Mary Gant

Mary L. Jones Gant (born July 14, 1936 in Kansas City, Missouri) is an American politician who became the first woman elected to the Missouri Senate. In 1972, after three terms in the Missouri House, she was elected to the state senate with over 70% of the vote. Although she belonged to the Democratic Party, she was against the Equal Right Amendment and later endorsed Republican Kit Bond for governor over the Democratic Governor Joe Teasdale. She lost re-election to Lee Swinton who became Missouri's first African-American state senator. In 1981, Governor Bond appointed her as chair of the State Board of Mediation. She held this position for 13 years.