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Catherine Hanaway
2025 - Present
2029
0
Catherine Hanaway (Republican Party) is the Attorney General of Missouri. She assumed office on September 8, 2025. Her current term ends on January 8, 2029.
On August 19, 2025, Governor of Missouri Mike Kehoe (R) appointed Hanaway as attorney general to replace Andrew Bailey (R).[1]
Hanaway is a former Republican Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives. She became the chamber's first female speaker in 2003 and served until she left the chamber in 2005.[2][3] Hanaway ran for Missouri Secretary of State in 2004, but was defeated by Robin Carnahan (D), the daughter of former Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan (D).[4]
Political career
Below is a list of offices within Ballotpedia’s scope. Offices outside of that scope will not be listed. If an update is needed and the office is within our scope, please contact us.
Hanaway's political career includes the following offices:
- 2025-present: Attorney General of Missouri
- 2005-2009: U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri
- 1999-2005: Missouri House of Representatives
Elections
2016
- See also: Missouri gubernatorial election, 2016
Hanaway ran for election to the office of governor of Missouri in 2016. Hanaway sought the Republican nomination but was defeated in the August 2, 2016, primary election.[4]
Other Republicans who had also declared for the office included Missouri Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder, Navy SEAL and nonprofit CEO Eric Greitens, and businessman John Brunner.[5] The four candidates engaged in an expensive and contentious primary election that included attack ads and acrimonious debates.
Eric Greitens defeated John Brunner, Peter Kinder, and Catherine Hanaway in the Missouri Republican primary for governor.
| Missouri Republican primary for governor, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Eric Greitens |
34.56% | 236,481 |
| John Brunner | 24.79% | 169,620 |
| Peter Kinder | 20.70% | 141,629 |
| Catherine Hanaway | 19.95% | 136,521 |
| Total Votes (3214 of 3214 precincts reporting) | 684,251 | |
| Source: Missouri Secretary of State | ||
Race background
Schweich suicide
On February 26, 2015, Schweich was found dead in his home due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound.[6] Schweich's supporters accused Schweich's opponent, Republican Catherine Hanaway, of launching a smear campaign against him that ultimately led to his suicide.[6] In February 2015, a political action committee (PAC) called Citizens for Fairness aired radio ads criticizing former gubernatorial candidate Thomas Schweich (R). The ad criticized Schweich as a weak candidate whom opponents would "squash ... like a bug that he is."[7] The ads aired prior to Schweich's poor showing in a straw poll against Hanaway. Hanaway briefly suspended her campaign in response to Schweich's suicide.[6] Following her return to the campaign trail at the end of March 2016, she denied any knowledge of the Citizens for Fairness ad prior to its airing. "It wasn’t my style. I wouldn’t have run it," Hanaway said, adding: "What my campaign is going to be about is a positive vision for Missouri."[8]
A report later issued by the Clayton Police Department stated that an investigation found no clear motive for Schweich's suicide, nor any link between it and the ad opposing him.[9][10][9]
Campaign finance
Endorsements
| Key endorsements, Republican primary candidates (1 of 2) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catherine Hanaway | Eric Greitens | ||||||||
| State Senate President Pro Tempore Tom Dempsey (R) | State Rep. Jay Barnes (R) | ||||||||
| Former U.S. Senator Kit Bond (R) | State Rep. Kirk Mathews (R) | ||||||||
| State Senate Majority Leader Ron Richard (R) | State Rep. Nate Walker (R) | ||||||||
| Missouri Right to Life | State Rep. Bill White (R) | ||||||||
| South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley (R) | Ben Carson | ||||||||
| What is a key endorsement? | |||||||||
| Key endorsements, Republican primary candidates (2 of 2) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peter Kinder | John Brunner | ||||||||
| Rush Limbaugh | Missouri Right to Life PAC | ||||||||
| Missouri Right to Life PAC | Former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee (R) | ||||||||
| Missouri Eagle Forum | U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R) | ||||||||
| What is a key endorsement? | |||||||||
See also
| Missouri | State Executive Elections | News and Analysis |
|---|---|---|
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Office of Mike Kehoe Governor of Missouri, “Governor Kehoe Announces Catherine L. Hanaway as Missouri’s Next Attorney General" accessed September 9, 2025
- ↑ OurCampaigns, "Hanaway, Catherine," accessed March 25, 2015
- ↑ St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "Two years out, former Speaker Hanaway says she's running for governor," February 10, 2014
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedksdk - ↑ Jason Hancock, The Kansas City Star, "Missouri Republican governor candidates to debate tonight," November 3, 2015
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Washington Post, "A fragile man, whispered innuendo, and two suicides in Missouri," accessed August 20, 2015
- ↑ Fox2Now, "New political attack ad compares Tom Schweich to Barney Fife," February 26, 2015
- ↑ The New York Times, "Missouri Candidate Picks Up Where She Left Off After Rival’s Suicide," March 29, 2015
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 CBS St. Louis, "Hanaway Criticizes ‘Blame Game’ Eulogy in Schweich Funeral," May 11, 2015
- ↑ St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "Schweich told family he had thoughts of suicide for years, Clayton police say," April 15, 2016
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Andrew Bailey (R) |
Attorney General of Missouri 2025-Present |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by - |
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri 2005-2009 |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by - |
Missouri House of Representatives 1999-2005 |
Succeeded by - |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
