Government of Missouri
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The government of the U.S. state of Missouri is organized into the state government and local government, including county government, and city and municipal government.
While the state was originally a part of the Democratic-dominated "Solid South," the state transitioned into a national bellwether at the start of the 20th century. Its position in the Midwest allowed for the state to become competitive for Republicans much earlier than many of its neighbors. After voting Republican twice in its entire history up to that point, it became a near-perfect bellwether and voted for the national winner all but once from 1904 to 2004.[1] However, the state has not voted Democratic since 1996.[2] In 2008, Democrat Barack Obama became the first Democrat to ever win the presidency without winning the state. The state's rightward drift became apparent since, as in 2012, it voted for the losing candidate in consecutive elections for the first time since 1900. Republicans captured the state legislature and majority of House seats in the 2000s for the first time since the 1940s. Meanwhile, Democrats lost their last statewide office in the 2022 elections.
State government
Constitution
The fourth and last
Legislative branch
The legislative branch consists of the
Executive branch
Missouri Government | |
Governor of Missouri
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R )
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Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: | R )
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Missouri Secretary of State :
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R )
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Cabinet of Missouri | |
Missouri State Auditor :
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R )
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Missouri State Treasurer: | R )
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Missouri Attorney General: | R )
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United States Senator: | R )
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United States Senator: | R )
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The executive branch is laid out in Article IV of the state constitution. It is headed by the
Judicial branch
The judicial branch (the
Seven judges sit on the Supreme Court of Missouri, which meets in the state capital, Jefferson City. Unlike the life tenure appointments of federal judges (including the Supreme Court of the United States), state supreme court judges hold the judicial bench for 12 years, as do judges of the Court of Appeals. Circuit Court judges have terms of six years and Associate Circuit Court judges have terms of four years. There are no term limits for judges, though there is a mandatory retirement age of 70 years.
Missouri pioneered a unique way of selecting judges for its state Supreme Court and Court of Appeals in an effort to remove some of the partisan politics from the selection process. Article V, Section 25(a) of the Missouri Constitution specifies a process, known as the
County and city government
Counties with more than 85,000 people may elect their own charters, smaller ones must use the standard charter dictated by the state.
Missouri allows cities to adopt their own charter should they chose to do so; it was the first state in the union to do so. Regardless of the freedom given to city governments, most municipalities choose to organize their local government around a mayor and a city council. Council members are typically elected in either citywide or district elections.
Political parties
Year | Republican / Whig | Democratic | Third party | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
2020 | 1,718,736 | 56.71% | 1,253,014 | 41.34% | 58,998 | 1.95% |
2016 | 1,594,511 | 56.38% | 1,071,068 | 37.87% | 162,687 | 5.75% |
2012 | 1,482,440 | 53.64% | 1,223,796 | 44.28% | 57,453 | 2.08% |
2008 | 1,445,814 | 49.36% | 1,441,911 | 49.23% | 41,386 | 1.41% |
2004 | 1,455,713 | 53.30% | 1,259,171 | 46.10% | 16,480 | 0.60% |
2000 | 1,189,924 | 50.42% | 1,111,138 | 47.08% | 58,830 | 2.49% |
1996 | 890,016 | 41.24% | 1,025,935 | 47.54% | 242,114 | 11.22% |
1992 | 811,159 | 33.92% | 1,053,873 | 44.07% | 526,533 | 22.02% |
1988 | 1,084,953 | 51.83% | 1,001,619 | 47.85% | 6,656 | 0.32% |
1984 | 1,274,188 | 60.02% | 848,583 | 39.98% | 0 | 0.00% |
1980 | 1,074,181 | 51.16% | 931,182 | 44.35% | 94,461 | 4.50% |
1976 | 927,443 | 47.47% | 998,387 | 51.10% | 27,770 | 1.42% |
