Free Republic

Former Navy SEAL officer Eric Greitens won the Republican primary for Missouri governor Tuesday after a hard-fought race in which he cast himself as a conservative outsider willing to use his military bravado to blow up perceived corruption in government. Greitens prevailed over another self-described outsider, businessman John Brunner, and a pair of more experienced Republican leaders — longtime Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder and former Missouri House Speaker and U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway. He will face Attorney General Chris Koster, who easily won the Democratic gubernatorial primary, in the Nov. 8 general election. The Missouri governor's office will be open...

SIKESTON, Missouri — On a Friday evening in late July, Catherine Hanaway stood before 50 attentive citizens of a small town in southeastern Missouri—men in slacks and sneakers, women with nicely done hair. Her 6-foot-tall frame swayed slightly as, with her usual frankness, she made a spirited case to be the next governor. The country is breaking down, the former federal prosecutor told the group gathered in the newly opened headquarters of the local Republican Party—police ambushed and murdered in Dallas, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Ballwin, Missouri—three shootings and eight dead in 10 days. As people nibbled cupcakes topped...

JEFFERSON CITY - The hot lights of the television cameras cut through the shadows of the Capitol Rotunda yesterday as Missouri Republicans celebrated their second straight day of making history. Catherine Hanaway, GOP nominee for speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives, prompts a round of applause yesterday at a Capitol news conference. Hanaway will become the first female speaker in Missouri history. After winning a House majority on Tuesday for the first time since 1954, the GOP tapped Rep. Catherine Hanaway, of St. Louis County, as their nominee for speaker of the House. When Hanaway’s nomination is made official...