The 2008 Missouri gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 2008. Incumbent
Republican Governor
A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
Matt Blunt
Matthew Roy Blunt (born November 20, 1970) is an American politician, lobbyist, and former naval officer who served as the List of governors of Missouri, 54th governor of Missouri from 2005 to 2009. He previously served ten years in the United St ...
decided to retire instead of seeking reelection to a second term in office. Despite
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...
narrowly carrying the state in the
concurrent presidential election,
Democratic nominee
Jay Nixon
Jeremiah Wilson "Jay" Nixon (born February 13, 1956) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the List of governors of Missouri, 55th governor of Missouri from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic P ...
won the open seat, defeating Republican nominee
Kenny Hulshof
Kenny Charles Hulshof (; born May 22, 1958) is an American politician and lawyer who represented in the United States House of Representatives. He was the unsuccessful nominee of the Republican Party for Governor of Missouri in the 2008 electio ...
in a landslide.
Background
On January 22, 2008, Governor Blunt unexpectedly announced that he would not seek re-election because he had already "achieved virtually everything I set out to accomplish, and more ... Because I feel we have changed what I wanted to change in the first term, there is not the same sense of mission for a second."
A November 2007 poll conducted by
SurveyUSA
SurveyUSA is a polling firm in the United States. It conducts market research for corporations and interest groups, but is best known for conducting opinion polls for various political offices and questions. SurveyUSA conducts these opinion poll ...
showed Blunt with a 44% approval rating.
[''Survey USA''](_blank)
/ref> His approval among Republicans polled was 68%, and his rating among Democrats was 23%.Jay Nixon
Jeremiah Wilson "Jay" Nixon (born February 13, 1956) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the List of governors of Missouri, 55th governor of Missouri from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic P ...
filed the necessary paperwork with the Missouri Ethics Commission to launch a 2008 campaign for governor.
The gubernatorial and other statewide office primaries were held August 5, 2008. ''CQ Politics'' rated the race as 'Leans Democratic'.Dems Gain in Five of Six New CQ Politics Rating Changes
''CQ Politics'', October 8, 2008
Timeline
* March 25, 2008 – Filing deadline for Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians
[2008 Missouri Election Calendar](_blank)
from the ''Missouri Secretary of State''
* August 5, 2008 – Primary (gubernatorial and other statewide office) elections
* August 19, 2008 – Filing deadline for other third parties and Independents
* November 4, 2008 – General election.
Primaries
Republican primary
Democratic primary
General election
Predictions
Polling
With Steelman
With Blunt
Results
On election night, Nixon won easily, even though fellow Democrat
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
lost in Missouri in the
concurrent presidential election (albeit by only 4,000 votes). Nixon was able to perform well in rural parts of the state. When combined with heavily populated, strong Democratic areas like
St. Louis
St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...
and
Kansas City
The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...
, Hulshof didn't have a chance to come back. Nixon was declared the winner right when the polls closed in Missouri. Hulshof conceded defeat at 9:02 P.M. Central Time.
Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic
*
Caldwell (Largest city:
Hamilton
Hamilton may refer to:
* Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States
* ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda
** ''Hamilton'' (al ...
)
*
Daviess (Largest city:
Gallatin)
*
Gentry
Gentry (from Old French , from ) are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. ''Gentry'', in its widest connotation, refers to people of good social position connected to Landed property, landed es ...
(Largest city:
Albany)
*
Crawford (Largest city:
Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
)
*
Oregon
Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
(Largest city:
Thayer)
*
Vernon (Largest city:
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...
)
*
Lincoln (Largest city:
Troy
Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...
)
*
St. Clair (Largest city:
Appleton City)
*
Livingston (Largest city:
Chillicothe)
*
Andrew
Andrew is the English form of the given name, common in many countries. The word is derived from the , ''Andreas'', itself related to ''aner/andros'', "man" (as opposed to "woman"), thus meaning "manly" and, as consequence, "brave", "strong", "c ...
