Chris Koster

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Chris Koster

Member of the Missouri State Senate from the 31st district
In office 2005 -

Born	August 31, 1964 (1964-08-31) (age 43) St. Louis, Missouri
Political party	Democratic
Profession	attorney

Chris Koster is a Democratic member of the Missouri Senate, representing the 31st District since 2005. On August 1, 2007, Koster switched from the Republican to the Democratic Party. ^[1]

Koster was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and went on to study at the University of Missouri, where he received both B.A. and J.D. degrees, and Washington University in St. Louis, where he received an M.B.A.. He has been an Assistant Attorney General for the Attorney General of Missouri (1991-1993), a lawyer with Blackwell Sanders in Kansas City (1993-1994), Prosecuting Attorney of Cass County (1994-2004), and an attorney with the Law Offices of Tim Dollar. He currently resides in Harrisonville, Missouri.

Koster was first elected to the Missouri State Senate in 2004, as a Republican. He serves on the following committees:

Economic Development, Tourism, and Local Government
Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence
Pensions, Veterans' Affairs and General Laws
Commerce, Energy and the Environment
Agriculture, Conservation, Parks and Natural Resources

Koster champions legislation for Truth in the Missouri Court System. Currently, Koster has a bill pending (SB55) for the elimination of paternity fraud.

Before his change of parties, Koster was the chairman of the Republican caucus, the majority party's fourth-ranking position in the state Senate. [3] In explaining his decision, he noted several issues on which he disagreed with the Republican position, especially concerning stem cell research. ^[2] He commented, ""Today, Republican moderates are all but extinct." ^[3] Koster is currently running for the Democratic nomination for Missouri Attorney General against State Representatives Margaret Donnelly and Jeff Harris.