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Judges appointed by Jay Nixon

This page lists judges appointed by Jay Nixon (D) during their term as Governor of Missouri. As of today, the total number of Nixon appointees was 109. For the full profile of Nixon, click here.

Ballotpedia provides comprehensive coverage of the 100 largest cities in America by population. Some Missouri judges are outside of that coverage scope. As a result, this page does not provide an exhaustive list of all judges appointed by Gov. Nixon.

Appointment process

In Missouri, the governor make a judicial appointment after candidates are recommended by a judicial nominating commission. After the governor appoints a judge, she or he must run for retention in the next general election more than one year after taking office.^[1]

Appointed judges

The tables below list the governor's appointees to the courts across the state.

State Courts

Supreme Court

Name	Court	Active
George Draper	Missouri Supreme Court	2011 - August 4, 2023
Paul C. Wilson	Missouri Supreme Court	2013 - Present

Court of Appeals

Name	Court	Active
Angela T. Quigless	Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District	April 12, 2012 - Present
Lisa P. Page	Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District	2015 - Present
Gary Gaertner Jr.	Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District	March 11, 2010 - Present
James M. Dowd	Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District	June 3, 2015 - Present
Philip M. Hess	Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District	November 21, 2013 - Present
Robert M. Clayton III	Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District	July 18, 2011 - Present
Colleen Dolan	Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District	2016 - August 2, 2022
Lisa Van Amburg	Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District	2012 - 2018
Mary W. Sheffield	Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District	December 3, 2012 - Present
William W. Francis Jr.	Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District	April 16, 2010 - July 31, 2022
Anthony Rex Gabbert	Missouri Court of Appeals Western District	April 3, 2013 - Present
Edward Ardini	Missouri Court of Appeals Western District	2016 - Present
Gary D. Witt	Missouri Court of Appeals Western District	2010 - Present
Mark D. Pfeiffer	Missouri Court of Appeals Western District	2009 - Present
Karen Mitchell	Missouri Court of Appeals Western District	2009 - Present
Cynthia Lynette Martin	Missouri Court of Appeals Western District	2009 - Present

