Did you know? Cape Girardeau's Peter Kinder is Missouri's longest serving lieutenant governor

In the long history of the Show Me State, no one person has served longer as the state's No. 2 official than former GOP Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder of Cape Girardeau, now vice president of governmental affairs for SoutheastHEALTH.

Since Missouri attained statehood in 1820, 48 people have served the state as lieutenant governor.

• Record tenure. Kinder served as lieutenant governor for a full dozen years, from Jan. 10, 2005, to Jan. 9, 2017, serving alongside former governors Matt Blunt and Jay Nixon. Historically, Kinder's tenure was approximately 10 days longer than Democrat Frank Gaines Harris of Boone County, who was in office from Jan. 9. 1933, to Dec. 30, 1944. Harris, who served during the gubernatorial terms of governors Guy Brasfield Park, Lloyd C. Stark and Forrest C. Donnell, died of heart failure while still in office.
• Run separately. Unlike in many states, candidates for Missouri governor and lieutenant governor are elected separately and occasionally are from different parties. In fact, during Kinder's long service, the Republican served the final eight years in office — 2009 to 2017 — with Gov. Nixon, a Democrat.
• Key constitutional responsibilities. According to www.ltgov.mo.gov/responsibilities, the lieutenant governor has three roles proscribed by the Missouri Constitution.

Two of the duties are to preside as president over the state Senate, voting in the event of a tie; and becoming governor upon the death, conviction, impeachment or resignation of the gubernatorial incumbent. For example, Gov. Mike Parson assumed the office in June 2018 upon the resignation of his predecessor, Eric Greitens.

A third responsibility is to preside as governor when the elected governor is absent from the state or disabled. Kinder served as acting governor for 105 days during his 12 years.

"I did everything the governor does except live in the (Governor's) Mansion and get flown around by the state Highway Patrol," Kinder, now 69, told the Southeast Missourian. "I signed bills into law and made appointments to boards, commissions and jobs. I also called out the National Guard to fight a flood in Northeast Missouri."

• Gender. Every one of the state's lieutenant governors has been male, except for the late Harriett Woods, a Democrat from University City, Missouri, who served from 1985 to 1989. State Sen. Holly Thompson Rehder of Scott City is hoping to follow in Woods' footsteps. Thompson Rehder is a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor in the August 2024 primary.
• Cape Girardeau County residents. Kinder was the third person from Cape Girardeau County to hold the state's No. 2 job. The others were Franklin Cannon and Wilson Brown, both Democrats and physicians, who occupied the position during the early decades of statehood in the 19th century. Cannon served from 1836 to 1840 while Brown was in office from 1853 to 1855. Cannon originally hailed from North Carolina while Brown was reared in Maryland. Both men were also slave owners, according to an 1888 publication, "Goodspeed's History of Southeast Missouri". Kinder, therefore, is the first and only Cape Girardeau County native to become lieutenant governor.