(Largest city:
Savannah
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...
)
*
Atchison (Largest city:
Tarkio)
*
Benton (Largest city:
Warsaw
Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
)
*
Camden (Largest city:
Osage Beach)
*
Carter
Carter(s), or Carter's, Tha Carter, or The Carter(s), may refer to:
Geography United States
* Carter, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Carter, Mississippi, an unincorporated community
* Carter, Montana, a census-designated place
* Carter ...
(Largest city:
Van Buren)
*
Cass
Cass may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Cass (surname), a list of people
* Cass (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
* Big Cass, ring name of wrestler William Morrissey
* Cass, in British band Skunk Anansie
* Cass, ...
(Largest city:
Harrisonville)
*
Dallas
Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
(Largest city:
Buffalo)
*
Dent (Largest city:
Salem)
*
Douglas (Largest city:
Ava)
*
Howell (Largest city:
West Plains)
*
Laclede (Largest city:
Lebanon
Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...
)
*
Maries (Largest city:
Belle)
*
Morgan (Largest city:
Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...
)
*
Ozark
The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, as well as a small area in the southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cov ...
(Largest city:
Gainesville)
*
Pulaski (Largest city:
Fort Leonard Wood
Fort Leonard Wood is a United States Army, U.S. Army training installation located in the Missouri The Ozarks, Ozarks. The main gate is located on the southern boundary of the city of St. Robert, Missouri, St. Robert. The post was created in De ...
)
*
Polk
DNA polymerase kappa is a DNA polymerase that in humans is encoded by the ''POLK'' gene. It is involved in translesion synthesis
DNA repair is a collection of processes by which a cell (biology), cell identifies and corrects damage to the ...
(Largest city:
Bolivar)
*
Phelps (Largest city:
Rolla)
*
Ripley (Largest city:
Doniphan)
*
Texas
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
(Largest city:
Licking
Licking is the action (philosophy), action of passing the tongue over a surface, typically either to deposit saliva onto the surface, or to collect liquid, food or minerals onto the tongue for ingestion, or to animal communication, communicate w ...
)
*
Wright
Wright is an occupational surname originating in England and Scotland. The term 'Wright' comes from the circa 700 AD Old English word 'wryhta' or 'wyrhta', meaning worker or shaper of wood. Later it became any occupational worker (for example, a ...
(Largest city:
Mountain Grove)
*
Webster (Largest city:
Marshfield)
*
Audrain (Largest city:
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
)
*
Bates
Bates may refer to:
Places
* Bates, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Bates, Illinois. an unincorporated community in Sangamon County
* Bates, Michigan, a community in Grand Traverse County
* Bates, New York, a hamlet in the town of Elli ...
(Largest city:
Butler
A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments, with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantries, pantr ...
)
*
Chariton
Chariton of Aphrodisias () was the author of an ancient Greek novel probably titled ''Callirhoe (novel), Callirhoe'' (based on the subscription in the sole surviving manuscript). However, it is regularly referred to as ''Chaereas and Callirhoe'' ( ...
(Largest city:
Salisbury
Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...
)
*
Clark (Largest city:
Kahoka)
*
Dunklin (Largest city:
Kennett)
*
Franklin (Largest city:
Washington
Washington most commonly refers to:
* George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States
* Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A ...
)
*
Henry
Henry may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters
* Henry (surname)
* Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone
Arts and entertainmen ...
(Largest city:
Clinton)
*
Hickory
Hickory is a common name for trees composing the genus ''Carya'', which includes 19 species accepted by ''Plants of the World Online''.
Seven species are native to southeast Asia in China, Indochina, and northeastern India (Assam), and twelve ...
(Largest city:
Hermitage)
*
Howard
Howard is a masculine given name derived from the English surname Howard. ''The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names'' notes that "the use of this surname as a christian name is quite recent and there seems to be no particular reason for ...
