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Missouri Treasurer election, 2016
2020 →
← 2012
|
 |
August 2, 2016 |
November 8, 2016 |
Eric Schmitt (R) |
Clint Zweifel (D) |
Governor • Lt. Governor Attorney General • Secretary of State Treasurer Down Ballot None |
March 29, 2016 |
August 2, 2016 |
August 23, 2016 |
November 8, 2016 |
TBD |
January 9, 2017 |
Missouri held an election for treasurer on November 8, 2016. Republican State Sen. Eric Schmitt won the seat, which had previously been held by Democrats.
Overview
The treasurer of Missouri is the chief financial officer for the state, and is responsible for maintaining the state's investments and budget.
Democrats Judy Baker, a former state representative, and Pat Contreras, a former U.S. foreign service officer, competed for the Democratic nomination. The two candidates both earned key endorsements and accumulated a similar amount of cash-on-hand heading into the primary elections; Baker ultimately won the Democratic primary election on August 2.
State Senators Eric Schmitt (R) and Dan Brown (R) both initially filed to run for the office; however, Brown withdrew prior to the primary election. Schmitt was therefore unopposed in the Republican primary. Libertarian Sean O'Toole also filed to run for the seat as the sole candidate for his party. Both Schmitt and O'Toole automatically advanced to the general election and competed alongside Baker for the treasurer seat. Schmitt won the general election on November 8, 2016.
Candidates
Judy Baker (D)
Small business owner
Eric Schmitt (R)
State Sen. since 2009
Sean O'Toole (Lib.)
Software developer
Carol Hexem (Green Party)
Sales manager
| Click [show] to see candidates who were defeated in the primary elections or who withdrew from this race. | |||
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Results
General election results
Eric Schmitt defeated Judy Baker, Sean O'Toole, and Carol Hexem in the Missouri treasurer election.
| Missouri Treasurer, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  Eric Schmitt |
59.01% | 1,335,939 | |
| Democratic | Judy Baker | 36.90% | 835,527 | |
| Libertarian | Sean O'Toole | 2.83% | 64,089 | |
| Green | Carol Hexem | 1.26% | 28,523 | |
| Total Votes | 2,264,078 | |||
| Source: Missouri Secretary of State | ||||
Primary election results
Democratic primary election
Judy Baker defeated Pat Contreras in the Missouri Democratic primary for treasurer.
| Missouri Democratic primary for treasurer, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Judy Baker |
59.25% | 182,218 |
| Pat Contreras | 40.75% | 125,338 |
| Total Votes (3214 of 3214 precincts reporting) | 307,556 | |
| Source: Missouri Secretary of State | ||
Republican primary election
Eric Schmitt ran unopposed in the Missouri Republican primary for treasurer.
| Missouri Republican primary for treasurer, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Eric Schmitt (unopposed) |
100.00% | 563,047 |
| Total Votes (3214 of 3214 precincts reporting) | 563,047 | |
| Source: Missouri Secretary of State | ||
Libertarian primary election
Sean O'Toole ran unopposed in the Missouri Libertarian primary for treasurer.
| Missouri Libertarian primary for treasurer, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Sean O'Toole (unopposed) |
100.00% | 3,483 |
| Total Votes (3214 of 3214 precincts reporting) | 3,483 | |
| Source: Missouri Secretary of State | ||
Context of the 2016 elections
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.[1][2][3]
Missouri's primary elections took place on August 2, 2016.
Incumbent Clint Zweifel (D)
Zweifel was first elected in 2008, defeating Republican Brad Lager by about three percentage points. He won re-election in 2012 against challenger Cole McNary (R) by a margin of five points. Prior to his election, Zweifel served in the Missouri House of Representatives from 2002 to 2008. Zweifel was term-limited and did not run for re-election in 2016.
Party control in Missouri
Missouri had a divided government after Governor Jay Nixon (D) assumed office in 2009, which ended a four-year Republican trifecta. Prior to that, Democrats had trifecta control of the state government from 1993 to 2000. The governorship in Missouri tended to alternate party hands from the 1970s to the 2016 election, with no party controlling the seat for more than 12 years continuously. Democrat Claire McCaskill represented Missouri in the U.S. Senate from 2007 to the 2016 election; she served alongside Roy Blunt (R), who was elected in 2011.
