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Eric Schmitt highlights his family as he prepares to become Missouri's attorney general

St. Louis Public Radio | By Jo Mannies
Published November 15, 2018 at 4:53 AM CST
Missouri state Treasurer Eric Schmitt is about to become the new state attorney general.
Carolina Hidalgo | St. Louis Public Radio
Missouri state Treasurer Eric Schmitt is about to become the new state attorney general.

As he prepares to change jobs, state Treasurer Eric Schmitt talked to St. Louis Public Radio’s Jo Mannies about two of the major influences on his life:

  • His Jesuit education at DeSmet High School and St. Louis University Law School.
  • His son, Stephen, who has autism and other health issues.
Missouri state Treasurer Eric Schmitt is about to become the new state attorney general.
Credit Carolina Hidalgo | St. Louis Public Radio
Missouri state Treasurer Eric Schmitt is about to become the new state attorney general.

Schmitt says he was at the Jesuit-run White House Retreat, in south St. Louis County, last Sunday, when he got the call from Gov. Mike Parson to tell him he had been chosen to be Missouri’s next attorney general.

In January, Schmitt will replace fellow Republican Josh Hawley, who will become Missouri’s new U.S. senator. Hawley defeated Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill on Nov. 6.

Schmitt had campaigned vigorously with Hawley during the final weeks of the campaign. He also had been honorary chairman of a Republican SuperPAC, Missouri Rising Action, that had been set up to help Hawley.

Here's key parts of the  interview:

State Treasurer Eric Schmitt discusses his approach to the law, and life, as he prepares to become Missouri's next attorney general.

Schmitt said his son, now 14, has taught him compassion and the importance of fighting “for the most vulnerable.”  His Jesuit education, Schmitt adds, helped instill similar values.

“I believe in listening,’’ Schmitt said, adding he plans to travel around the state to meet with local prosecutors and discuss their needs.

Follow Jo Mannies on Twitter: @jmannies

Copyright 2021 St. Louis Public Radio. To see more, visit St. Louis Public Radio.

Missouri News
Jo Mannies
Jo Mannies has been covering Missouri politics and government for almost four decades, much of that time as a reporter and columnist at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. She was the first woman to cover St. Louis City Hall, was the newspaper’s second woman sportswriter in its history, and spent four years in the Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau. She joined the St. Louis Beacon in 2009. She has won several local, regional and national awards, and has covered every president since Jimmy Carter. She scared fellow first-graders in the late 1950s when she showed them how close Alaska was to Russia and met Richard M. Nixon when she was in high school. She graduated from Valparaiso University in northwest Indiana, and was the daughter of a high school basketball coach. She is married and has two grown children, both lawyers. She’s a history and movie buff, cultivates a massive flower garden, and bakes banana bread regularly for her colleagues.
See stories by Jo Mannies