Adair County is a county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Missouri. The population census for 2020 was 25,314. As of July 1, 2021, the U.S. Census Bureau's Population Estimates for the county is 25,185, a -0.5% change. Adair county seat is Kirksville. The county was first settled by immigrants from Kentucky and organized on January 29, 1841. Adair County comprises the Kirksville, MO Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Kirksville is the county seat and most populous city in Adair County, Missouri. Located in Benton Township, its population was 17,530 at the 2020 census. Kirksville is home to two colleges: Truman State University and A.T. Still University.
Mike Festa is state director of AARP Massachusetts, based in Boston, which serves 800,000 members age 50+ in the commonwealth.
Clarence Andrew Cannon was a Democratic Congressman from Missouri serving from 1923 until his death in Washington, D.C. in 1964. He was a notable parliamentarian and chaired the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations. He is the longest-serving member of the United States House of Representatives from the state of Missouri.
Luann Ridgeway is an attorney who served in several elected government offices. A Republican, she served as a member of the Missouri House of Representatives elected in 1992 and serving through 2002 and Missouri Senate elected in 2004 and serving through 2012. Ridgeway served as the Eastern District Commissioner of Clay County, Missouri, elected 2012 through 2020. She announced she would not run for reelection in 2020 and returned to private life in 2021.
John Quinn is a farmer and former Republican member of the Missouri House of Representatives. He resides in Chillicothe, Missouri, with his wife Mary and has four daughters. He is Catholic.
Wayne J. Henke is a former high school teacher and coach, a retired farmer, and a former politician. He served as a Democrat in the Missouri House of Representatives. He lives in Troy, Missouri, with his wife, the former Dottie Prinster, and has nine children and eleven grandchildren.
Carl Bearden is a Missouri Republican politician who was the Speaker pro Tempore for the Missouri House of Representatives from 2005 to 2007. He lives in St. Charles, Missouri, with his wife, Deborah. They have two children, Amber and Allison.
Thomas Dwayne Dempsey is an American restaurateur and former Republican politician, previously serving in the Missouri Senate as President Pro Tempore. Dempsey is now a partner at the Gate Way Group, a multi-state government relations firm based in St. Louis.
Steve Hobbs is a farmer and a Missouri Republican politician.
Robert Schaaf is a doctor, a director of the Missouri Doctors Mutual Insurance Co., a former Republican member of the Missouri Senate and a former member of the Missouri House of Representatives, and brother to Charles L. Schaaf. He formerly represented the 34th district in the Missouri Senate, which began in 2011 when his term in the Missouri House expired.
Wes Shoemyer is a former Senator for the eighteenth district of the Missouri Senate. The district includes all or portions of thirteen counties in northeast Missouri: Adair, Audain, Clark, Knox, Lewis, Marion, Monroe, Pike, Putnam, Ralls, Schuyler, Scotland, and Shelby.
Timothy W. Jones is a Republican former member of the Missouri House of Representatives, representing the 110th district, which encompasses a portion of St. Louis County. Jones served as the House Majority Leader for the 96th General Assembly and as Speaker of the House from 2012-2015. Jones is a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), serving as Missouri state leader.
Adair County R-1, also known as Novinger R-1 is a public school district located in Adair County, Missouri. It serves a largely rural population in western Adair County, along with the town of Novinger, Missouri, providing pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade education.
Allen Icet is a Republican politician. He served in the Missouri House of Representatives from 2002 to 2010 and as Chairman of the House Budget Committee from 2005 to 2010. Icet was appointed Greene County Collector on March 1, 2021.
Zachary Wyatt is an American politician from the state of Missouri. A Republican, Wyatt was a one-term member of the Missouri House of Representatives from the 2nd District, encompassing Adair county, Putnam county, and a part of Sullivan county. In May 2012, Representative Wyatt became, at that time, the nation's only openly gay Republican legislator. He "came out" during a press conference in the Missouri Capitol, while opposing the "Don't Say Gay" bill. Due to Missouri House redistricting following the 2010 U.S. Census the 2nd district was divided into two newly numbered districts. Representative Wyatt had originally filed to run for the 3rd district, which includes most of his former 2nd district territory. However, in early April 2012 he announced his intention to withdraw once a suitable Republican replacement could be named. Wyatt stated his withdrawal was prompted by his acceptance into a marine biology program at the University of Hawaii, and his desire to take full advantage of his veterans education benefits. In the November general election Republican Nate Walker defeated Democrat Rebecca McClanahan, Wyatt's opponent in 2010, to win the 3rd district seat and succeed Wyatt.
Timothy J. O'Driscoll is a Minnesota politician and member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. A member of the Republican Party of Minnesota, he represents District 13B, which includes portions of Benton and Stearns counties in the north central part of the state. He is a corporate trainer for Kaplan Professional Schools and a former real estate agent.
Craig Redmon is a Republican former member of the Missouri House of Representatives. He represented the 4th District, which encompasses all of Clark, Knox, Lewis, Schuyler, and Scotland counties as well as the eastern half of Adair County east of U.S Highway 63, excluding the city of Kirksville. Most of this was previously the Missouri 1st District, also represented by Redmon, prior to Missouri House redistricting due to the 2010 U.S. Census.
Nathan Belt "Nate" Walker is an American businessman, realtor, and politician from the state of Missouri. A Republican, Walker was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives from Missouri's 3rd District in November 2012. He represented the western portion Adair County as well as all of Mercer, Putnam, and Sullivan counties. Walker previously served in the Missouri House of Representatives during the 1980s, and was a candidate for Missouri Lieutenant Governor in 1984.
