Mike Parson Bio
Michael Lynn Parson (born September 17, 1955) is an American politician and former law enforcement officer who served as the 57th governor of Missouri from 2018 to 2025. A Republican, Parson became governor after serving as lieutenant governor from 2017 to 2018 and was elected to a full term in 2020. He is a third-generation farmer and small business owner who also served in the United States Army Military Police Corps.
Before his statewide executive roles, Parson represented parts of southwest Missouri in both chambers of the Missouri General Assembly, serving in the state House from 2005 to 2011 and the state Senate from 2011 to 2017. Earlier in his career, he was the elected sheriff of Polk County. His tenure as governor placed him at the center of major debates over abortion policy, gun rights, public health during the COVID-19 pandemic, and criminal justice in Missouri.
Early Life and Background
Michael Lynn Parson was born on September 17, 1955, in Wheatland, Missouri, and raised on a farm in Hickory County. He graduated from Wheatland High School in 1973, growing up in a rural part of the state that would remain central to his identity throughout his career. His family roots in agriculture stretched back several generations, and farming would become a defining part of his adult life.
After high school, Parson enlisted in the United States Army in 1975 and served six years in the Military Police Corps. He was discharged in 1981 with the rank of sergeant. While serving in the Army, he attended night classes at the University of Maryland and the University of Hawaiʻi, although he did not complete a degree at either institution. Following his military service, he returned to Hickory County and began a long career in local law enforcement.
Path to US Politics
Parson returned to Missouri in 1981 and took a job as a sheriff’s deputy in Hickory County. In 1983, he transferred to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, where he became the department’s first criminal investigator. He served as Polk County sheriff from 1993 to 2004, building a public profile in southwest Missouri that prepared him for a transition to elected state office. In 1984, he also purchased a gas station, eventually owning and operating three stations in the area.
Parson’s entry into the Missouri General Assembly came in 2004, when he was first elected to the 133rd District in the Missouri House of Representatives. He was reelected in 2006 and 2008, chairing the House Rules Committee during his tenure and co-sponsoring a 2007 bill to expand castle doctrine rights. In 2010, he won a seat in the Missouri Senate, signing the Americans for Tax Reform pledge not to raise taxes and serving as Senate majority whip during the 96th General Assembly. He was reelected in 2014 without opposition.
Mike Parson Career
Early Career (2004-2016)
During his time in the Missouri House, Parson built a reputation as a conservative lawmaker focused on second amendment rights, fiscal restraint, and rural Missouri values. His chairmanship of the House Rules Committee gave him influence over how legislation moved through the chamber, and his subsequent election to the state Senate in 2010 marked a step up in his political career.
In the Senate, Parson aligned himself closely with the Republican caucus, supporting limited-government policies and earning a leadership role as majority whip. His willingness to sign the no-tax pledge and his unopposed reelection in 2014 signaled broad support from voters in his district. By 2016, Parson had decided to pursue statewide office.
Lieutenant Governor Breakthrough (2016-2018)
Parson initially announced he would run for governor in 2016 but ultimately chose to seek the lieutenant governor’s office instead. After defeating two opponents in the Republican primary, he faced Democratic former U.S. Representative Russ Carnahan in the general election and won on November 8, 2016. He was sworn in as lieutenant governor on January 9, 2017, alongside Governor Eric Greitens.
As lieutenant governor, Parson upgraded an office that had not been modernized in twelve years, approved modest remodeling, and managed a budget that was the smallest of any Missouri statewide elected official. He also served on the Missouri Housing Development Commission, where he voted in December 2017 to keep a $140 million state tax credit for low-income housing developers, a position that put him at odds with Governor Greitens. In February 2018, Greitens was indicted on felony invasion of privacy charges, intensifying speculation that Parson could soon succeed him.
Governor of Missouri Era (2018-2025)
On May 29, 2018, Governor Greitens announced his resignation, effective at 5:00 pm on June 1, 2018. Parson was sworn in as the 57th governor of Missouri half an hour later, becoming the state’s chief executive. In his early months in office, he appointed Missouri Senate Majority Leader Mike Kehoe as lieutenant governor, a move later upheld by the Missouri Supreme Court. He also launched an investigation into allegations of improper care at a Missouri Veterans Home and pushed for fiscal restraint, including hundreds of vetoes to the 2024 state operating budget that ultimately cut $555.3 million.
Parson won election to a full term in 2020, defeating state representative Jim Neely and Air Force veteran Saundra McDowell in the Republican primary and Democratic state Auditor Nicole Galloway in the November general election. As governor, he signed the 2019 Missouri Stands for the Unborn Act, criminalizing abortion after eight weeks of pregnancy, and opposed Medicaid expansion before a 2020 voter referendum extended coverage to roughly 275,000 Missourians. He also signed a 2021 law banning local police from enforcing federal gun legislation, a measure struck down in 2023 as unconstitutional.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Parson announced the first two confirmed cases in Missouri on March 13, 2020, and later issued a statewide stay-at-home order on April 3, 2020, while initially allowing school districts to decide whether to close. He and his wife Teresa both tested positive for COVID-19 in September 2020 and later recovered. He also signed legislation limiting local public health orders and banning COVID-19 passports. In 2022, he deployed Missouri National Guard members to the Texas border under Operation Lone Star, though he later vetoed additional funding for the program.
Notable Events and Milestones
Among the most discussed moments of Parson’s governorship were his controversial pardons and clemency decisions, including the August 2021 pardon of Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the St. Louis couple who pointed guns at George Floyd protesters, his refusal to grant clemency to Kevin Strickland despite a bipartisan petition, and his 2024 commutation of the sentence of former Kansas City Chiefs assistant coach Britt Reid. In 2024, he also commuted the sentence of former Kansas City police detective Eric DeValkenaere and denied clemency to death row inmate Marcellus Williams, who was subsequently executed in September 2024.
Mike Parson Career Wins
Mike Parson’s political career featured a series of decisive election victories at the local, state, and statewide levels, culminating in his elevation to the governorship of Missouri. His wins reflected durable conservative support in southwest Missouri and across the state.
US Politics Highlights
Parson won election to the 133rd District in the Missouri House in 2004 and was reelected in 2006 and 2008, serving through 2010. He then won a Missouri Senate seat in 2010 and was reelected in 2014, running unopposed in both the primary and general election. In 2016, he won the Republican primary for lieutenant governor and defeated Democrat Russ Carnahan in the general election. After ascending to the governorship in 2018, he won the 2020 Republican primary and defeated state Auditor Nicole Galloway in the November 2020 general election to claim a full term.
Other Wins and Achievements
Beyond his legislative and executive victories, Parson earned a reputation as a policy leader, signing major legislation on abortion, gun rights, and public health. Between 2020 and 2024, he granted clemency to more than 760 people, the most by any Missouri governor since the 1940s, while also appointing Robin Ransom as the first African-American woman to serve on the Supreme Court of Missouri.
Mike Parson Family
Family Background and Political Lineage
Mike Parson is a third-generation farmer whose family ties to rural southwest Missouri stretch back decades. He was raised on a farm in Hickory County and, in 1985, started a cow and calf operation near Bolivar that he continues to own and operate. His deep agricultural roots shaped his political outlook and remained a defining part of his identity throughout his time in public office.
Personal Life
Parson married his wife, Teresa, in 1985, and the couple has two children. During his governorship, they lived at the Missouri Governor’s Mansion in Jefferson City, with the exception of several months in 2019 when the mansion was being renovated. The couple’s personal residence is in Bolivar, Missouri, and Parson is a member of the Baptist faith.