Leading up to the 2016 election, the office of state treasurer in Missouri had largely been held by Democrats since the 1930s; Republicans held the office from 1985 to 1993 and from 2005 to 2009. The race for the office was competitive in the previous four election cycles—including for incumbents who ran for re-election—with no candidate from either party winning by a margin of greater than about 5 percent. The last treasurer to win a commanding victory was Bob Holden (D), who won re-election in 1996 by nearly 20 percentage points.[4]
Campaigns
Campaign finance
Note: If a candidate does not appear below, he or she did not meet or exceed minimum reporting requirements.
| Judy Baker 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 | $24,273.21 | $71,370.00 | $(9,654.08) | $85,989.13 | ||||
| 1/1/2016-3/31/2016 | 4/15/2016 | $85,989.13 | $52,185.00 | $(19,853.13) | $118,321.00 | ||||
| Second quarter | 4/1/2016-6/30/2016 | $118,321.00 | $62,951.00 | $(32,612.82) | $145,559.18 | ||||
| Pre-primary | 7/1/2016-7/21/2016 | $145,559.18 | $17,314.00 | $(31,457.60) | $131,415.58 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $203,820 | $(93,577.63) | ||||||||
| Pat Contreras Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| 10/1/2015-12/31/2015 | 2/8/2016 | $76,240.57 | $36,591.16 | $(27,949.87) | $84,681.86 | ||||
| 1/1/2016-3/31/2016 | 4/15/2016 | $84,681.86 | $43,927.57 | $(18,543.64) | $108,739.31 | ||||
| Second quarter | 4/1/2016-6/30/2016 | $108,739.31 | $99,856.16 | $(103,311.16) | $98,689.31 | ||||
| Pre-primary | 7/1/2016-7/21/2016 | $98,689.31 | $8,175.00 | $(47,572.99) | $59,091.32 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $188,549.89 | $(197,377.66) | ||||||||
| Eric Schmitt 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 | $1,957,679.18 | $185,567.68 | $(33,945.22) | $2,103,756.38 | ||||
| 1/1/2016-3/31/2016 | 4/15/2016 | $2,103,756.38 | $616,706.55 | $(115,561.41) | $2,598,449.19 | ||||
| Second quarter | 4/1/2016-6/30/2016 | $2,598,449.19 | $160,877.41 | $(136,198.70) | $2,614,497.65 | ||||
| Pre-primary | 7/1/2016-7/21/2016 | $2,614,497.65 | $17,505.05 | $(54,671.12) | $2,589,396.53 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $980,656.69 | $(340,376.45) | ||||||||
Endorsements
| Key endorsements | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Judy Baker (D) | Pat Contreras (D) | Eric Schmitt (R) | |||||||
| Missouri Women's Leadership Coalition | Kansas City Mayor Sly James (D) | U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (R) | |||||||
| Former State Treasurer Nancy Farmer (D) | Former State Treasurer Jim Spainhower (D) | U.S. Congressman Sam Graves (R) | |||||||
| St. Louis City Treasurer Tishaura Jones (D) | Former State Auditor Susan Montee (D) | U.S. Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer (R) | |||||||
| State Rep. and Assistant Minority Floor Leader Gail McCann Beatty (D) | IBEW Statewide | U.S. Congresswoman Ann Wagner (R) | |||||||
| Former Secretary of State Bekki Cook (D) | Western Missouri and Kansas Laborers’ District Council | State Senate President Pro Tempore Ronald Richard (R) | |||||||
| Eastern Missouri Laborers’ District Council | State Senate Majority Floor Leader Mike Kehoe (R) | ||||||||
| Advocates of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest MO | State Speaker of the House Todd Richardson (R) | ||||||||
| What is a key endorsement? | |||||||||
Campaign media
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
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Republicans
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Libertarians
| Sean O'Toole (Lib.) |   
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About the office
The treasurer of the state of Missouri is the chief financial officer of the government of Missouri.The treasurer is responsible for maintaining the state funds by investing and maintaining the state budget. The department is divided into separate divisions, unclaimed property, savings programs and investments. The treasurer's office gives state money to local governments and invests state moneys as needed.
The treasurer is elected every four years.
Incumbent
The incumbent was Clint Zweifel, a Democrat, who was first elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2012.
Authority
The state Constitution addresses the office of state treasurer in Article IV, the Executive Department.
Under Article IV, Section 15:
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The state treasurer shall be custodian of all state funds and funds received from the United States government... |
Past elections
2012
Incumbent state treasurer Clint Zweifel (D) defeated Cole McNary (R) and Sean O'Toole (L) in the general election on November 6, 2012.[5]
- 2012 General Election for Missouri Treasurer
| Missouri Treasurer General Election, 2012 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Clint Zweifel Incumbent |
50.4% | 1,332,876 | |
| Republican | Cole McNary | 45.4% | 1,200,368 | |
| Libertarian | Sean O'Toole | 4.1% | 109,188 | |
| Total Votes | 2,642,432 | |||
| Election results via Missouri Secretary of State | ||||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Missouri treasurer election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
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 seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.
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
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Missouri government: |
Previous elections: |
Ballotpedia exclusives: |
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures Website, "State Primary Election Types," accessed January 6, 2014
- ↑ Fair Vote, "Congressional and Presidential Primaries: Open, Closed, Semi-Closed, and 'Top Two,'" accessed January 6, 2014
- ↑ Ballotpedia research conducted December 26, 2013, through January 3, 2014, researching and analyzing various state websites and codes.
- ↑ Missouri Secretary of State, "Previous elections," accessed July 7, 2016
- ↑ Missouri Secretary of State, "November 6, 2012 General Election Results," accessed November 7, 2012
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