Missouri Lieutenant Gubernatorial election, 2016

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Missouri Lieutenant Gubernatorial Election

Primary Date: August 2, 2016

General Election Date: November 8, 2016

November Election Winner: Mike Parson (R)

Incumbent Prior to Election: Peter Kinder (R)

State Executive Elections Top Ballot Governor • Lt. Governor Attorney General • Secretary of State Treasurer Down Ballot None

Key election dates

Filing deadline (major parties): March 29, 2016

Primary date: August 2, 2016

Filing deadline (general election): August 23, 2016

General election date: November 8, 2016

Recount request deadline: TBD

Inauguration: January 9, 2017

Missouri held an election for lieutenant governor on November 8, 2016, with a primary on August 2. Republican Mike Parson won the general election, keeping the seat in Republican hands.

HIGHLIGHTS

Incumbent Peter Kinder (R) was eligible for re-election in 2016 but instead unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for governor, leaving the lieutenant governor election an open and highly competitive race.

Though Republicans have held the seat since 2005, Democrats had controlled the office for most of the 80 years prior.

Former U.S. Congressman Russ Carnahan won the Democratic nomination on August 2 and competed with state Senator Mike Parson, who won the Republican nomination, Libertarian Steven Hedrick, Green Party candidate Jennifer Leach, and write-in Jake Wilburn in the November 8 general election.

Parson won the general election on November 8, 2016.

Overview

Missouri had a divided government after Governor Jay Nixon assumed office in 2009 and ended a four-year Republican trifecta. Republican Peter Kinder first won the lieutenant governor's seat in 2004. However, prior to his election, Democrats had controlled the seat since 1933 with the exception of a single Republican officeholder from 1973 to 1981.

Former U.S. Congressman Russ Carnahan defeated State Rep. Tommie Pierson Sr. and musician Winston Apple in the August 2 Democratic primary election. Carnahan, who is the son of former Governor Mel Carnahan, had a significant fundraising lead heading into the primary election, though Pierson had earned several key endorsements from state lawmakers.

Attorney Bev Randles, state Senator Mike Parson, and AC Dienoff competed for the Republican nomination. By the end of the first quarter, Parson led in both fundraising and endorsements. However, by July 21, Randles had surpassed Parson in fundraising, reporting about $1.6 million in total contributions in 2016 to Parson's $700,000. Parson won the nomination on August 2, 2016. Libertarian Steven Hedrick was unopposed for his party's nomination. Green Party candidate Jennifer Leach and write-in Jake Wilburn also competed for the seat.

Parson won the general election on November 8, 2016.

Click here to learn more about the role of lieutenant governors in state government.

Candidates

Russ Carnahan (D)
U.S. congressman, 2005 to 2013

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Mike Parson (R)
State Sen.

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Steven Hedrick (Lib.)
2014 candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives

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Jake Wilburn (write-in)
Healthcare safety

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Jennifer Leach (Green Party)
Musician, former automotive worker

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Click [show] to see candidates who were defeated in the primary elections, declined to run, or withdrew from this race.

Defeated in the primary elections Winston Apple (D) Musician Tommie Pierson (D) State Rep. since 2011 Bev Randles (R) Private practice attorney Other candidates Ballotpedia uses a variety of standards to determine which candidates will feature prominently in a given race. AC Dienoff (R) - 2012 candidate for the Missouri House of Representatives Declined Brad Bradshaw (D) - physician and attorney Jason Holsman (D) - state senator Peter Kinder (R) - incumbent Withdrew Mary Bower (write-in)

Results

General election

Mike Parson defeated Russ Carnahan, Steven Hedrick, Jennifer Leach, and Jake Wilburn in the Missouri lieutenant governor election.

Missouri Lieutenant Governor, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Mike Parson	55.18%	1,262,751
	Democratic	Russ Carnahan	39.99%	915,221
	Libertarian	Steven Hedrick	2.48%	56,804
	Green	Jennifer Leach	2.33%	53,273
	Write-in	Jake Wilburn	0.02%	405
Total Votes				2,288,454
Source: Missouri Secretary of State

Primary elections

Democratic primary election

Russ Carnahan defeated Tommie Pierson and Winston Apple in the Missouri Democratic primary for lieutenant governor.

