- Jolie Justus
Infobox State Senator
honorific-prefix =
name =Sen. Jolie Justus
honorific-suffix =
height =150px
state_senate =Missouri
district =10th
term_start =2007
term_end =present
preceded =Charles Wheeler
succeeded =
birth_date =birth date and age|1971|02|24
birth_place =Kansas City, Missouri
residence =Kansas City, Missouri
party =Democrat
spouse =
website = [http://www.justusforsenate.com justusforsenate.com]Jolie Justus (b. February 24, 1971) is an American lawyer and politician from
Missouri . A Democrat, she is a member of theMissouri State Senate , representing the state's 10th District in Kansas City.A
lawyer by trade, she was raised inBranson, Missouri where she attended Branson High School. [ [http://www.justusforsenate.com/page.php?c=about Justus for Senate ] ] She then went on to earn degrees at Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield and theUniversity of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law. She now works for the law firm ofShook, Hardy & Bacon .She was elected to the Senate in 2006, winning the Democratic primary election held on August 8, 2006 with 33% of the vote in a four-candidate field. Her nearest contender, former state representative Jason Klumb, got 30%. [http://www.sos.mo.gov/enrweb/raceresults.asp?eid=173&oid=39289] She was widely regarded as the most progressive candidate in the race, supporting
minimum wage increases,abortion rights andstem cell research . [http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/14857061.htm] In the general election, she faced only nominal Republican opposition in what is one of the state's most reliably Democratic districts. She defeated her Republican opponent Jerry Mounts by 72% to 28%. She took office in January 2007.A
lesbian , she was the first openly gay member of the Missouri State Senate and only the third ever publicly gay member of theMissouri General Assembly , after RepresentativesTim Van Zandt (D-Kansas City) andJeanette Mott Oxford (D-St. Louis). Her 2006 campaign won the support of theGay & Lesbian Victory Fund , which channeled thousands of dollars into her campaign. [ [http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gayelect7aug07,1,285495.story?coll=la-headlines-nation More Gays Advocating Legislating - Los Angeles Times ] ]References
External links
* [http://www.senate.mo.gov/07info/members/mem10.htm General Assembly homepage]
* [http://joliejustus.blogspot.com/ Official blog]
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