Andrew Bailey is the 44th Attorney General of Missouri. Appointed to office in January of 2023, Bailey has been active in using his office to restrict access to medical transition for trans residents of all ages, block the ability of residents to vote to protect abortion rights, and attempting to permanently foreclose the possibility of debt relief for Missouri students.

Bailey is running in the 2024 Missouri Attorney General election in hopes of being elected for a full term as Attorney General of Missouri.

Look at how lobotomies used to be viewed ... this was a popular, approved medication and medical procedure to treat depression and other mental health disorders; they would go in and cut out people's brains and it caused permanent damage, and now we look back at that as nothing short of mutilation. History's going to view [medical transition] the same way.

Radio Interview with Bailey, 22 May 2023

Education and Work

In the early 2000s, Bailey received a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Missouri-Columbia, then enlisted in the United States Army. After two deployments to Iraq, Bailey returned to America in 2009 and enrolled in the University of Missouri School of Law.

After graduating with his Juris Doctor, Bailey went to work as an assistant prosecuting attorney in Warren County, Missouri’s, Prosecuting Attorney's Office, as well as the general counsel of the Missouri Department of Corrections.

In 2019, Bailey was employed by Governor Mike Parson’s office as his deputy general counsel. In 2021, he was promoted to Parson’s general counsel, and in 2022 Parson appointed him acting Attorney General for the state of Missouri following Attorney General Eric Schmitt's election to the U.S. Senate. 

Attacks on Transgender Healthcare

In April of 2023 Jamie Reed filed an affidavit with Bailey alleging misconduct at Washington University’s Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Although the allegations were disputed on multiple grounds by parents and patients who had been treated at the center, Bailey demanded that doctors at the WU Center immediately discontinue prescriptions for puberty-blocking medicines and hormones.

When the Transgender Center did not give in to this demand, Bailey issued new regulations from the Attorney General’s office that would require transgender patients of any age to undergo at least 18 months of 15 hourly therapy sessions per month before beginning medical transition. Bailey also stated that transgender patients would be screened for Autism Spectrum Disorder and “social media addiction,” and that any underlying mental health issues would have to be resolved beforehand. This would have effectively barred any adult or child from transitioning in the state of Missouri.

In April of 2023, Bailey was sued by Children’s Mercy Hospital for repeated requests for documents on the hospital’s transgender services. Bailey had made over 50 requests to the hospital for the information with no legal basis for the requests.

In May, Bailey withdrew his office’s regulations when the state passed two anti-transgender bills: one that barred new transgender patients from pursuing medical transition until the age of 18, and another that prevented transgender athletes of all ages from competing in sports through high school and college.

Campaign Finance from Conservative Billionaire

In December of 2022, Bailey began preparing for his 2024 Attorney General election campaign by accepting large donations from the Life and Liberty PAC. The donations were garnered for Bailey at a fundraiser organized by lobbyist Steve Tilley, circumventing traditional rules regarding campaign donation limits by individuals.

The most significant donor to Life and Liberty PAC and Bailey’s campaign is the wealthiest woman in Missouri, conservative billionaire heiress and member of the fourth wealthiest family in America Pauline MacMillan Keinath. MacMillan Keinath’s other noteworthy political contributions include significant monetary donations to Senator Josh Hawley, who denied the 2020 presidential election results and was seen saluting, and then fleeing from, rioters at the capitol on January 6th, 2021.

Further resources:

• Bailey's Twitter page
• Bailey's website
• Bailey harasses local attorney
• Bailey recuses himself from representing state after taking money from corporations involved in illegal gambling
• KCMO city council refuses to enforce anti-transgender bills, declares Kansas City a safe haven for transgender people
• KCPD refuses to enforce state legislature ban on transitional healthcare