Local Courts

Name	Court	Active
Rachel Bringer Shepherd	Missouri 10th Judicial Circuit Court
Grant C. Gorman	Missouri 11th Judicial Circuit Court Division 2
Erin Burlison	Missouri 11th Judicial Circuit Court Division 3
Michael S. Wright	Missouri 12th Judicial Circuit Court
Richard Scheibe	Missouri 12th Judicial Circuit Court
Michael Bradley	Missouri 13th Judicial Circuit Court
Christine Carpenter	Missouri 13th Judicial Circuit Court Division 1	2017 - Present
Christine Carpenter	Missouri 13th Judicial Circuit Court Division 1
Jeff Harris	Missouri 13th Judicial Circuit Court Division 2
Patrick W. Campbell	Missouri 16th Judicial Circuit Court Division 10	2013 - February 20, 2023
Jennifer M. Phillips	Missouri 16th Judicial Circuit Court Division 12
Charles H. McKenzie	Missouri 16th Judicial Circuit Court Division 13
Kevin D. Harrell	Missouri 16th Judicial Circuit Court Division 18	2012 - Present
Mark Styles Jr.	Missouri 16th Judicial Circuit Court Division 19
Kenneth R. Garrett	Missouri 16th Judicial Circuit Court Division 2	2013 - Present
Kenneth R. Garrett	Missouri 16th Judicial Circuit Court Division 26 Associate Judge	2010 - 2013
Jeffrey C. Keal	Missouri 16th Judicial Circuit Court Division 28 Associate Judge	2013 - Present
Janette Kay Rodecap	Missouri 16th Judicial Circuit Court Division 29 Associate Judge	2014 - Present
Mary F. Weir	Missouri 16th Judicial Circuit Court Division 31 Associate Judge
Susan Long	Missouri 16th Judicial Circuit Court Division 34 Associate Judge
Jim Kanatzar	Missouri 16th Judicial Circuit Court Division 5
J. Dale Youngs	Missouri 16th Judicial Circuit Court Division 6
S. Margene Burnett	Missouri 16th Judicial Circuit Court Division 7
Bryan Round	Missouri 16th Judicial Circuit Court Division 8
Meryl L. Lange	Missouri 17th Judicial Circuit Court Division 3
Ada Brehe-Krueger	Missouri 20th Judicial Circuit Court
Nancy M. Watkins	Missouri 21st Judicial Circuit Court
John F. Kintz	Missouri 21st Judicial Circuit Court
Douglas R. Beach	Missouri 21st Judicial Circuit Court
Brian May	Missouri 21st Judicial Circuit Court
Richard Stewart	Missouri 21st Judicial Circuit Court
Ellen H. Ribaudo	Missouri 21st Judicial Circuit Court
Joseph S. Dueker	Missouri 21st Judicial Circuit Court
Stanley Wallach	Missouri 21st Judicial Circuit Court Division 12
Kristine Allen Kerr	Missouri 21st Judicial Circuit Court Division 14
John D. Warner Jr.	Missouri 21st Judicial Circuit Court Division 15
Joseph Walsh	Missouri 21st Judicial Circuit Court Division 17
Gloria Clark Reno	Missouri 21st Judicial Circuit Court Division 19
Sandra Farragut-Hemphill	Missouri 21st Judicial Circuit Court Division 3
Robert Heggie	Missouri 21st Judicial Circuit Court Division 42 Associate Judge
Thea A. Sherry	Missouri 21st Judicial Circuit Court Division 5
Kevin Harrell	Missouri 22nd Judicial Circuit Court
Michael W. Noble	Missouri 22nd Judicial Circuit Court
Rex Burlison	Missouri 22nd Judicial Circuit Court
Michael F. Stelzer	Missouri 22nd Judicial Circuit Court
Christopher McGraugh	Missouri 22nd Judicial Circuit Court
James E. Sullivan	Missouri 22nd Judicial Circuit Court	2015 - 2022
Paula Perkins Bryant	Missouri 22nd Judicial Circuit Court
Nicole Colbert-Botchway	Missouri 22nd Judicial Circuit Court Associate Judge	2015 - December 31, 2020
Jason Sengheiser	Missouri 22nd Judicial Circuit Court Associate Judge	2016 - 2017
Michael W. Noble	Missouri 22nd Judicial Circuit Court Associate Judge	2013 - 2015
Travis Partney	Missouri 23rd Judicial Circuit Court Associate Judge
Patricia A. Riehl	Missouri 23rd Judicial Circuit Court Division 5
Joe Goff Jr.	Missouri 24th Judicial Circuit Court Associate judge
Wendy L. Wexler Horn	Missouri 24th Judicial Circuit Court Division 2
Ronda L. Cortesini	Missouri 25th Judicial Circuit Court
David Gregory Warren	Missouri 25th Judicial Circuit Court
Kenneth G. Clayton	Missouri 25th Judicial Circuit Court
Aaron Martin	Missouri 26th Judicial Circuit Court
Peggy Richardson	Missouri 26th Judicial Circuit Court
Gary Troxell	Missouri 28th Judicial Circuit Court
Thomas P. Redington	Missouri 2nd Judicial Circuit Court
James A. Hackett	Missouri 30th Judicial Circuit Court
James M. Owen	Missouri 30th Judicial Circuit Court Division 2
Becky Borthwick	Missouri 31st Judicial Circuit Court
Margaret Holden Palmietto	Missouri 31st Judicial Circuit Court
Douglas Andrew Hosmer	Missouri 31st Judicial Circuit Court Division 23 Associate Judge
Ron Carrier	Missouri 31st Judicial Circuit Court Division 26 Associate Judge
Jason Brown	Missouri 31st Judicial Circuit Court Division 3
D. Blake Pearson	Missouri 33rd Judicial Circuit Court
Joshua D. Underwood	Missouri 34th Judicial Circuit Court
Frederick Tucker	Missouri 41st Judicial Circuit Court
Sanborn N. Ball	Missouri 42nd Judicial Circuit Court
Brandi L. Baird	Missouri 42nd Judicial Circuit Court
Benjamin Thompson	Missouri 42nd Judicial Circuit Court
J. Bartley Spear	Missouri 43rd Judicial Circuit Court
Daniel L. Chadwick	Missouri 43rd Judicial Circuit Court
R. Brent Elliott	Missouri 43rd Judicial Circuit Court Division 2
Cynthia O. MacPherson	Missouri 44th Judicial Circuit Court	2014 - 2018
Elizabeth A. Bock	Missouri 44th Judicial Circuit Court
Patrick S. Flynn	Missouri 45th Judicial Circuit Court
Tiffany Yarnell	Missouri 46th Judicial Circuit Court
James W. Van Amburg	Missouri 6th Judicial Circuit Court
Thomas C. Fincham	Missouri 6th Judicial Circuit Court Division 1
Abe Shafer V	Missouri 6th Judicial Circuit Court Division 3 Associate Judge	2014 - Present
W. Ann Hansbrough	Missouri 6th Judicial Circuit Court Division 4 Associate Judge	2014 - 2021
Dennis C. Eckold	Missouri 6th Judicial Circuit Court Division 5 Associate Judge	2010 - April 1, 2023
Janet Lee Sutton	Missouri 7th Judicial Circuit Court Division 2	2013 - December 15, 2021
Louis Angles	Missouri 7th Judicial Circuit Court Division 7 Associate Judge	2013 - Present
Timothy Flook	Missouri 7th Judicial Circuit Court Division 9 Associate Judge
James Carey Thompson	Missouri 8th Judicial Circuit Court