Missouri Democratic primary for lieutenant governor, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Russ Carnahan	75.93%	243,157
Tommie Pierson	12.09%	38,700
Winston Apple	11.98%	38,372
Total Votes (3214 of 3214 precincts reporting)		320,229
Source: Missouri Secretary of State

Republican primary election

Mike Parson defeated Bev Randles and AC Dienoff in the Missouri Republican primary for lieutenant governor.

Missouri Republican primary for lieutenant governor, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Mike Parson	51.50%	331,367
Bev Randles	43.85%	282,134
AC Dienoff	4.64%	29,872
Total Votes (3214 of 3214 precincts reporting)		643,373
Source: Missouri Secretary of State

Libertarian primary election

Steven Hedrick ran unopposed in the Missouri Libertarian primary for lieutenant governor.

Missouri Libertarian primary for lieutenant governor, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Steven Hedrick  (unopposed)	100.00%	3,507
Total Votes (3214 of 3214 precincts reporting)		3,507
Source: Missouri Secretary of State

Context of the 2016 election

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.

Missouri's primary elections took place on August 2, 2016.

Incumbent Peter Kinder (R)

Peter Kinder was first elected lieutenant governor in 2004, defeating Democrat Bekki McDowell by a margin of just 0.5 percent. He won re-election in 2008 and 2012, both times by a margin of about 2.5 percent. Kinder had previously served three terms in the Missouri State Senate from 1992 to 1994.

Kinder's tenure in state government has occasionally seen controversy—during a failed gubernatorial bid in 2011, he came under fire for allegedly pursing a relationship with a stripper while he was serving in the state Senate. The lieutenant governor declined to seek re-election in 2016 in favor of another run at the governorship. Prior to his career in public service, Kinder worked as a staff member for U.S. Congressman Bill Emerson and as a writer and publisher.

Party control in Missouri

Missouri had a divided government after Governor Jay Nixon assumed office in 2009 and ended a four-year Republican trifecta. However, Democrats also had trifecta control of the state government from 1993 to 2000. The governorship in Missouri tended to alternate party hands from the 1970s to this election, with no party controlling the seat for more than 12 years continuously. The state's electoral votes went to the Republican presidential candidate from 2000 to 2016; Missouri voters chose Democrat Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996. During the election, Democrat Claire McCaskill served alongside Roy Blunt (R) in the U.S. Senate.

Republican Peter Kinder first won the lieutenant governor's seat in 2004. However, prior to his election, Democrats had controlled the seat since 1933 with the exception of a single Republican officeholder from 1973 to 1981. Lt. Governor Kinder won three consecutive elections.

Campaigns

Campaign finance

Note: If a candidate does not appear below, he or she did not meet or exceed minimum reporting requirements.

General election

Russ Carnahan Campaign Finance Reports
Report	Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions for Reporting Period	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
4/15/2016	1/1/2016-3/31/2016	$0	$189,675.16	$(17,091.57)	$172,583.59
Second quarter	4/1/2016-6/30/2016	$172,583.59	$263,800.62	$(87,083.87)	$341,733.84
Pre primary	7/1/2016-7/21/2016	$341,733.84	$31,647.21	$(32,466.24)	$338,398.32
30 days after primary	9/12/2016	$338,398.32	$256,758.16	$(83,855.29)	$508,801.19
October quarterly report	10/17/2016	$508,800.19	$309,106.06	$(605,112.30)	$209,793.95
			Running totals
			$1,050,987.21	$(825,609.27)

Mike Parson Campaign Finance Reports
Report	Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions for Reporting Period	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
1/15/2016	10/1/2015-12/31/2015	$907,188.21	$211,534.76	$(92,838.87)	$1,025,884.10
4/15/2016	1/1/2016-3/31/2016	$1,025,884.10	$125,088.02	$(79,402.41)	$1,071,569.71
Second quarter	4/1/2016-6/30/2016	$1,071,569.71	$225,809.13	$(503,124.12)	$794,384.01
Pre primary	7/1/2016-7/21/2016	$794,384.01	$142,160.15	$(562,742.48)	$338,707.0
30 days after primary	9/2/2016	$338,707.08	$391,839.57	$(656,169.23)	$72,334.01
October quarterly report	10/17/2016	$72,334.01	$538,872.55	$(95,923.76)	$501,066.50
			Running totals
			$1,635,304.18	$(1,990,200.87)

