Michael Lynn Parson (born September 17, 1955) is an American politician and former law enforcement officer who served as the 57th governor of Missouri, from 2018 to 2025. A member of the Republican Party, Parson assumed the governorship upon the resignation of Eric Greitens, under whom he served as lieutenant governor from 2017 to 2018. Parson served the remainder of Greitens's term and was elected governor in his own right in 2020.
Parson served in the Missouri House of Representatives from 2005 to 2011 and the Missouri Senate from 2011 to 2017. He was elected lieutenant governor in 2016. He assumed the governorship on June 1, 2018, upon Greitens's resignation. As governor, Parson signed a bill criminalizing abortion after eight weeks of pregnancy and opposed Medicaid expansion, both of which were overturned by ballot measure. He oversaw the state's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, issuing a temporary stay-at-home order in April 2020 but allowing school districts to decide whether to close.
Parson placed restrictions on mail-in voting during the 2020 U.S. elections, and oversaw Missouri's reaction to the George Floyd protests, which included pardoning a couple who pointed guns at unarmed protesters on their private street. He shortened the sentence of the son of Kansas City Chiefs Coach Andy Reid, who seriously injured a child while drunk driving.
In the last full year of his term, Parson faced intense public scrutiny over his refusal to commute the sentence of Marcellus Williams, a Black man who was sentenced to capital punishment in connection to the 1998 murder of Felicia Gayle. Despite gaining the prosecutor’s support, Williams was executed via lethal injection on September 24, 2024.
Early life, education, and career
Michael Lynn Parson was born on September 17, 1955, in Wheatland, Missouri, and raised on a farm in Hickory County. He graduated from Wheatland High School in 1973.
Parson enlisted in the United States Army in 1975, and served six years in the Military Police Corps, discharged in 1981 with the rank of sergeant. While in the Army, he attended night classes at the University of Maryland and the University of Hawaiʻi, without completing disciplined study at either institution.
Parson returned to Hickory County in 1981 to serve as a sheriff's deputy, and transferred to the Polk County Sheriff's Office to become its first criminal investigator in 1983. He served as Polk County sheriff from 1993 to 2004.
In 1984, Parson purchased a gas station and named it Mike's. He eventually owned and operated three gas stations in the area.
Parson was first elected to the 133rd District in the Missouri House of Representatives in 2004, and reelected in 2006 and 2008. During his tenure, he chaired the House Rules Committee. In 2007, Parson co-sponsored a bill to expand castle doctrine rights.
In 2010, Parson was elected to the Missouri Senate. He had signed the Americans for Tax Reform pledge not to raise any taxes. He served as the Senate majority whip during the 96th General Assembly. He was reelected in 2014, running unopposed in both the Republican primary and general election.
Lieutenant governor of Missouri
Parson initially announced he would run for governor in 2016, but opted to run for lieutenant governor instead. After defeating two opponents in the Republican primaries, he faced Democratic former U.S. Representative Russ Carnahan, whom he defeated in the general election on November 8, 2016.
During his campaign, Parson was criticized by his former chief of staff for allegedly proposing legislation on behalf of a lobbyist, and a $50,000 plan to employ a valet for his vehicle. Parson claimed his former staffer was a "disgruntled former employee".
Parson was sworn in on January 9, 2017, along with Governor Eric Greitens. Noting that the lieutenant governor's office had not been upgraded in the past 12 years, Parson approved $54,000 in remodeling and renovation costs during his first two months in office.
In 2017, Parson sought a $125,000 increase to his $463,000 budget, which included $35,000 to reimburse him for travel mileage during state business. He also sought $10,000 for out-of-state travel. In 2018, he asked for an additional $25,000 to pay for a part-time personal driver but decreased his overall budget request to $541,000. In response to criticism, his office routinely stated that his office and salary was the smallest of any statewide elected Missouri official.
Parson was the only statewide elected official to accept gifts from a lobbyist in his first six months in office, reporting $2,752 in meals and gifts. Parson's predecessor, Peter Kinder, also accepted gifts.
After allegations of improper care at the Missouri Veterans Home in St. Louis, first reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in October 2017, Parson's office launched an investigation.