1972 | 1,154,058 | 62.29% | 698,531 | 37.71% | 0 | 0.00% |
1968 | 811,932 | 44.87% | 791,444 | 43.74% | 206,126 | 11.39% |
1964 | 653,535 | 35.95% | 1,164,344 | 64.05% | 0 | 0.00% |
1960 | 962,221 | 49.74% | 972,201 | 50.26% | 0 | 0.00% |
1956 | 914,289 | 49.89% | 918,273 | 50.11% | 0 | 0.00% |
1952 | 959,429 | 50.71% | 929,830 | 49.14% | 2,803 | 0.15% |
1948 | 655,039 | 41.49% | 917,315 | 58.11% | 6,274 | 0.40% |
1944 | 761,524 | 48.43% | 807,804 | 51.37% | 3,146 | 0.20% |
1940 | 871,009 | 47.50% | 958,476 | 52.27% | 4,244 | 0.23% |
1936 | 697,891 | 38.16% | 1,111,043 | 60.76% | 19,701 | 1.08% |
1932 | 564,713 | 35.08% | 1,025,406 | 63.69% | 19,775 | 1.23% |
1928 | 834,080 | 55.58% | 662,562 | 44.15% | 4,079 | 0.27% |
1924 | 648,486 | 49.58% | 572,753 | 43.79% | 86,719 | 6.63% |
1920 | 727,162 | 54.56% | 574,799 | 43.13% | 30,839 | 2.31% |
1916 | 369,339 | 46.94% | 398,032 | 50.59% | 19,398 | 2.47% |
1912 | 207,821 | 29.75% | 330,746 | 47.35% | 159,999 | 22.90% |
1908 | 347,203 | 48.50% | 346,574 | 48.41% | 22,150 | 3.09% |
1904 | 321,449 | 49.93% | 296,312 | 46.02% | 26,100 | 4.05% |
1900 | 314,092 | 45.94% | 351,922 | 51.48% | 17,642 | 2.58% |
1896 | 304,940 | 45.25% | 363,667 | 53.96% | 5,299 | 0.79% |
1892 | 227,646 | 42.03% | 268,400 | 49.56% | 45,537 | 8.41% |
1888 | 236,252 | 45.31% | 261,943 | 50.24% | 23,165 | 4.44% |
1884 | 203,081 | 46.02% | 236,023 | 53.49% | 2,164 | 0.49% |
1880 | 153,647 | 38.67% | 208,600 | 52.51% | 35,042 | 8.82% |
1876 | 145,027 | 41.36% | 202,086 | 57.64% | 3,497 | 1.00% |
1872 | 119,196 | 43.65% | 151,434 | 55.46% | 2,429 | 0.89% |
1868 | 86,860 | 56.96% | 65,628 | 43.04% | 0 | 0.00% |
1864 | 72,750 | 69.72% | 31,596 | 30.28% | 0 | 0.00% |
1860 | 17,028 | 10.28% | 58,801 | 35.52% | 89,734 | 54.20% |
1856 | 0 | 0.00% | 57,964 | 54.43% | 48,522 | 45.57% |
1852 | 29,984 | 43.58% | 38,817 | 56.42% | 0 | 0.00% |
1848 | 32,671 | 44.91% | 40,077 | 55.09% | 0 | 0.00% |
1844 | 31,200 | 43.02% | 41,322 | 56.98% | 0 | 0.00% |
1840 | 22,954 | 43.37% | 29,969 | 56.63% | 0 | 0.00% |
1836 | 7,337 | 40.02% | 10,995 | 59.98% | 0 | 0.00% |
Like the rest of the nation, the two dominant parties in Missouri are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party (whose state affiliates are the Missouri Democratic Party and the Missouri Republican Party, respectively). The state secretary of state also recognizes the Constitution Party and Libertarian Party as organized parties,[7] although only five Libertarians currently hold elected office in Missouri.[needs update][citation needed]
The Democratic and Republican parties have been responsible for establishing the voting districts, casting votes in the
Federal representation
Missouri currently has 8 House districts In the 118th Congress, 2 of Missouri's seats are held by Democrats and 6 are held by Republicans. There are as follows:
- Missouri's 1st congressional district represented by Cori Bush (D)
- Missouri's 2nd congressional district represented by Ann Wagner (R)
- Missouri's 3rd congressional district represented by Blaine Luetkemeyer (R)
- Missouri's 4th congressional district represented by Mark Alford (R)
- Missouri's 5th congressional district represented by Emanuel Cleaver (D)
- Missouri's 6th congressional district represented by Sam Graves (R)
- Missouri's 7th congressional district represented by Eric Burlison (R)
- Missouri's 8th congressional district represented by Jason Smith (R)
Missouri's two United States Senators are Republicans Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt, serving since 2019 and 2023, respectively.
Missouri is part of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri and the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri in the federal judiciary. The district's cases are appealed to the St. Louis-based United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
See also
References
- ^ "Missouri Presidential Election Voting History - 270toWin".
- ^ Leip, David. "Presidential General Election Results Comparison—Missouri". US Election Atlas. Retrieved September 6, 2023.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-10-29. Retrieved 2008-09-11.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Missouri House of Representatives - Error".
- ^ "Did You Know - Facts About the Missouri Senate". www.senate.mo.gov. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
- ^ Leip, David. "Presidential General Election Results Comparison—Missouri". US Election Atlas. Retrieved December 16, 2020.
- ^ IT, Missouri Secretary of State -. "Established Political Parties". s1.sos.mo.gov. Retrieved 7 April 2018.