(The Center Square) – Majority Floor Leader Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres, was unanimously selected on Tuesday to serve as the next Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives.

Plocher will continue to serve in his current role during the upcoming session and will serve as the Speaker designee. The full House will conduct an official election during the 2023 session.

“I want to thank the majority caucus for their unanimous support and their confidence to lead us forward in these historic times,” Plocher said in a statement. “The work we have before us is both challenging and important. Missourians expect us to pass commonsense bills that protect our freedoms and preserve the Missouri values that have made our state great.”

Plocher was elected to the House in a special election in November 2015 to represent the 89th district, comprising west St. Louis County. He currently manages his own law firm in Clayton and previously served as a municipal court judge in the 21st judicial circuit. He served on the board of directors for the Missouri Municipal and Associate Circuit Judges Association.

Plocher earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Middlebury College. He earned his juris doctorate degree from St. Louis University.

“I look forward to leading my colleagues in the Missouri House in 2023, to do the work we were sent here to do – which is to do our best every day to address the challenges before us with common sense, purpose, and dedication to the cause of leaving Missouri better than when we arrived,” Plocher said.

Plocher and his wife, Rebecca, have two children and live in Des Peres.