Jolie Justus

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Jolie Justus (born February 24, 1971 in Kansas City, Missouri) is an American lawyer and politician from Missouri. A Democrat, she will be sworn in as a member of the Missouri State Senate in January 2007, representing the state's 10th District in Kansas City.

A lawyer by trade, she was raised in Branson, Missouri where she attended Branson High School^[1]. She then went on to earn degrees at the University of Missouri–Columbia, Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield and the University of Missouri–Kansas City law school. She now works for Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP.

She won 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%^[2]. She was widely regarded as the most progressive candidate in the race, supporting minimum wage increases, abortion rights and stem cell research^[3]. 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%.

A lesbian, she lives with her partner Lana Knedlik in South Hyde Park. When sworn in, she will become the first openly gay member of the Missouri State Senate and only the third ever publicly gay member of the Missouri General Assembly. She won the support of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, which channeled thousands of dollars into her campaign^[4].