Steven Hedrick Campaign Finance Reports
Report	Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions for Reporting Period	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
July quarterly report	4/1/2016-6/30/2016	$0.00	$100.00	$(3.00)	$97.00
October quarterly report	10/11/2016	$97.00	$0.00	$(9.00)	$88.00
			Running totals
			$100	$(12)

Primary challengers

Winston Apple Campaign Finance Reports
Report	Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions for Reporting Period	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
1/8/2016	10/1/2015-12/31/2015	$0.00	$4,195.00	$(337.92)	$3,857.08
4/15/2016	1/1/2016-3/31/2016	$3,857.08	$2,398.00	$(3,770.43)	$2,484.65
Second quarter	4/1/2016-6/30/2016	$2,484.65	$4,975.36	$(3,128.95)	$1,646.06
Pre primary	7/1/2016-7/21/2016	$1,646.06	$6,399.34	$(3,183.27)	$2,896.50
			Running totals
			$17,967.7	$(10,420.57)

Tommie Pierson Campaign Finance Reports
Report	Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions for Reporting Period	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
1/8/2016	10/1/2015-12/31/2015	$10,628.33	$19,621.00	$(21,072.81)	$9,176.52
6/1/2016	1/1/2016-3/31/2016	$9,176.52	$1,918.02	$(2,070.00)	$9,024.54
Second quarter	4/1/2016-6/30/2016	$9,024.54	$196.05	$(4,314.00)	$4,906.59
Pre primary	7/1/2016-7/21/2016	$4,906.59	$1,514.04	$(5,747.00)	$673.63
			Running totals
			$23,249.11	$(33,203.81)

Bev Randles Campaign Finance Reports
Report	Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions for Reporting Period	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
1/15/2016	10/1/2015-12/31/2015	$784,704.38	$5,861.07	$(144,687.27)	$645,878.18
4/15/2016	1/1/2016-3/31/2016	$645,878.18	$64,079.75	$(93,945.37)	$616,012.56
Second quarter	4/1/2016-6/30/2016	$616,012.56	$966,080.68	$(854,207.05)	$536,036.19
Pre primary	7/1/2016-7/21/2016	$536,036.19	$587,905.06	$(1,012,955.68)	$80,485.57
			Running totals
			$1,623,926.56	$(2,105,795.37)

Polls

Republican primary match-up: Mike Parson, AC Dienoff, and Bev Randles
Poll	AC Dienoff	Bev Randles	Mike Parson	Undecided	Margin of error	Sample size
SurveyUSA for KSDK July 20-July 17, 2016	2%	26%	37%	34%	+/-3.6	2,546
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Democratic primary match-up: Winston Apple, Russ Carnahan, and Tommie Pierson
Poll	Apple	Carnahan	Pierson	Undecided	Margin of error	Sample size
SurveyUSA for KSDK July 20-July 17, 2016	7%	57%	11%	26%	+/-3.6	2,546
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Endorsements

Key endorsements, Republican primary candidates
Bev Randles	Mike Parson	AC Dienoff
Missouri Right to Life	Former U.S. Senator Jack Danforth (R)	Know of any endorsements for this candidate? Tell us!
House Majority Caucus Leader Shelley Keeney (R)	Senate President Pro Tempore Ron Richard (R)
	Former U.S. Congressman Wendell Bailey (R)
	Senate Majority Floor Leader Mike Kehoe (R)
	Missouri Right to Life
What is a key endorsement?

Key endorsements, Democratic primary candidates
Winston Apple	Russ Carnahan	Tommie Pierson, Sr.
Know of any endorsements for this candidate? Tell us!	Know of any endorsements for this candidate? Tell us!	U.S. Congresswoman Lacy Clay (D)
		State House Minority Floor Leader Jacob Hummel (D)
		State House Minority Caucus Vice Chair Jon Carpenter (D)
		State House Minority Caucus Secretary Karla May (D)
		State Senate Assistant Minority Floor Leader Gina Walsh (D)
		State Senate Minority Caucus Leader S. Kiki Curls (D)
What is a key endorsement?

Campaign media

Declared candidates' campaign and social media sites:
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

Winston Apple (D)
Russ Carnahan (D)
Tommie Pierson (D)

Republicans

AC Dienoff (R)
Mike Parson (R)
Bev Randles (R)

Know of a candidate's campaign site not listed? Tell us!

Click here to view campaign advertisements for this election.

