Jay Nixon defeated Kenny Hulshof in 2008, to win the race for governor and take over the seat vacated by Republican Matt Blunt. Nixon took 58 percent of the vote.

Nixon easily won the Democratic nomination with about 85 percent of the vote over a little-known challenger during the 2008 primary.

Nixon won a three-way Democratic primary for an open state Senate seat in 1986 and went on to win the general election with 64 percent. He won re-election four years later by nearly the same percentage.

In 1992, Nixon won a four-way Democratic primary for attorney general by about 35 percent of the vote. He went on to win a hard-fought general election against Republican attorney David Steelman, capturing about 50 percent of the vote.

Nixon was unopposed in subsequent Democratic attorney general's primaries and easily defeated his Republican challengers. He last won re-election in 2004, with 60 percent of the vote.

(Last updated by David A. Lieb on March 30, 2009.)

Kit Bond was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986, winning with 53 percent over Democratic Lt. Gov. Harriett Woods.

In 1992, Bond defeated Geri Rothman-Serot, a member of the St. Louis City Council, with 52 percent of the vote. He was the only Republican to win statewide election that year.

He won re-election in 1998, defeating Democratic Attorney General Jay Nixon with 53 percent of the vote. He was re-elected in 2004 with 56 percent of the vote over Democrat Nancy Farmer.

Bond announced Jan. 8, 2009, that he will not seek re-election in 2010.

Bond won races for state auditor in 1970 and governor of Missouri in 1972 and 1980.

(Last updated by David A. Lieb on March 30, 2009.)

Claire McCaskill won her Senate seat in 2006 by narrowly defeating incumbent Republican Sen. Jim Talent. McCaskill took 49.6 percent of the vote over Talent's 47.3 percent.

McCaskill first ran for office in 1982, winning a Jackson County seat in the state House of Representatives, where she served until 1989.

She became part of the Jackson County Legislature and served from 1990 to 1992, when she was elected Jackson County prosecutor. She served that role until she ran for state auditor, an office she has occupied from 1999 until she became a U.S. senator in January 2007.

She defeated Gov. Bob Holden in the 2004 Democratic primary for governor but lost to Republican Matt Blunt in the general election by less than 3 percentage points.

(Last updated by David A. Lieb on March 30, 2009.)