Ann Wagner

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.

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.

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.

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]

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.

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.

Wagner's freshman official portrait

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).

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.

[12]

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 which would have repealed Obamacare and replaced it.[17][18]

In December 2020, Wagner was one of 126 Republican members of the House of Representatives who signed an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden prevailed[19] over incumbent Donald Trump. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lacked standing under Article III of the Constitution to challenge the results of the election held by another state.[20][21][22]

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.[23] The bill would make it a felony to post prostitution ads online.[24] Wagner said that Congress was "taking steps towards ending what I would call modern-day slavery."[24] 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.[24] 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."[25]
• 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.[26]

• Committee on Financial Services (Vice Ranking Member)[27]
  • Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises
  • Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
• Committee on Foreign Affairs (Vice Ranking Member)

• Republican Study Committee[28]
• Congressional Constitution Caucus[29]