KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri Gov. Mike Parson is set to use a Wednesday news conference to announce his appointment to the state’s Attorney General.
Parson is set to make the announcement at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday from the Capitol in Jefferson City.
Current Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt won election earlier this month to the United States Senate, replacing the retiring Roy Blunt.
The office has long been viewed as a stepping stone for political leaders seeking higher office.
The office was held by Josh Hawley, who in 2018 defeated then-incumbent Claire McCaskill to become a United States Senator. The vacancy left by Hawley's election represented the first time Parson was able to make an appointment to the position, in which he appointed Schmitt. Schmitt later successfully ran for a full term to the position in 2020.
Democrats have also used the position in an attempt to launch political careers. Democrat Chris Koster served in the position before unsuccessfully running for governor.
Before Koster, former Missouri Governor Jay Nixon served several terms in the office, serving as the state's attorney general for nearly two decades, the longest stint ever in either party.
Nixon would eventually leave the role to become the Missouri governor from 2009 to until 2017.
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