As governor, Parson signed a bill criminalizing abortion after eight weeks of pregnancy and opposed Medicaid expansion, both of which were overturned by ballot measure.

He oversaw the state's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, issuing a temporary stay-at-home order in April 2020 but allowing school districts to decide whether to close.

[2][independent source needed] During his campaign, Parson was criticized by his former chief of staff for allegedly proposing legislation on behalf of a lobbyist, and a $50,000 plan to employ a valet for his vehicle.

Before the commission's vote, Greitens had publicly opposed the tax credit, after a bipartisan audit of the program showed that only 42 cents of every dollar were being spent on low-income housing.

The bill, passed in both General Assembly chambers the week before after debate and protest, has no exceptions for victims of rape or incest, but does have an exclusion for medical emergencies.

[35] A federal judge blocked the law a day before it was to go into effect, but left an exception for the "reason ban" portion of the bill prohibiting abortions on the basis of race, sex, or diagnosis of Down Syndrome.

Parson broke a filibuster on Graves's appointment by making a deal with the Democrats, and replaced Steelman with real estate investor Keith Holloway.

[48] In 2024, Parson's support of Kehoe and Andrew Bailey attracted scrutiny in the run-up to state elections for lieutenant governor and attorney general.

For a letter to the leadership of Republican Attorneys General Association about Bailey, Parson used official gubernatorial letterhead, potentially in violation of state law.

[59] After declining to close down Missouri, and rejecting demands from across the nation and the statewide health industry, while more than 1,500 new cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed in Missouri – one of ten states to remain open during the growing pandemic – and after St. Louis and Kansas City issued strict stay-at-home orders, Parson issued a general statewide stay-at-home order on April 3 to take effect three days later.

[61] Once the order expired, he delegated responsibility to the counties for enforcing social distancing as the state reopened, comparing the situation to local health departments monitoring restaurants.

"[68] In February 2021, a report by Deloitte commissioned by the state found expanding "vaccine deserts" in the Kansas City and St. Louis metropolitan areas.

[72] In response, Mayor of St. Louis Lyda Krewson sent Parson and Director of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services Randall W. Williams a letter expressing her concern that the city would become "a COVID-19 vaccine desert".

"[70][74][75][76] On June 15, 2021, Parson signed into law a bill banning "COVID-19 passports" and reducing local leaders' ability to make public health orders.

[84][85] In September 2024, Parson dissolved a board of inquiry that investigated whether death row inmate Marcellus Williams was innocent in the murder of Felicia Gayle in 1998.

The verdict relied heavily on testimony from two witnesses who Williams's defenders say had incentives to blame him; one allegedly wished to claim reward money, and the other was a jailhouse informant who bargained for a shorter prison sentence.

[87] On June 14, 2021, Parson signed a bill banning local police departments from enforcing federal gun legislation, allowing those that do to be sued and fined $50,000.

[94][95] On March 7, 2023, Federal District Court Judge Brian C. Wimes found that state law unconstitutional as a violation of the Supremacy Clause.

[97] Parson has since appointed Lieutenant Governor Mike Kehoe, State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick, and Attorney General Eric Schmitt, all members of the commission.

[98] Parson opposed the 2020 Missouri ballot referendum on Medicaid expansion,[99] which would cost the state at least $130 million annually to receive $1.6 billion in federal funds.

[102][103] Parson was among the 25 signatories to the Republican Governors Association's January 25, 2024, joint statement of support for Greg Abbott and his Operation Lone Star.

[104] On February 20, 2024, Parson issued a press release announcing the deployment of 200 National Guard members and 22 Highway Patrol troopers to Texas's southern border.

These actions were issued through Executive Order 24-03, along with a $2.3 million "supplemental budget request to the Missouri General Assembly to support border security efforts and backfill the Governor's Office's emergency response fund.

[109] In July 2020, Parson pledged to pardon Mark and Patricia McCloskey, a St. Louis couple who pointed guns at unarmed George Floyd protesters walking past their home on a private street, if they were convicted of crimes and if there was no significant change in the facts as they were understood at the time.

[108] In December 2024, Parson commuted the sentence of former Kansas City police detective Eric DeValkenaere, who shot a black man to death when the victim was backing his pickup truck into his garage.

[116] The Post-Dispatch notified DESE of the flaw and delayed the publication of its story "to give the department time to take steps to protect teachers' private information, and to allow the state to ensure no other agencies' web applications contained similar vulnerabilities.

"[119] Parson claimed Renaud wanted to "embarrass the state and sell headlines for their news outlet"; called his reporting a "crime against Missouri teachers"; and pledged to prosecute "all those who aided this individual and the media corporation that employs them.

"[120] In February 2022, the Missouri State Highway Patrol released a 158-page report, concluding (after 175 hours of investigation) that Renaud had accessed only publicly available information and had committed no wrongdoing, and the Cole County Prosecuting Attorney brought no charges.

"[122] The report vindicated Renaud and University of Missouri-St. Louis professor Shaji Khan, who helped confirm the existence of the security lapse for the Post-Dispatch and was also a target of Parson's prosecution threat.

Senator Ron Wyden, criticized Parson's response, with Lovasco tweeting that "the governor's office has a fundamental misunderstanding of both web technology and industry-standard procedures for reporting security vulnerabilities.