The Missouri attorney general election took place on November 6, 2012, following the primaries on August 7, 2012. Election day polling hours were from 6 am until 6 pm.

Chris Koster (D) Incumbent
Ed Martin (R)
Dave Browning (L)

Incumbent Chris Koster (D) won a second term as attorney general on November 6, 2012.^[1]

Initially, it seemed that Koster, first elected in 2008, would face no opposition in the Republican primary. However, St. Louis attorney Ed Martin, who served as chief of staff to Governor Matt Blunt, announced his candidacy for attorney general.

Martin defeated Adam Warren in the Republican primary election but lost to Koster in the general election.

In terms of competitiveness, the attorney general race held steady as leaning Democratic throughout the election season.^[2]^[3] Although the major party candidates remained competitive in terms of endorsements and fundraising, Koster's lead widened in the polls between August and October.

Election Results

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Missouri Attorney General
	Primary Date: ; August 7, 2012
	General Election Date: ; November 6, 2012
	State Executive Elections
	State executive official elections in 2012

General Election Results

Attorney General of Missouri General Election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Chris Koster Incumbent	55.9%	1,491,139
	Republican	Ed Martin	40.6%	1,084,106
	Libertarian	Dave Browning	3.5%	92,819
Total Votes				2,668,064
Election results via Missouri Secretary of State

Primary Election Results

Missouri Attorney General Republican Primary, 2012
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Ed Martin	71.6%	373,434
Adam Warren	28.4%	148,432
Total Votes		521,866
Election results via Missouri Secretary of State.

Background

Key dates

Administrative deadlines were at close of business (5:00) unless otherwise noted.

Deadline	Event
Feb. 28 - Mar. 27	Primary election candidate filing period
July 11	Voter registration for primary election
Aug. 7	Primary election
July 17 - Aug. 21	General election candidate filing period
Oct. 10	Voter registration for general election
Nov. 6	General election

Race background

The attorney general race was the third office Martin set his sights on during the 2012 election season. He was running for U.S. Senate and for the U.S. House, representing Missouri's 2nd District, but decided to switch to the attorney general's race in tribute to his "almost obsession with stopping the president's health care reform law."^[4]

Martin's entrance into the race was followed by an increase in fundraising support for Koster.

Between the launch of Martin's campaign and the March 28 filing deadline, Koster raised over $678,000 — "nearly five times the amount he raised in the last three months of 2011."^[5] In response, Martin launched a donation-focused portal on his campaign website. For a period, visitors were directed to a page featuring thermometer-style fundraising graphics and appeals for contributions, prominently displayed under a headline reading, "I need YOUR help to defeat Obama's Lawyer Chris Koster!"^[6]

Vying for the Republican nomination alongside Martin in the August 7 primary was Adam Warren, a Livingston County Prosecutor and former Chillicothe city attorney. Similarly, Warren centered his campaign on challenging Obamacare.^[7]

Filing at the very last minute, Libertarian Dave Browning became the final candidate to enter the race for attorney general. Browning ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. House of Representatives, District 6, in 2008.^[8] In an interview posted on his campaign website, Browning said that the most important issue in the attorney general race was "The proper use of power to renew our constitutional Republic."^[9]

Key dates

Deadline	Event
Feb. 28 - Mar. 27	Primary election candidate filing period
July 11	Voter registration for primary election
Aug. 7	Primary election
July 17 - Aug. 21	General election candidate filing period
Oct. 10	Voter registration for general election
Nov. 6	General election

Candidates

General Election Candidates

Chris Koster Incumbent
Ed Martin
Dave Browning

Primary Candidates

Democratic primary candidates

Chris Koster (incumbent)a

Republican primary candidates

Ed Martin a
Adam Warren

Libertarian primary candidates

Dave Browning a

Polls

General election

All general election candidates

Missouri Attorney General Race
Poll	Chris Koster (D)	Ed Martin (R)	Dave Browning (L)	Undecided	Margin of error	Sample size

Post-Dispatch/Mason-Dixon Poll (October 23-25, 2012)	51%	37%	3%	9%	+/-4.0	625
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.

Polls - Koster vs. Martin only

Chris Koster v. Ed Martin
Poll	Chris Koster (D)	Ed Martin (R)	Undecided	Margin of error	Sample size

Public Policy Polling (October 19-21, 2012)	48%	38%	13%	+/-4.1	582
Public Policy Polling (October 1-3, 2012)	52%	34%	15%	+/-3.7	700
Public Policy Polling (August 23, 2012)	41%	39%	20%	+/-4.4	500
Chilenski Strategies Poll (August 8, 2012)	46.2%	44.7%	9.1%	+/-3.8	663
AVERAGES	46.8%	38.93%	14.28%	+/-4	611.25
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.

Pre-Primary

Who would get your vote for Missouri Attorney General?
Poll	Chris Koster	Ed Martin	Sample size

Attorney General Preference February 29, 2012	41%	59%	1,424
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.

**This pulse poll was conducted by The St. Louis Business Journal to gauge readers' opinions, and was not a scientific sampling**

Campaign finance

Contents

1 Due dates for reports
2 Candidates

Due dates for reports

The Missouri Ethics Commission administers campaign finance law and maintains all records online.

