David Steelman is an American politician from the state of

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

. David Steelman earned a B.A. in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

from the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...

, and graduated first in his class from the

University of Missouri Law School The University of Missouri School of Law (Mizzou Law or MU Law) is the law school of the University of Missouri. It is located on the university's main campus in Columbia, forty minutes from the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City. The sch ...

in 1978. He is the son of the late Dorman L. Steelman, who served in the

Missouri House of Representatives The Missouri House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 163 members, representing districts with an average size of 37,000 residents. House members are elected for two-year terms during general elections ...

, as a circuit judge, and as chairman of the

Missouri Republican Party The Missouri Republican Party is the affiliate of the United States Republican Party in Missouri. Its chair is Nick Myers, who has served since 2021. It is currently the dominant party in the state, controlling the majority of Missouri's U.S. H ...

. Steelman, a Republican, was elected to his first term in the Missouri House of Representatives in 1978 at the age of 25 (under the state constitution, the minimum age for a state representative is 24). He was re-elected in 1980 and 1982, and was chosen by his colleagues to serve as minority floor leader. Steelman did not seek re-election in 1984, returning to the practice of law in his native

Rolla, Missouri Rolla () is a city in, and the county seat of, Phelps County, Missouri, United States. The population in the 2020 United States Census was 19,943. Rolla is located approximately midway between St. Louis and Springfield along I-44. The Rolla ...

. Steelman's House colleague William L. Webster was elected Attorney General in 1984 and re-elected in 1988, and Steelman eventually went to work for Webster as an Assistant Attorney General. Webster vacated the Attorney General's office to run unsuccessfully for governor in 1992, and Steelman ran to succeed him. In the Republican primary, Steelman faced Assistant United States Attorney John Hall, a moderate Republican who previously had worked for former U.S. Senator John C. Danforth and for then-Governor

Kit Bond Christopher Samuel "Kit" Bond (born March 6, 1939) is an American attorney, politician and former United States Senator from Missouri and a member of the Republican Party. First elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986, he defeated Democrat Harriett W ...

. Danforth campaigned aggressively for Hall, while Steelman attacked Hall's relative liberalism and his Harvard pedigree. Steelman won the Republican primary handily but lost the general election to

Jay Nixon Jeremiah Wilson "Jay" Nixon (born February 13, 1956) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 55th Governor of Missouri from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected to the governorship in 2008 and reel ...

, 51% to 45%. The general election featured Nixon and Steelman both engaging in frequent personal attacks against one another, which surely contributed to the 4% of votes received by the Libertarian candidate. Steelman has not sought elective office since 1992, instead focusing on his law practice. His wife,

Sarah Steelman Sarah Steelman (born Sarah Hearne; May 3, 1958) is an American Republican politician from Missouri and State Treasurer from 2005 to 2009. She is currently serving in the Office of Administration in Governor Mike Parson’s administration. She ...

served in the

Missouri State Senate The Missouri Senate is the upper chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 34 members, representing districts with an average population of 174,000. Its members serve four-year terms, with half the seats being up for election every two yea ...

from 1999 to 2005, as state treasurer from 2005 to 2009, and was a candidate for Governor of Missouri in 2008, until she lost the Republican primary. In 2012 she lost a bid for the US Senate in the Republican primary against Representative Todd Akin.

Electoral history

Sources

Steelman biodata
1950s births Living people American lawyers People from Rolla, Missouri Republican Party members of the Missouri House of Representatives University of Missouri School of Law alumni {{Missouri-politician-stub