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Bill Hardwick
American politician From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Bill Hardwick is an American attorney, combat veteran, and politician serving as a member of the Missouri House of Representatives. Elected in November 2020 from district 122, he assumed office on January 6, 2021. After redistricting in 2022, he was reelected in district 121
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Early life and education
Hardwick was born in Rolla, Missouri at what is now Phelps Health Hospital and graduated from Dixon Senior High School in Dixon, Missouri. During high school, Hardwick was a member of student council, competed in math contests and Science Olympiad and participated in sports: cross country, basketball, track, and soccer. His father, Lonnie Hardwick was a carpenter and construction worker and his mother, Millie Hardwick, worked in home healthcare until she become a school teacher.[1] He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in classics from the University of Missouri and a Juris Doctor from the University of Missouri School of Law.[2] At Mizzou Law School, he was Associate Editor in Chief of the Missouri Law Review.[3]
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Military service
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Bill Hardwick enlisted in the Missouri Army National Guard in 2002 and attended basic training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma the summer after September 11, 2001. He attended advanced individual training (AIT) at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri and was awarded the MOS of Quarrying Specialist. In 2004, Hardwick attended Primary Leadership Development Course (PLDC) at Camp Ashland, Nebraska.
In 2005, Hardwick was selected for Officer Candidate School. At OCS, awarded the leadership award for having the highest ratings while in a leadership position and receiving the highest score on the leadership exam. Hardwick was also the youngest OCS graduate in his class commissioning as a Second Lieutenant at the age of twenty. In 2006, he attended Engineer Officer Basic Course (EOBC) at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. He was assigned as platoon leader in the 203d Engineer Battalion.
In 2007, Hardwick was deployed to Baghdad, Iraq. He initially served as an engineer intelligence officer analyzing IED patterns and complex attacks on coalition forces from insurgents. He volunteered to serve as route clearance platoon leader and counter-IED patrol leader. Route clearance at the time was considered one of the most dangerous jobs for coalition forces in Iraq.[4] He extended on his deployed and served as a platoon leader of 1st Platoon, 237th Sapper Company. The company served as the combat engineer unit for 2nd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division. As a result of injuries from IED attacks, Hardwick sustained a concussion, nerve damage, burns, and shrapnel scars.[5]
Upon redeployment to the United States, Hardwick was promoted to Captain and assigned commander of the 1135th Engineer Company.[6] He graduated from the United States Army Command and General Staff College with honors and was awarded a skill identifier as a strategist.[7] Hardwick was assigned as a battalion commander in the 35th Infantry Division.[8]
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Legal career
Hardwick served as a special assistant U.S. attorney, assistant prosecutor for Pulaski County and City Prosecutor for St. Robert, Missouri.
Member of the Missouri House of Representatives
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Hardwick was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in November 2020 and assumed office on January 6, 2021.[9][10] In the 2022 Missouri House of Representatives election, he was redistricted to the 121st district.
In 2021, Bill Hardwick sponsored the Missouri Cybersecurity Act, designed to help the state identity cyber vulnerabilities and develop attack response plans for critical infrastructure as well as state and local agencies. [11] In that same session, Hardwick passed language into law that would allow persons wrongfully convicted of crimes who were actually innocent to have the conviction set aside or vacated. [12] In 2022, Hardwick worked on a constitutional amendment which eventually created the Missouri Department of the National Guard and added language to the proposal that the Guard must uphold the United States and Missouri Constitutions and protect the rights and civil liberties of all Missourians.[13]
Since 2021, Hardwick served as a commissioner on the Missouri Military Preparedness and Enhancement Commission. The commission advises the Missouri Governor and state legislature on defense and military matters and makes recommendations on policies regarding defense dependent communities, military installations, and defense related businesses within the state.[14]
On October 4, 2022, Hardwick testified before the Missouri General Assembly's Joint Committee on Agriculture that he believed China's purchase and ownership of farmland posed a national security threat and that Chinese control of the food supply could reach a tipping point where China controlled prices and supply and demand.[15]
In 2023, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) identified Bill Hardwick as one of the most conservative members of the Missouri Legislature and awarded him and twenty-five other members of the House of Representatives the Conservative Excellence award for voting with the conservative position over ninety percent of the time.[16]
At the beginning of the COVID 19 pandemic in April 2020, Hardwick argued against lockdowns and stay at home orders. He cited economist F.A. Hayek's description of dispersed knowledge to maintain that the government was not qualified to determine who was essential or qualified to direct the means of production during the pandemic.[17]
In 2022 and 2023, Hardwick sponsored legislation to prohibit COVID-19 vaccine requirements for public schools and public agencies and would require vaccine exemptions for universities and private sector employers. In testimony, Hardwick stated uncertainty if the vaccine saved more lives than taken.[18] In 2023, on the floor of the Missouri House of Representatives, Hardwick stated that the mRNA COVID vaccines were causing myocarditis.[19]
In 2023, Hardwick supported legislation that would prevent minors from receiving gender affirming care, including access to hormones and puberty blockers. Hardwick stated that putting in place bans on minor gender affirming care is distinguishable from restrictions on transgender health care for adults.[20]
In the 2024 U.S. Presidential primary election, Hardwick publicly endorsed Donald Trump.
