Ann Wagner

Ann Louise Wagner (née Trousdale, September 13, 1962) is an American politician and diplomat serving as the U.S. Representative for Missouri's 2nd congressional district since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, she previously was the United States Ambassador to Luxembourg from 2005 to 2009.[3]

Ann Wagner
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Missouri's 2nd district
Assumed office
January 3, 2013
Preceded byTodd Akin
United States Ambassador to Luxembourg
In office
August 16, 2005 – June 27, 2009
PresidentGeorge W. Bush
Barack Obama
Preceded byPeter Terpeluk
Succeeded byCynthia Stroum
Chair of the Missouri Republican Party
In office
1999–2005
Preceded byWoody Cozad[1]
Succeeded byDoug Russell[2]
Personal details
Born
Ann Louise Trousdale

(1962-09-13) September 13, 1962
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)Raymond Wagner
Children3
EducationUniversity of Missouri (BS)
WebsiteHouse website

Her district, based in St. Louis County, is heavily suburban and the wealthiest district in the state. It includes most of St. Louis's southern and western suburbs as well as some of the northern exurbs in St. Charles County and the northern portion of Jefferson County. Prior to her diplomatic post, Wagner chaired the Missouri Republican Party for six years, from 1999 until 2005; she co-chaired the Republican National Committee for four years, starting in 2001.

Early life and education

Wagner was born and raised in St. Louis. She attended Cor Jesu Academy, a private Catholic all-girls school in South County, and graduated from the University of Missouri in 1984 with a BSBA from the business school with an emphasis in logistics. After college, she went to work in the private sector and held management positions at Hallmark Cards in Kansas City and Ralston Purina in St. Louis.[4]

Pre-congressional political career

1990s

Wagner entered Republican politics in 1990, heading the GOP's efforts during the decennial redistricting of Missouri. In 1992, she was state director of the unsuccessful campaign for the reelection of President George H.W. Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle.

2000s

Chairwoman of Missouri GOP

She was elected to her first term of office as chair of the Missouri Republican Party in 1999, becoming the first woman to occupy the position. Her most notable achievement in that role came during her second two-year term when she oversaw the party's taking of majority control of both chambers of the Missouri General Assembly, winning the Senate in a 2001 special election and the House in the 2002 general election, the first time this had been seen for over 40 years. During her third term, the party held its majorities in both chambers and also took the Governor's seat for the first time in 12 years with the election of Matt Blunt in 2004, giving the GOP complete control of state government for the first time since 1921. Her six years as chairperson witnessed George W. Bush carry Missouri in both of his presidential bids and also saw the Republican Party win a majority of the state's congressional delegation.

National campaigning

In 2001, she took office as a co-chair of the Republican National Committee and helped preside over the 2004 Republican National Convention. In this position, she took a strong role in directing the development of the Winning Women initiative, whose aim was to improve the image of the GOP towards women and demonstrate the relevance of its platform to them. Her work with the committee took her to 48 states. In January 2005, she left her role as co-chair after one term.

In 2004, Wagner was a fundraising "ranger" for President George W. Bush.

U.S. Ambassadorship

On February 20, 2005, Wagner was elected to a fourth term as Chair of the Missouri Republican Party. On May 16, she was nominated by President Bush to the position of United States Ambassador to Luxembourg. On July 16, 2005, she was confirmed in the post by a voice vote in the United States Senate, after which U.S. Senator Jim Talent (R-Mo.) said that she was, "A considerate woman, whose character and abilities uniquely qualify her to represent our nation."

On August 1, she was sworn in as Ambassador by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in the Benjamin Franklin Room of the Harry S. Truman Building of the US Department of State in Washington D.C..[5]

2010s

2010 U.S. Senate election
See also: 2010 United States Senate election in Missouri

After returning from Luxembourg, Wagner served as Chairwoman for Roy Blunt's successful 2010 U.S. Senate campaign. Blunt defeated Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan 54%-41% to retain the seat in the Republican column following Kit Bond's retirement from the seat.

2011 RNC Chairman election
See also: 2011 Republican National Committee chairmanship election

On November 29, 2010, Wagner sent a video message to the committee members of the Republican National Committee announcing she was running for RNC Chair.[6] The election was held in January 2011,[7] and Wagner conceded after the sixth round after receiving 17 votes[8] The contest was ultimately won by Reince Priebus, Chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party.

