Jeremiah Wilson "Jay" Nixon, Sr. is the 55th and current Governor of the U.S. state of Missouri. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as Missouri's Attorney General before his election in 2008. Nixon is a lifelong resident of De Soto, a suburb of St. Louis, where he was born. His mother, Betty Lea , was a teacher and president of the local school board, and his father, Jeremiah "Jerry" Nixon, served as the city's mayor. He graduated from the University of Missouri in 1978, later earning a law degree from the same institution. After a period of private practice in his... hometown, he was elected to the Missouri Senate from a district in Jefferson County, serving for three terms. He made his first bid for statewide office in 1988, an unsuccessful effort to oust incumbent U.S. Senator John Danforth. Nixon only won 32% of the vote compared to Danforth's 68%--at the time, the most lopsided defeat a Democrat had suffered in a statewide race in Missouri history.
more