Rhineland resident Andrew Bailey announced on Aug. 18 that he plans to step down as Missouri attorney general to become the co-deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Bailey will serve his last day as attorney general on Sept. 8. Catherine Hanaway was named Bailey’s replacement, making her the fourth attorney general in the last seven years and the state’s first female attorney general.

“My life has been defined by a call to service, and I am once again answering that call, this time at the national level,” Bailey said in a news release announcing his departure. “But wherever I am called, Missouri is and always will be home.”

Bailey was appointed attorney general in 2022 after Eric Schmitt was elected to the U.S. Senate. Schmitt got the job in 2018, replacing another Republican who won a Senate seat, Josh Hawley.

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe appointed Hanaway as Bailey’s replacement on Aug. 19. Hanaway will serve until Bailey’s current term expires in 2028.
Bailey will team up with Dan Bongino as the FBI co-deputy directors. Bongino was appointed deputy director on March 17.

Bailey had never run for public office before former Missouri Gov. Mike Parson tapped him to replace Schmitt in 2022. At the time, he was serving as Parson’s general counsel. He previously worked as an assistant prosecuting attorney in Warren County and as an assistant attorney general.
He went to Iraq twice before deciding to go to law school. In law school, Bailey had Hawley as one of his professors.

Bailey later moved to St. Louis, working as an armed guard at a courthouse. While in law school, Bailey worked as an intern at the prosecutor’s office in Montgomery County. Bailey served as an assistant prosecuting attorney for Warren County following law school.

Bailey was named the 44th attorney general in Missouri’s history on Jan. 3, 2023. He was also the first Montgomery Countian to take over attorney general duties.

Long before he became attorney general, Bailey was serving in the military. He went to the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1999 on an Army scholarship.
Bailey later volunteered to go to Iraq and served under H.R. McMaster, who went on to become the U.S. National Security Advisor.

The Columbia native went to Iraq twice before deciding to go to law school. In law school, Bailey had Hawley as one of his professors.

Bailey has been living in Montgomery County since 2019, when he and his family found some property north of Rhineland. He was the keynote speaker of the Lincoln Day Banquet on June 6 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Montgomery City.

Also in 2019, Bailey joined the Missouri Governor’s office.

Theo Tate contributed to this story.