Peter Kinder

It was the first time a Republican won in southeast Missouri for U.S. Congress since 1928.

Peter Dickson Kinder (born May 12, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 46th Lieutenant Governor of Missouri from 2005 to 2017.

In 1972, fresh out of high school, Kinder worked for former U.S. Sen. Jack Danforth's re-election bid for Missouri attorney general.

He received his J.D. degree from St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas in 1979 and was admitted to the Missouri Bar in 1980.

After graduating from law school at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas, Kinder managed Bill Emerson's successful 1980 campaign for U.S. Congress.

After law school Kinder served as a member of the late U.S. Representative Bill Emerson's staff in Washington, D.C. from 1980 to 1983.

He returned to Missouri and worked as an attorney and real estate specialist for hotel developer Charles Drury of Drury Industries.

In 1987 Kinder became associate publisher of the Southeast Missourian newspaper, where he wrote weekly columns and editorials.

In 1992, Kinder made his first bid for public office, winning election to a seat in the Missouri State Senate representing Cape Girardeau and surrounding counties by defeating former Missouri First Lady and gubernatorial candidate Betty C. Hearnes (D).

Kinder responded and said he had visited the club around 1994 and met Chapman, and that he had not seen her again until the chance encounter in 2011.

Kinder was reelected to the State Senate in 1996 and 2000.

Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau dedicated its Department of Pediatrics to his father two months before he died in an automobile accident on July 1, 2000.

When the Republicans gained a majority in the Missouri Senate for the first time in over 50 years, following a round of special elections in February 2001, Kinder was voted president pro tempore, the top official in the Missouri Senate.

Kinder was the first Republican president pro tempore in the Missouri Senate in 53 years.

Kinder was first elected lieutenant governor in 2004, succeeding Joe Maxwell, and was re-elected in 2008 at the same time Democrat Jay Nixon was elected governor.

In 2004 he sought and won election as lieutenant governor, narrowly defeating Bekki Cook (D-Cape Girardeau).

As a member of the Missouri Tourism Commission, Kinder helped establish the Tour of Missouri, an international professional bicycle race, and served as its chairman.

The week-long (6 days in 2007), 600+ mile event first took place in 2007, with Kinder as its chairman.

The race ran annually from 2007 to 2009 and was the third highest profile domestic race in the United States.

The Tour of Missouri was one of the top stage races outside of Europe and brought in athletes from over 20 countries.

During its three-year run, the race attracted an estimated 1.2 million spectators and created a direct economic impact of $80 million.

Kinder was the only Republican in Missouri to win statewide office in 2008, as all other Republicans running for each of the other statewide offices suffered defeat.

Despite the generally poor election year for Republicans, Kinder carried 109 of Missouri's 114 counties.

His mother, who died on January 4, 2008, sang duets with the mother of Rush Limbaugh for 50 years; Rush Limbaugh attended the funeral.

The race was extended to seven days for 2008 and 2009.

Kinder was reelected in November 2008.

He led a lawsuit by Missouri citizens against the federal healthcare law.

Kinder's lawsuit sought to have the individual mandate declared unconstitutional.

The Tour of Missouri was cancelled from 2010 by the Missouri Tourism Commission.

Funding for the tour was described as a power struggle between Kinder and Governor Nixon.

On August 4, 2010, Missouri voters passed Proposition C, rejecting the federal law's mandate to purchase health insurance, by 71%.

In August 2011, The Riverfront Times published an article where Tammy Chapman, a former exotic dancer, and 1992 Penthouse Pet, claimed she met Kinder at a political event at a gentleman's club around 1994.

The two did not speak again until a chance encounter 18 years later during the summer of 2011.

Chapman approached Kinder and asked to take a photo with him.

The photo was then published when The Riverfront Times ran Chapman's speculative story where Chapman claimed Kinder visited her club in the early to mid 90s when he was a state senator.

Considered the front-runner in the 2012 Republican gubernatorial primary, Kinder instead ran for re-election in 2012 and was again the only Republican to win statewide and became the first lieutenant governor to be elected to a third term in Missouri since 1940.

In July 2015, Kinder announced his entry into the 2016 gubernatorial election; he was later defeated in the Republican primary by Eric Greitens.

Kinder was born and raised in Cape Girardeau, the son of pediatrician James A. Kinder Jr. and Mary Frances Hunter Kinder.

He attended Cape Girardeau Public Schools and then attended Southeast Missouri State University and the University of Missouri in Columbia.

He was appointed as a co-chairman of the Delta Regional Authority in August 2017, serving in that post until he resigned in June 2018.