U.S. House of Representatives

2012
See also: 2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Missouri § District 2

Wagner announced her candidacy for Missouri's 2nd congressional district after incumbent Republican U.S. Representative Todd Akin announced his unsuccessful bid to challenge incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill. Wagner received endorsements from Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, former Governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, and the anti-abortion women's group the Susan B. Anthony List. She won the four-way Republican primary—the de facto election given the lack of support for the Democratic nominee, Glenn Koenen [9]—with 66% of the vote.[10] In November, she won the general election by 23 points.[11]

Wagner is the third Republican woman elected to Congress from Missouri (after Jo Ann Emerson and Vicky Hartzler), and the second who was not elected as a stand-in for her husband (after Hartzler; Emerson was originally elected to finish out the term of her late husband, Bill Emerson).

2012 Election for U.S. Representative of Missouri's 2nd Congressional District
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Ann Wagner 236,971 60.08
Democratic Glenn Koenen 146,272 37.08
Libertarian Bill Slantz 9,193 2.33
Constitution Anatol Zorikova 2,012 0.51

2014
See also: 2014 United States House of Representatives elections in Missouri § District 2

In her first bid for reelection, Wagner ran unopposed in the Republican primary and proceeded to easily win the general election while simultaneously increasing her margin of victory from her first election in 2012.

2014 Election for U.S. Representative of Missouri's 2nd Congressional District
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Ann Wagner 148,191 64.12
Democratic Arthur Lieber 75,384 32.62
Libertarian Bill Slantz 7,542 3.26

2016
See also: 2016 United States House of Representatives elections in Missouri § District 2
2016 Election for U.S. Representative of Missouri's 2nd Congressional District
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Ann Wagner 241,954 58.54
Democratic Bill Otto 155,689 37.67
Libertarian Jim Higgins 11,758 2.84
Green David Justus Arnold 3,895 .94

[12]

2018
See also: 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Missouri § District 2
2018 Election for U.S. Representative of Missouri's 2nd Congressional District
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Ann Wagner 192,477 51.2
Democratic Cort VanOstran 177,611 47.2
Libertarian Tony Kirk 4,229 1.1
Green David Arnold 1,740 0.5
Independent Ken Newhouse (write-in) 9 0.0

Tenure

In 2016, Wagner made headlines by withdrawing her endorsement for the GOP nominee for President, Donald Trump.[13] Wagner's position on Trump changed several times since her initial endorsement in September; in October she withdrew her support and called on Trump to step down, but in November walked that statement back and voiced her intent to vote for Trump.[14][15][16]

On May 4, 2017, Wagner voted in favor of the American Health Care Act, also known as Trumpcare.[17][18]

Legislation sponsored

The following is an incomplete list of legislation sponsored by Wagner.

  • Retail Investor Protection Act (H.R. 2374; 113th Congress) – a bill that would delay the Department of Labor's regulations on when a financial advisor must be considered a fiduciary.
  • Stop Advertising Victims of Exploitation Act of 2014 (H.R. 4225; 113th Congress) – a bill that would prohibit knowingly benefiting financially from, receiving anything of value from, or distributing advertising that offers a commercial sex act in a manner that violates federal criminal code prohibitions against sex trafficking of children or of any person by force, fraud, or coercion.[19] The bill would make it a felony to post prostitution ads online.[20] Wagner said that Congress was "taking steps towards ending what I would call modern-day slavery."[20] Wagner argued that her bill had been reviewed by the Justice Department in an attempt to ensure that it did not violate the First Amendment to the United States Constitution's guarantee of the right to free speech.[20] Wagner argued that the House had not passed any legislation on human trafficking in 13 years, and that "our efforts to combat sex trafficking need to be updated to match the problem as it stands today."[21]
  • Retail Investor Protection Act (HR 1090; 114th Congress)—a revised version of legislation sponsored by Rep. Wagner that would delay the DOL's regulations regarding fiduciary advisors passed the U.S. House of Representatives on October 27, 2015 by a vote of 245-186.[22]