For the primary election:

First report -- due by April 16, 2012
Pre-Primary report -- due by July 16, 2012
8 day before primary -- due July 30, 2012
Post-Primary report -- due by September 6, 2012

For the general election:

First report -- due by October 15, 2012
Pre-general report -- due by October 29, 2012
Post-general report -- due by December 6, 2012

Candidates

Chris Koster

Chris Koster^[10] Campaign Finance Reports
Report	Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions for Reporting Period	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
Primary-First	April 16, 2012	$1,286,789.70	$895,844.79	$(138,607.48)	$2,031,292.32
July Quarterly	July 16, 2012	$2,009,737.71	$555,980.61	$(205,917.92)	$2,359,800.40
8 day Pre-primary	July 30, 2012	$2,359,800.40	$127,822.00	$(27,185.26)	$2,460,437.04
Post-Primary	September 7, 2012	$2,460,437.04	$115,778.88	$(121,226.76)	$2,454,689.16
General Election First Report^[11]	October 15, 2012	$2,454,689.16	$1,100,705.40	$(1,030,483.80)	$253,910.76
Pre-General^[12]	October 29, 2012	$2,523,910.76	$343,060.00	$(1,550,684.90)	$1,316,285.86
			Running totals
			$3,139,191.68	$(3,074,106.12)

Ed Martin

Ed Martin^[13] Campaign Finance Reports
Report	Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions for Reporting Period	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
Primary-First	April 16, 2012	$0.00	$320,315.22	$(20,044.03)	$300,271.19
July Quarterly	July 16, 2012	$300,271.19	$400,525.48	$(121,526.11)	$564,384.91
8 day Pre-primary	July 30, 2012	$564,384.91	$17,866.92	$(338,409.57)	$235,462.34
Post-Primary	September 7, 2012	$235,462.34	$41,884.24	$(71,161.54)	$193,597.47
General Election First Report^[14]	October 15, 2012	$193,597.47	$382,717.11	$(52,264.29)	$524,050.29
Pre-General^[15]	October 29, 2012	$524,050.29	$315,380.83	$(816,711.74)	$22,719.38
			Running totals
			$1,478,689.8	$(1,420,117.28)

Dave Browning

Browning submitted a statement of exemption to the Missouri Ethics Commission certifying that neither his aggregate campaign receipts nor expenditures exceeded $500.00 in value for this election cycle.^[16]^[17]

Former candidates

Adam Warren

Adam Warren Campaign Finance Reports
Report	Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions for Reporting Period	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
Primary-First	April 16, 2012	$0.00	$16,937.52	$(8,489.38)	$10,026.36
July Quarterly	July 16, 2012	$10,026.36	$8,415.44	$(12,579.20)	$5,862.60
8 day Pre-primary	July 30, 2012	$5,862.60	$1,650.00	$(5,189.04)	$2,323.56
Post-Primary and Termination	September 7, 2012	$2,323.56	$305.13	$(2,378.69)	$0.00
			Running totals
			$27,308.09	$(28,636.31)

^[18]

Campaign sites/media

Campaign sites

Koster

Martin

Browning

Dave Browning for Attorney General 2012

Former candidates

Adam Warren

News

External links

Suggest a link

Footnotes

[1] Missouri Secretary of State, "November 6, 2012 General Election Results," accessed November 7, 2012

[2] Governing Politics, http://www.governing.com/blogs/politics/gov-attorney-general-races-update.html," October 12, 2012

[3] Governing Politics, "Attorney General Races: Dems Still Playing Defense," March 28, 2012

[4] St. Louis Today, "Ed Martin switches races again, will now pursue AG," January 27, 2012

[5] STL today, "Rival gains: Opposition has done wonders for AG Chris Koster's fundraising," March 28, 2012

[6] Ed Martin for Attorney General, "Portal," accessed June 27, 2012

[7] News Press Now, "Rural prosecutor enters AG race," accessed February 23, 2012 (dead link)

[8] Project Vote Smart, "Dave Browning-Biography, " accessed March 28, 2012

[dave-9] Libertarian Patriot, "Dave Browning for Attorney General 2012," accessed July 17, 2012

[10] Missouri Ethics Commission, "Chris Koster Campaign Finance Reports," July 30, 2012

[11] Missouri Ethics Commission, "Chris Koster Campaign Finance Reports," October 15, 2012

[12] Missouri Ethics Commission, "Chris Koster Campaign Finance Reports," accessed October 29, 2012

[13] Missouri Ethics Commission, " Ed Martin Campaign Finance Reports," July 30, 2012

[14] Missouri Ethics Commission, "Ed Martin Campaign Finance Reports," October 15, 2012

[15] Missouri Ethics Commission, "Ed Martin Campaign Finance Reports," accessed October 29, 2012

[16] Missouri Ethics Commission, "Dave Browning-Campaign finance reports," July 26, 2012

[17] Missouri Ethics Commission, "Dave Browning 8-Day Pre-General Election Exemption Statement," accessed October 29, 2012

[18] Missouri Ethics Commission, " Adam Warren Campaign Finance Reports," July 30, 2012

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Missouri Attorney General election, 2012

Election Results

General Election Results

Primary Election Results

Background

Key dates

Race background

Key dates

Candidates

General Election Candidates

Primary Candidates

Democratic primary candidates

Republican primary candidates

Libertarian primary candidates

Polls

General election

All general election candidates

Polls - Koster vs. Martin only

Pre-Primary

Campaign finance

Due dates for reports

Candidates

Chris Koster

Ed Martin

Dave Browning

Former candidates

Adam Warren

Campaign sites/media

Campaign sites

Koster

Martin

Browning

Advertisements

Former candidates

News

See also

Articles

External links

Footnotes

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