Jay Nixon

Jeremiah Wilson "Jay" Nixon (born February 13, 1956) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 55th governor of Missouri from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 40th Missouri Attorney General from 1993 to 2009 and as a Missouri state senator from 1987 to 1993.

Born and raised in the city of De Soto, Nixon attended the University of Missouri and graduated with a degree in political science. He first entered politics at age 30 after he was elected to the Missouri Senate to represent Jefferson County. After an unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. Senate, he was elected Missouri Attorney General in 1992 and reelected in 1996. Following another failed U.S. Senate bid, he was reelected attorney general twice more in 2000 and 2004, serving a total of four terms, the longest tenure for an attorney general in state history.

In 2008, Nixon was elected governor in a landslide victory over Republican congressman Kenny Hulshof, and he was reelected in 2012. He was term limited in 2016 and was succeeded by Republican Eric Greitens. As of 2024, he is the most recent Democrat to serve as the governor of Missouri. After leaving public office he joined the Dowd Bennett law firm in St. Louis.

Nixon was born and raised in De Soto, Missouri. His mother, Betty Lea Nixon (née Wilson), was a teacher and president of the local school board, and his father, Jeremiah "Jerry" Nixon, served as the city's mayor. One of his three paternal great-grandfathers, Abraham Jonas, was an early Jewish settler in Illinois and friend of former President Abraham Lincoln (one of Nixon's paternal great-grandmothers was Jewish, though Nixon is Methodist). His great-great-grandfather Charles Henry Jonas was the brother of Democratic U.S. Senator Benjamin F. Jonas of Louisiana and another, James Oscar Nixon, was a brother of U.S. Representative John Thompson Nixon of New Jersey. Another paternal ancestor, John Inskeep, served as Mayor of Philadelphia (from 1800 to 1801 and 1805 to 1806).

Nixon graduated with honors from the University of Missouri with a degree in political science. He worked at various construction jobs before receiving his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Missouri School of Law.

In 1986, after a period of private practice in his hometown, Nixon ran for the Missouri Senate from a district in Jefferson County. He won an upset victory in the Democratic primary against two longtime Jefferson County lawmakers and defeated his Republican opponent, Larry Callahan, in the general election with 64 percent of the vote. When the new Congress convened on January 7, 1987, Nixon was the only freshman member. Nine days after his swearing in, Nixon introduced his first piece of legislation with a bill that would allow schools to purchase satellite dishes in order to provide better broadcasts. Later that year, he received an award as an outstanding legislator from the Judicial Conference of Missouri.

In April 1987, Nixon expressed interest in running for the United States Senate in the 1988 election. Some members of the Missouri Democratic Party considered him a worthy candidate, given his upset victory for the state senate, but some remained critical of his lack of political experience. Nixon made his decision official when he announced his candidacy on October 6. He was endorsed by the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM); Nixon welcomed the endorsement, but opponents criticized him for accepting an endorsement from a group "that has been roundly condemned by Missouri newspapers for using scare tactics and misleading information". Nixon lost the general election to Republican incumbent John Danforth by a wide margin. During the campaign, Danforth outspent Nixon 5–1 through Political Action Committees (PACs).

In 1989, Nixon sponsored a bill that would mandate businesses with at least 25 employees to give pregnant workers maternity leave, but the Senate voted 17–16 against the bill. Nixon re-introduced the legislation in 1990, and although the Senate approved the bill, Governor John Ashcroft vetoed it. Nixon was reelected in November 1990, defeating Richard Ford, a Republican from Cedar Hill.