Committee assignments

Caucus memberships

Personal life

Ann is married to Ray Wagner Jr., a former Missouri Director of Revenue. They live in Ballwin, a western suburb of St. Louis. The Wagners have three children.[4]

Ann's mother-in-law was Loretto Wagner, a noted anti-abortion activist.[26]

See also

References
  1. https://www.newspapers.com/image/139563565/?terms=Ann%2BWagner%2BMissouri%2BRepublican%2BParty%2BJohn%2BCozad&match=11
  2. http://www.emissourian.com/local_news/county/eckelkamp-named-vice-chairman-of-missouri-republican-party/article_6cfeabbf-67f6-5b4c-80f2-2d8a7d85ed05.html
  3. Wagman, Jake (January 11, 2011). "Ann Wagner makes strong bid to head GOP". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved October 22, 2014.
  4. https://web.archive.org/web/20131004215542/http://annwagner.com/meet-ann/. Archived from the original on October 4, 2013. Retrieved October 2, 2013. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. "Wagner confirmed as ambassador to Luxembourg". St. Louis Business Journal. June 17, 2005. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
  6. Blake, Aaron (November 29, 2010). "Wagner launches bid for RNC chair". voices.washingtonpost.com. Washington Post. Retrieved November 29, 2010.
  7. "Maria Cino Officially Enters Race For RNC Chair - ABC News". Blogs.abcnews.com. 2010-12-11. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-03-04.
  8. "Wagner out of the race to lead RNC | Elections live". Stltoday.com. 2011-01-14. Retrieved 2016-03-04.
  9. "In 2nd District, GOP has a 100-fold spending advantage | Metro | stltoday.com". www.stltoday.com. Retrieved 2017-02-10.
  10. "MO District 2 - R Primary Race - Aug 07, 2012". Our Campaigns. Retrieved 2016-03-04.
  11. "MO District 2 Race - Nov 06, 2012". Our Campaigns. Retrieved 2016-03-04.
  12. http://www.sos.mo.gov/elections/s_default.asp?id=results
  13. Glueck, Katie (October 8, 2016). "Republican women are done with Trump". Politico. Retrieved October 8, 2016.
  14. "Entire Missouri Republican Congressional Delegation and All Republican Statewide Nominees Officially Endorse Donald Trump for President". SEMO Times. September 28, 2016. Archived from the original on 18 November 2016. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  15. Raasch, Chuck (October 8, 2016). "Reps. Ann Wagner, Rodney Davis withdraw support, urge Trump to pull out of race". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  16. Raasch, Chuck (November 3, 2016). "Ann Wagner, who last month withdrew Trump endorsement, now says she will vote for GOP nominee". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  17. Aisch, Gregor (2017-05-04). "How Every Member Voted on the House Health Care Bill". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-05-25.
  18. "Ann Wagner Gleefully Cackles 'Freedom!' While Gutting Affordable Care Act". Riverfront Times. Retrieved 2018-05-25.
  19. "H.R. 4225 – Summary". United States Congress. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  20. Zagier, Alan Scher (13 March 2014). "Wagner promotes bill to shut down online sex ads". The Washington Times. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  21. "Not for Sale: The SAVE Act". House Office of Ann Wagner. 2014-02-27. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  22. Ann, Wagner (2015-10-28). "Actions - H.R.1090 - 114th Congress (2015-2016): Retail Investor Protection Act". www.congress.gov. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
  23. "COMMITTEE MEMBERS". financialservices.house.gov. Archived from the original on May 10, 2011. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  24. "Member List". Retrieved 6 November 2017.
  25. "Members". Congressional Constitution Caucus. Archived from the original on 14 June 2018. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  26. "Loretto Wagner, longtime St. Louis-area anti-abortion activist, dies." St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Party political offices
Preceded by
Woody Cozad		 Chair of the Missouri Republican Party
1999–2005		 Succeeded by
Doug Russell
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Peter Terpeluk		 United States Ambassador to Luxembourg
2005–2009		 Succeeded by
Cynthia Stroum
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by
Todd Akin		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Missouri's 2nd congressional district
2013–present		 Incumbent
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by
Filemon Vela		 United States Representatives by seniority
230th		 Succeeded by
Jackie Walorski
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