In 2024, Bill Hardwick supported the deployment of Missouri National Guardsmen to the United States southern border stating: "if we don't have a border, we don't have a country, a political boundary that a nation state could define its jurisdiction. That's part of what makes us a sovereign nation." Hardwick also argued the border crisis led to the inflow of fentanyl and human trafficking into the United States.[21]
In the 2024 election cycle, Missouri Right to Life endorsed Hardwick due to his anti-abortion stances and votes.[22] Hardwick was an outspoken opponent of Missouri's Amendment 3 in 2024 which established the rights to reproductive health care in the Missouri Constitution.[23]
Bill Hardwick is the Chairman and member of the board of directors of the Sustainable Ozarks Partnership. The Sustainable Ozark Partnership is nonprofit to support and strengthen the Fort Leonard Wood Region. This region is defined as the four counties – Laclede, Phelps, Pulaski, and Texas – surrounding Fort Leonard Wood.[24]
In 2025, Hardwick cosponsored and encouraged the passage of the Missouri Farm Bureau health plan bill which provided more healthcare plan options and healthcare contract options for Missouri farmers.[25] The legislation was signed into law by Governor Mike Kehoe on July 14, 2025. Missouri Farm Bureau stated in response the legislation becoming law: "This is a significant win for our members and all rural Missourians. For years, our members have told us how desperately they needed another option to manage their health care expenses. The existing coverage options were simply out of reach or unavailable for too many hardworking families."[26]
In 2025, Hardwick introduced legislation to license and regulate video lottery terminals to replace "no chance" gaming machines, which have been subject of dispute with Missouri Gaming Commission as unregulated gambling and subject of lobbying by Steven Tilley representing Torch Electronics.[27]
Hardwick was an early supporter of Missouri's Second Amendment Preservation Act arguing that local police refusing to enforce federal gun laws was an important part of vertical federalism and that compelling them to do so was a violation of the anticommandeering doctrine described by Justice Antonin Scalia in Printz v. United States.[28] In 2025, Hardwick sponsored a bill to revive the Second Amendment Preservation Act, which was blocked by federal courts after passage in 2021.
Members of law enforcement have opposed the legislation, saying that it presents risks to police and public safety.[29] Hardwick's 2025 version adapted language in response to previous pushback, however legal experts say that it still opens police departments to liabilities that interfere with law enforcement. Similar legislation has been promoted in other states by the American Firearms Association, whose director, Alex Dorr, has targeted opposing police and legislators on social media.[30]
In 2023, 2024, and 2025, Hardwick sponsored legislation that would ban Missouri or its political subdivisions from using red flag laws for the temporary seizure of firearms. Hardwick stated he believed red flag laws were a violation of an individual's due process rights.[31]
In 2024 and 2025, Hardwick proposed the Constitution Money Act which would allow for another method of paying debts and transacting business in addition to the U.S. dollar that was backed by gold and silver. Hardwick argued that a parallel transaction method was only allowed under the U.S. Constitution if it was based on gold and silver. Article I, Section 10 of the Constitution for the United States expressly prohibits states from [making] “any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts.” [32] Hardwick argued that a state based financial market was important in creating a hedge against inflation of the dollar, needed as an alternative in the case of global financial collapse, and would serve as bulwark against a transition to a central bank digital currency.[33] The Missouri Legislature passed the legislation in 2025, and it was signed into law by Governor Kehoe.[34] Hardwick stated the point of the legislation was "about restoring economic and political freedom back to everyday Missourians." [35]
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Electoral history
State representative
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References
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