Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe has appointed Catherine Hanaway as the state’s next attorney general, marking a historic first for the position. Hanaway will succeed Andrew Bailey, who announced on Monday that he is stepping down to take a senior role at the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The appointment, revealed by Kehoe on Tuesday morning, makes Hanaway Missouri’s 45th attorney general and the first woman ever to hold the office. Her selection also means Missouri will have seen four different attorneys general in under ten years.
“To go from a town of what is now 639 people to standing in the governor’s office and accepting this appointment is truly humbling and almost unbelievable to me,” Hanaway said following the announcement.
Looking ahead to her three-year term, she emphasised her focus on protecting residents from harm and defending their rights. “Fighting crime is and will remain job one for this office,” she said, highlighting priorities such as tackling violence, financial schemes, and threats to constitutional freedoms.
She added: “As I make decisions as AG, realizing that they aren’t just going to be words we write in some brief, but these decisions will have an impact on the real lives of Missourians… I will work as hard as I can, I will be innovative, I will adapt to changing times, but more than anything else, I will show Missourians just how much I care.”
Hanaway, 61, brings a long record of public service. She was first elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 1998 and went on to make history as the state’s first, and so far only, female Speaker of the House in 2003. From 2005 to 2009, she served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, where she oversaw more than 4,000 cases, according to the governor’s office.
Governor Kehoe praised her track record, saying: “Catherine is a talented, trusted prosecutor who has a passion for enforcing the rule of law. I’ve known Catherine for over 20 years. She represents and understands Missouri’s conservative values. She led that historic effort in the House just several years ago to make Missouri the great place that it is today with those conservative values.”