Judicial selection process

See also: Judicial selection in Missouri

Judicial selection in Missouri

Missouri Supreme Court
Method:	Assisted appointment
Term:	12 years
Missouri Court of Appeals
Method:	Assisted appointment
Term:	12 years
Missouri Circuit Courts
Method:	Assisted appointment or Partisan election
Term:	6 years

Judicial selection refers to the process used to select judges for courts. At the state level, methods of judicial selection vary substantially in the United States, and in some cases between different court types within a state. There are six primary types of judicial selection: partisan and nonpartisan elections, the Michigan method, assisted appointment, gubernatorial appointment, and legislative elections. To read more about how these selection methods are used across the country, click here.

This article covers how state court judges are selected in Missouri, including:

As of April 2023, the selection of state judges in Missouri occurred largely through merit selection, specifically the assisted appointment method in which the governor selects a nominee from a list provided by a nominating commission. Appointed judges serve a short initial term and later run in yes-no retention elections if they wish to serve full terms.^[2]

Click here to notify us of changes to judicial selection methods in this state.

Appellate state court selection in the United States, by general selection method^[3]

State courts and their selection methods across the U.S., including the District of Columbia^[3]
Method	Supreme Court (of 53)^[4]	Courts of Appeal (of 46)	Trial Courts (of 147)
Partisan elections (PE)	8	6	39
Nonpartisan elections (NPE)	13	16	34
Legislative elections (LE)	2	2	5
Gubernatorial appointment of judges (GA)	5	3	6
Assisted appointment (AA)	22	18	46
Combination or other	3^[5]	1^[6]	17^[7]

State profile

Demographic data for Missouri
	Missouri	U.S.
Total population:	6,076,204	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	68,742	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	82.6%	73.6%
Black/African American:	11.5%	12.6%
Asian:	1.8%	5.1%
Native American:	0.4%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more:	2.4%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	3.9%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	88.4%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	27.1%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$48,173	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	18.2%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Missouri. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in Missouri

Missouri voted Republican in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

More Missouri coverage on Ballotpedia

Missouri	Judicial Selection	More Courts

Courts in Missouri Missouri Court of Appeals Missouri Supreme Court	Elections: 2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 Gubernatorial appointments Judicial selection in Missouri	Federal courts State courts Local courts

External links

Office of the Governor

Footnotes

↑ American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Missouri," archived October 2, 2014
↑ American Judicature Society, "Judicial Selection in the States: Missouri," accessed September 7, 2021
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection," archived February 2, 2015
↑ Both Oklahoma and Texas have two state supreme courts: one for civil matters and one for criminal matters.
↑ Michigan and Ohio use nonpartisan general elections with candidates selected through partisan primaries or conventions. In the District of Columbia, judges are selected in the same manner as federal judges.
↑ Judges of the North Dakota Court of Appeals are appointed on an as-needed basis by the supreme court justices.
↑ Most courts that use combination/alternative methods (for example, mayoral appointment) are local level courts. These courts are often governed by selection guidelines that are unique to their specific region.