Kehoe announced the pick less than a day after Bailey said he would resign next month to serve as co-deputy director of the FBI.

Bailey, appointed in 2022 by former Gov. Mike Parson, is the third Missouri Attorney General in six years to leave for a position in Washington, D.C.

The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to take up Attorney General Andrew Bailey's request to reinstate restrictions on abortion in the state, ordering him to turn to a state appeals court instead.