(Largest city:
Fayette)
*
Iron
Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...
(Largest city:
Ironton)
*
Knox (Largest city:
Edina
EDINA is a centre for digital expertise, based at the University of Edinburgh as a division of the Information Services Group.
Services
EDINA front and back ends, front-end services (those accessed directly by the user) are available free at ...
)
*
Lafayette (Largest city:
Odessa
ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...
)
*
Lewis
Lewis may refer to:
Names
* Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name
* Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname
Music
* Lewis (musician), Canadian singer
* " Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohe ...
(Largest city:
Canton)
*
Linn Linn may refer to:
People
* Linn (surname)
* Linn (given name)
* Carl Linnaeus, abbreviated as Linn.
* Linn da Quebrada, stage name of Brazilian singer, actress, screenwriter and television personality Lina Pereira dos Santos (born 1990)
Place ...
(Largest city:
Brookfield)
*
Madison (Largest city:
Fredericktown)
*
Nodaway (Largest city:
Maryville)
*
Pike (Largest city:
Bowling Green
A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls.
Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...
)
*
Reynolds (Largest city:
Ellington)
*
Scott (Largest city:
Sikeston
Sikeston () is a city located both in southern Scott County, Missouri, Scott County and northern New Madrid County, Missouri, New Madrid County, in the state of Missouri, United States. It is situated just north of the "Missouri Bootheel", althou ...
)
*
Shannon (Largest city:
Winona)
*
St. Francois (Largest city:
Farmington)
*
Wayne (Largest city:
Piedmont
Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...
)
*
Buchanan (Largest city:
St. Joseph)
*
Washington
Washington most commonly refers to:
* George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States
* Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A ...
(Largest city:
Potosi)
*
Iron
Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...
(largest city:
Ironton)
*
St. Charles (largest city:
O'Fallon)
*
Pettis (largest city:
Sedalia)
*
Adair (largest city:
Kirksville)
*
Greene (largest city:
Springfield)
*
Johnson
Johnson may refer to:
People and fictional characters
*Johnson (surname), a common surname in English
* Johnson (given name), a list of people
* List of people with surname Johnson, including fictional characters
*Johnson (composer) (1953–2011) ...
(largest city:
Warrensburg)
*
Monroe
Monroe or Monroes may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Monroe (surname)
* Monroe (given name)
* James Monroe, 5th President of the United States
* Marilyn Monroe, actress and model
Places United States
* Monroe, Arkansas, an unincorp ...
(Largest city:
Monroe City)
See also
*
2008 United States gubernatorial elections
United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 4, 2008, in 11 states and two territories. Prior to the election, eight of the total seats were held by Democratic Party (United States), Democrats and five by Republican Party (United S ...
*
2004 Missouri gubernatorial election
*
2008 Missouri lieutenant gubernatorial election
*
2008 United States presidential election in Missouri
The 2008 United States presidential election in Missouri was held on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election, which took place throughout all 50 states and D.C. Voters chose 11 representatives, or elect ...
References
External links
Electionsfrom the ''Missouri Secretary of State''
Missouri Governor candidatesat
Project Vote Smart
Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is an American non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected offic ...
Missouri Governor racefrom ''OurCampaigns.com''
Missouri Governor racefrom ''2008 Race Tracker''
Campaign contributionsfrom ''Follow the Money''
Hulshof (R) vs Nixon (D)graph of collected polls from ''Pollster.com''
* ''Official campaign websites (Archived)''
*
Jay Nixon Democratic candidate
*
Kenny Hulshof Republican candidate
*
Sarah Steelman Republican candidate
*
Andy Finkenstadt Libertarian candidate
{{2008 U.S. elections
Missouri
Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...
Gubernatorial
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...
2008
2008 was designated as:
*International Year of Languages
*International Year of Planet Earth
*International Year of the Potato
*International Year of Sanitation
The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
2008 in Missouri
November 2008 in the United States