Alan Wheat
Alan Dupree Wheat (born October 16, 1951) is an American politician from the state of Missouri. Early life. His father was James Wheat, an officer and civil engineer in the U.S. Air Force. His mother Emogene (Jean) Wheat was a teacher. Since his father served in the USAF, he grew up in air bases and went to schools in Wichita, Kansas, and Seville in Spain. In 1968, he graduated from Airline High School in Bossier City, Louisiana. Wheat was hired by the Department of Housing and Urban Development as an economist in 1972 after passing his B.A. in  economics at Grinnell College, in Iowa. Between 1973 and 1975 he joined the Mid–America Regional Council in Kansas City for the same role. In 1975 he then became an aide to Mike White a Jackson County, Missouri, executive. In 1976, he won the election to the Missouri general assembly, at the age of 25 and stayed there until 1982. When Congressman Richard Walker Bolling had to retire after the 1982 House of Representative election, Wheat won the Democratic primary by only 1,004 votes (11%). He went on to win the general election to succeed Bolling by beating Republican John  Sharp with 58% of the votes. House career and Senate campaign. Wheat was the youngest member of the United States House of Representatives ever to be appointed to the Rules Committee, and was also the first African-American to represent a district with a non-liberal white majority. He was also a member of the United States House Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families After United States Senator John Danforth said he would not run for re-election in the 1994 election, Wheat chose to leave the House and instead run for Danforth's seat. Wheat lost the general  election to former governor John Ashcroft. Karen McCarthy was elected to succeed him in the House. Post-congressional career. After his Senate race, Wheat was chosen as vice president of Public Policy and Government Relations at CARE. He served as deputy campaign manager and director of constituent outreach of President Bill Clinton's re-election campaign in 1996. In 1997, Wheat formed the lobbying group Wheat Government Relations Wheat joined the national law firm and lobbying practice Polsinelli in 2013, as the firm's Public Policy practice chair. Wheat currently serves on the Board of Directors at CARE. Personal life . Wheat has three children.