Robin Carnahan.
In appointing her following Bailey’s decision to become co-deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Gov. Mike Kehoe said he wants stability in an office that has seen high turnover since Democrat Chris Koster served in position until 2016.
U.S. Sens. Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt both used their jobs as attorney general as a springboard to their current positions, just as Bailey used the position to move to the nation’s capital.
Hanaway said her goals for the position mirror Kehoe’s: fighting crime. Bailey had modeled the office on the same partisan underpinnings as his predecessors, using the post to insert Missouri into headline-grabbing fights in support of Trump.
Hanaway also said she will continue cases launched by Bailey, including the prosecution of 51ºÚÁÏ County Executive Sam Page, who was indicted in July by a grand jury for allegedly using tax dollars to campaign against a ballot question.
“That case will continue to move forward,†she told reporters.
She also said she will continue to pursue the removal of 51ºÚÁÏ City Sheriff Alfred Montgomery over allegations of misspending and handcuffing a deputy jail commissioner.
Hanaway said she intends to run for a full term in 2028.
On Thursday, Hanaway is traveling to Florida for an event in a suite at the Miami Marlins baseball game to begin raising campaign funds. A political action committee formed to support her, the Conservative Justice for Missouri PAC, already has received $15,000 from Enterprise Holdings of 51ºÚÁÏ.
Bailey, meantime, is in the process of closing his personal campaign committee and distributing money back to donors. It is not clear what will happen to the more than $500,000 that sits in a separate PAC that supported Bailey during the 2024 election.