About the office

The Lieutenant Governor of the State of Missouri is an elected constitutional officer, the second ranking officer of the executive branch, and the first officer in line to succeed the Governor of Missouri. The lieutenant governor is popularly elected every four years by a plurality and has no specific term limit.

Incumbent

See also: Current Lieutenant Governors

The incumbent was Peter Kinder, a Republican elected in 2004, 2008, and 2012.

Qualifications

A candidate for lieutenant governor must be:

• at least thirty years old
• a citizen of the United States for at least fifteen years
• a resident of Missouri for at least ten years

Authority

The Missouri Constitution addresses the office of the governor in Article IV, the Executive Department.

Under Article IV, Section 10:

There shall be a lieutenant governor who shall have the same qualifications as the governor..

Constitutional provisions

According to Article IV, Section 10 and 11(a) of the Missouri Constitution establish the office and the duties of the lieutenant governor. Under these sections, the lieutenant governor is the first person in the order of succession of Missouri's executive branch, thus serving as governor in the event of the death, resignation, removal, impeachment, absence from the state, or incapacity due to illness of the governor of Missouri.

The lieutenant governor has the right to preside over the Senate but is subject to the procedural rules of the state Senate while doing so. As president of the Senate, the lieutenant governor can cast a vote in the case of a tie. The Constitution also gives the lieutenant governor the right to debate and vote on issues when the Senate sits as a committee of the whole.

He or she has such other responsibilities and duties as the governor shall assign.

Past elections

2012

See also: Missouri gubernatorial election, 2012

Lieutenant Governor of Missouri General Election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Peter Kinder Incumbent	49.3%	1,319,747
	Democratic	Susan Montee	45.5%	1,219,457
	Libertarian	Matthew Copple	2.8%	75,169
	Constitution	Cynthia Davis	2.4%	63,594
Total Votes				2,677,967
Election results via Missouri Secretary of State

2008

On November 4, 2008, Peter Kinder won re-election to the office of Missouri Lieutenant Governor. He defeated Sam Page, Teddy Fleck, and James C. Rensing in the general election.

Missouri Lieutenant Governor, 2008
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Peter Kinder	49.9%	1,403,706
	Democrat	Sam Page	47.3%	1,331,177
	Libertarian	Teddy Fleck	1.8%	49,862
	Constitution	James Rensing	1%	29,153
Total Votes				2,813,898
Election results via Missouri Office of Secretary of State.

2004

On November 2, 2004, Peter Kinder won election to the office of Missouri Lieutenant Governor. He defeated Rebecca McDowell Cook, Mike Ferguson, and Bruce Hillis in the general election.

Missouri Lieutenant Governor, 2004
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Peter Kinder	48.9%	1,300,109
	Democrat	Rebecca McDowell Cook	48.4%	1,286,295
	Libertarian	Mike Ferguson	2%	53,770
	Constitution	Bruce Hillis	0.6%	15,935
Total Votes				2,656,109
Election results via Missouri Office of Secretary of State.

2000

On November 7, 2000, Joe Maxwell won election to the office of Missouri Lieutenant Governor. He defeated Wendell Bailey, Phillip W. Horras, Bob Wells, George D. Weber, Patricia A. Griffard, Ben Kjelshus, and Steven L. Reed in the general election.

Missouri Lieutenant Governor, 2000
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democrat	Joe Maxwell	52.1%	1,201,959
	Republican	Wendell Bailey	44%	1,014,446
	Libertarian	Phillip W. Horras	0.9%	20,354
	Natural Law	Patricia A. Griffard	0.8%	18,244
	Reform	George D. Weber	0.8%	17,859
	Green	Ben Kjelshus	0.7%	16,783
	Constitution	Bob Wells	0.7%	15,681
	Write In	Steven L. Reed	0%	16
Total Votes				2,305,342
Election results via Missouri Office of Secretary of State.

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Missouri state lieutenant governor election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Missouri Lieutenant Gubernatorial election, 2016 - Google News

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

Missouri government:

• Missouri state executive offices
• Missouri State Legislature
• Missouri courts

Previous elections:

• State executive official elections, 2015
• State executive official elections, 2014

Ballotpedia exclusives:

• State executives compensation
• State of the state addresses
• Who runs the states?

External links

Suggest a link

• Office of the Missouri Lieutenant Governor

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