Brad Lager is a lifelong resident of northwest Missouri. After graduation from Northeast Nodaway High School in 1993, he attended Northwest Missouri State University. Lager graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in computer management systems in 1997. During his five years between college and running for political office, Lager worked for Northwest Missouri Cellular as General Manager. Lager was the owner of the now dissolved LMS Communications and is a co-owner of Lager Car Wash. Lager spent five years working as a senior strategic analyst in health e-services for Cerner Corporation, a large healthcare information technology company. He is currently the President of Herzog Technologies, Inc. and the Executive-Vice President for William E Herzog Enterprises, Inc., the holding company for all of the Herzog Companies. Senator Lager and his wife Stephanie reside near Savannah, Missouri with their daughter Addison and son Andrew.
Political career
Brad Lager's career in politics began in 2001, at age 25, when he was elected to the Maryville City Council, becoming the city's youngest councilmember ever. Shortly thereafter, in 2002, Lager was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives from the 4th District after defeating Democrat Larry Dougan. He would run unopposed for reelection in 2004. Brad Lager served as the House Budget Chairman in 2005 and moved from the House to the Missouri Senate in 2006 after defeating Democrat James W. Neely by over 11,000 votes. Lager ran statewide for Treasurer in 2008 and lost to Democrat Clint Zweifel. Lager would run unopposed in 2010 to win reelection to his State Senate seat.
Political controversies
According to the Missouri Ethics Commission, as a state senator, Senator Lager received two $100,000.00 donations from two contributors on September 28, 2010 and September 30, 2010. Additionally, Lager's bid for Lieutenant Governor has been largely funded by two prominent Republican donors, The Humphreys Family. Together and through their respective businesses, Humphreys have donated about $700,000 to Lager's campaign. In 2005, Lager was removed as Chairman of the HouseBudget Committee. Then Speaker of the House Rod Jetton stripped Lager of his chairmanship for Lager's refusal to work with Republican leadership to craft a consensus budget. Jetton cited "differences in priorities" in his decision to remove Lager.
Statewide campaigns
In 2008 Senator Lager mounted an unsuccessful campaign for Missouri State Treasurer. After running unopposed in the August Republican primary, Brad Lager lost the November general election to Democratic nominee, State Representative Clint Zweifel. On November 14, 2011 Brad Lager announced his candidacy for Missouri Lieutenant Governor in 2012. He narrowly lost the GOP primary to the incumbent, Peter Kinder. Lager was term-limited in 2014 by Missouri law from running for his State Senate seat again.
