Governor announces new Missouri attorney general — the first woman to ever hold the office

Gov. Mike Kehoe announced Missouri’s new attorney general following Andrew Bailey’s resignation from the role.

Bailey resigned effective Sept. 8 to become co-deputy director of the FBI alongside Dan Bongino.

“It has been a humbling privilege to serve as the 44th Attorney General of the State of Missouri, and I am forever grateful to the people of Missouri for the opportunity to represent our state and your families. My life has been defined by a call to service, and I am once again answering that call, this time at the national level. But wherever I am called, Missouri is and always will be home,” Bailey said in a statement.

Kehoe named Catherine L. Hanaway as Bailey’s successor.

Hanaway, an attorney with Husch Blackwell, joined the firm in 2013 to build its white-collar practice and served as its practice specialty group leader and as chair of the firm from 2021 to 2024, according to the firm.

“In Catherine’s more than a dozen years at Husch Blackwell, she has built our national white collar practice and been an integral part of our leadership, including serving as firm chair. We are grateful not only for her time and dedication to our firm, but also for her record of public service to the State of Missouri,” said Jamie Lawless, chief executive of Husch Blackwell.

Hanaway also served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, was the first woman elected Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives and spent five years on staff for U.S. Senator Kit Bond.

She obtained her JD from The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law. She lives in St. Louis and is active in the Regional Business Council and the St. Louis Regional Crime Commission Board.

Hanaway will be the first woman to hold the position in state history and the first major statewide office appointee of the Kehoe Administration, Kehoe said. Husch Blackwell said she was the first woman to chair the law firm.

“It is a humbling honor to be selected for this role and a duty I do not take lightly,” Hanaway said. “Attorney General Bailey has done an incredible job fighting for Missourians and I am eager to get to work on behalf of Missourians to uphold the rule of law, protect the Constitution, and ensure a strong future for our state.”