Incumbent Democratic Governor Jay Nixon won re-election against the Republican nominee, businessman Dave Spence, despite incumbent President Barack Obama losing Missouri on the same day to Republican nominee Mitt Romney.

Republican primary General election Nixon won by a comfortable 12.3% margin, though this was somewhat closer than his 2008 victory.

Even with President Barack Obama losing the state by a nine-point margin, Nixon and Senator Claire McCaskill both won reelection easily.

Like his Senatorial colleague, Nixon was able to get a huge number of votes from rural areas.

Both Nixon and McCaskill were declared the winners of their respective races even before the known Democratic strongholds of St. Louis and Kansas City came in.