Parson only second sitting governor ELECTED to his office

Missouri voters did something Tuesday that was done only once before in the state’s 200-year history.

Governor Mike Parson was not running for reelection. He was Lieutenant Governor when Eric Greitens resigned, moving him into the big office. This was the first time Missourians were faced with a sitting governor running for election since Lilburn Boggs, who as lieutenant governor replaced Daniel Dunklin, who resigned after becoming Surveyor General of Missouri and Illinois.

Boggs, who is best known for issuing the extermination order against the Mormons, was elected to a full term in 1836.

The extermination order said, the Mormons must be treated as enemies and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary for the public peace,” which led Joseph Smith and the Mormons to flee to Nauvoo, Illinois.  The order remained on the books until Governor Christopher Bond canceled it in 1976.

Boggs also is remembered for the “Honey War” for almost going to war with the state of Iowa, a boundary line dispute.