# 2016 Missouri Attorney General election

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The 2016 Missouri Attorney General election was held on November 8, 2016, to elect the Attorney General of Missouri, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as elections to the United States Senate and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Republican Josh Hawley defeated the Democratic nominee Teresa Hensley.
Incumbent Democratic Attorney General Chris Koster did not run for re-election to a third term in office, but was instead the unsuccessful Democratic nominee for Governor.

## Democratic primary
### Candidates
#### Declared

* Teresa Hensley, former Cass County Prosecuting Attorney and nominee for MO-04 in 2012
* Jake Zimmerman, St. Louis County Assessor, former state representative and former assistant attorney general

#### Withdrawn

* Scott Sifton, state senator (running for re-election)

#### Declined

* Jennifer Joyce, St. Louis Circuit Attorney
* Jason Kander, Missouri Secretary of State (running for the U.S. Senate)
* Chris Koster, incumbent Attorney General (running for Governor)
* Joe Maxwell, former lieutenant governor of Missouri
* Jean Peters Baker, Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney
* Mike Sanders, Jackson County Executive, former Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney and former chairman of the Missouri Democratic Party

### Endorsements

* The Kansas City Star
* St. Louis Post-Dispatch

### Polling

| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Teresa Hensley | Jake Zimmerman | Undecided |
| SurveyUSA | July 20–24, 2016 | 500 | ± 4.4% | 41% | 39% | 20% |
| Remington Research Group (R)/Missouri Scout | July 15–16, 2016 | 1,119 | ± 3.0% | 26% | 41% | 33% |
| Remington Research Group (R) | September 18–19, 2015 | 1,589 | ± 2.4% | 27% | 23% | 51% |

### Results

Democratic primary results :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Teresa Hensley | 167,626 | 52.7 |
| | Democratic | Jake Zimmerman | 150,322 | 47.3 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 317,948 | 100.0 |

## Republican primary
### Candidates
#### Declared

* Josh Hawley, law professor at University of Missouri School of Law and former clerk for United States Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts
* Kurt Schaefer, state senator

#### Declined

* Catherine Hanaway, former Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives and former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri (running for governor)
* Tim Jones, Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives
* Eric Schmitt, state senator (running for state treasurer)

#### Controversy

Allegations of abuse of office by Missouri attorney general candidate Kurt Schaefer have surfaced: Schaefer allegedly pressured the former University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe to interfere with Josh Hawley's ability to run for attorney general. Hawley was a professor at the University of Missouri. Wolfe wrote in a January 19 email: "Schaefer had several meetings with me pressuring me to take away Josh Hawley's right to run for Attorney General by taking away an employee's right to ask for an unpaid leave of absence when running for public office." The email went on to say he was worried that Schaefer might influence cuts in the university's budget due to political fallout if he did not do as Schaefer asked.

### Endorsements

* Kit Bond, former governor of Missouri and U.S. senator
* National Review
* St. Louis Post-Dispatch
* The Kansas City Star
* Missouri Farm Bureau
* Missouri Pork Association
* American Conservative Union
* Citizens United
* Missouri State Troopers Association

### Polling

| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Josh Hawley | Kurt Schaefer | Undecided |
| SurveyUSA | July 20–24, 2016 | 773 | ± 3.6% | 34% | 39% | 28% |
| Remington Research Group (R)/Missouri Scout | July 7–8, 2016 | 1,022 | ± 3.0% | 30% | 28% | 42% |
| Remington Research Group (R)/Missouri Scout | June 17–18, 2016 | 963 | ± 3.2% | 21% | 28% | 51% |
| Remington Research Group (R)/Missouri Scout | May 13–14, 2016 | 1,421 | ± 2.7% | 18% | 23% | 58% |
| Remington Research Group (R)/Missouri Scout | March 10–12, 2016 | 1,704 | ± 2.5% | 12% | 24% | 64% |
| Remington Research Group (R)/Missouri Scout | October 23–24, 2015 | 1,033 | ± 3.0% | 12% | 19% | 69% |
| Remington Research Group (R)/Missouri Scout | June 18–19, 2015 | 1,130 | ± 3.0% | 9% | 16% | 75% |
| Remington Research Group (R)/Missouri Scout | April 3–4, 2015 | 621 | ± 3.9% | 10% | 15% | 75% |

### Results

Republican primary results :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Josh Hawley | 415,702 | 64.2 |
| | Republican | Kurt Schaefer | 231,657 | 35.8 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 647,359 | 100.0 |

## General election
### Polling

| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Teresa Hensley (D) | Josh Hawley (R) | Undecided |
| The Missouri Times/Remington Research Group (R) | September 19–20, 2016 | 1,076 | ± 3.2% | 38% | 47% | 15% |
| Remington Research Group (R) | September 1–2, 2016 | 1,275 | ± 3.0% | 41% | 47% | 12% |
| Remington Research Group (R) | August 5–6, 2016 | 1,280 | ± 3% | 44% | 48% | 8% |
| Remington Research Group (R)/Missouri Scout | April 15–16, 2016 | 1,281 | ± 3.0% | 38% | 38% | 24% |

### Results

2016 Missouri Attorney General election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Republican | Josh Hawley | 1,607,550 | 58.50% | +17.71% |
| | Democratic | Teresa Hensley | 1,140,252 | 41.50% | −14.31% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 2,747,802 | 100.00% | N/A |
| | Republican gain from Democratic | Republican gain from Democratic | Republican gain from Democratic | Republican gain from Democratic | Republican gain from Democratic |

#### By congressional district

Hawley won 6 of 8 congressional districts.
| District | Hensley | Hawley | Representative |
| 1st | 77% | 23% | Lacy Clay |
| 2nd | 41% | 59% | Ann Wagner |
| 3rd | 33% | 67% | Blaine Luetkemeyer |
| 4th | 36% | 64% | Vicky Hartzler |
| 5th | 57% | 43% | Emanuel Cleaver |
| 6th | 36% | 64% | Sam Graves |
| 7th | 28% | 72% | Billy Long |
| 8th | 28% | 72% | Jason Smith |