Missouri Attorney General candidates

ELECTION 2020 | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2020 | • 15 General Attorney

The duties of the attorney general include acting as attorney for the state, prosecuting and defending all appeals instituting all civil suits in the best interest of the state, and deciding on constitutionality instituting quo warranto against the unlawful or those who’ve committed wrongdoings in office, according to Ballotpedia. Lauren Johns | Music Reporter | @lje2017

Eric Schmitt

Republican candidate Eric Schmitt is running for re-election as Missouri State Attorney General this November.

According to the official Missouri State website, Republican Eric Schmitt served as state Treasurer and state Senator and was eventually appointed to the role of Attorney General by Governor Mike Parson in January 2019.

Schmitt was born in St. Louis County and has a Bachelor’s degree from Truman State University and a Juris Doctor degree from Saint Louis University’s School of Law.

Proceeding the start of his role, Schmitt announced that he wanted to work more closely with federal authorities regarding violent crimes such as carjacking, noting that the St. Louis Metro area has been hit particularly hard by this issue. This legislation is moving through the legislature.

During his interview on the podcast “Politically Speaking,” he spoke of wanting to ban abortion after a heartbeat or brain activity is detected, therefore making this procedure illegal after the eight week mark of pregnancy. This has the potential to directly impact various college students if needing to use these services.

More information about Eric Schmitt can be found at schmittformissouri.com

Rich Finneran

Democratic candidate Richard Finneran was born in St. Louis. He received a Juris Doctor degree at Washington University’s School of Law and a Bachelor’s in Philosophy at the University of North Carolina, according to Votesmart,

Prior to running for this position, he was an attorney from 2008-2010, worked as assistant to the United States attorney in the eastern district of Missouri from 2010-2017 and has worked as an adjunct professor teaching law at Washington University since 2008.

According to the Missouri State website, Finneran was a guest on the “Politically Speaking” podcast and discussed reorganizing the attorney general’s office to recruit new staffers. He also hopes to look into the role an Attorney General should have when it comes to police accountability and looking into cases where deadly force was utilized, as stated in the podcast.

In other matters, Finneran hopes to defend the Chinese against allegations of lawsuits regarding COVID-19 and to reverse Eric Schmitt’s decision to keep the United States in a lawsuit that could potentially overturn the Affordable Care Act.

More information about Rich Finneran can be found at richfinneran.com