Tim Van Zandt (born September 17, 1963) is a nurse, former accountant and former politician from the U.S. state of

Missouri Missouri 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 is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. A

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

, he served eight years 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 ...

representing

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 ...

and became the first openly gay member ever elected to the

Missouri General Assembly The Missouri General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Missouri. The bicameral General Assembly is composed of a 34-member Senate and a 163-member House of Representatives. Members of both houses of the General Assembly are ...

. Born in

Lexington, Missouri Lexington is a city in and the county seat of Lafayette County, Missouri. The population was 4,726 at the 2010 census. Located in western Missouri, Lexington lies approximately east of Kansas City and is part of the Greater Kansas City Metropol ...

, he graduated from the

University of Central Missouri The University of Central Missouri (UCM) is a public university in Warrensburg, Missouri. In 2019, enrollment was 11,229 students from 49 states and 59 countries on its 1,561-acre campus. UCM offers 150 programs of study, including 10 pre-profes ...

with a B.S.E. in Accounting/Political Science and from the Bloch School at the

University of Missouri–Kansas City The University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC) is a public research university in Kansas City, Missouri. UMKC is part of the University of Missouri System and one of only two member universities with a medical school. As of 2020, the university ...

with an M.P.A. in Health Care Administration. He is now the Vice President for Government and Community Relations for

Saint Luke's Health System Saint Luke's Health System is a non-profit hospital network in the bi-state Kansas City metro area, located in northeast Kansas and northwest Missouri. It traces its history to its flagship hospital, Saint Luke's Hospital of Kansas City, which wa ...

. He was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 1994. In a reliably Democratic district, he won the primary election held on August 2, 1994 with over 80% of the vote. He then faced only a

Libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

opponent in the general election, winning easily and taking office the following January. He was subsequently re-elected in 1996, 1998, and in 2000.

Term limit A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potenti ...

s prevented him from seeking re-election in 2002. In the legislature, Van Zandt chaired the House Tobacco Settlement Committee and vice-chaired the House Committees on Urban Affairs, and Ways and Means. Van Zandt served as a delegate to the

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 ...

s in 1992, 1996 and 2000. He served on the Rules Committee in 1992 and 2000, and the Platform Committee in 1996. An openly gay man, Van Zandt won the election with the support of the

Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund The LGBTQ Victory Fund (formerly the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund), commonly shortened to Victory Fund, is an American political action committee dedicated to increasing the number of openly LGBT, LGBTQ public officials in the United States. Vict ...

, which channeled thousands of dollars into his campaign. In the 2009–10 biennium, there are three openly gay members of the Missouri General Assembly: Sen. Jolie Justus (D–Kansas City), Rep. Jeanette Mott Oxford (D–

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

) and Rep. Mike Colona (D–St. Louis).

References

1963 births Living people American people of Dutch descent People from Lexington, Missouri Gay politicians LGBT state legislators in Missouri LGBT Christians Democratic Party members of the Missouri House of Representatives Politicians from Kansas City, Missouri {{Missouri-politician-stub