Brian Nieves

Brian D. Nieves is a former Republican member of the Missouri Senate, and a former majority whip in the Missouri House of Representatives. Nieves represented the 26th District, which covers Franklin County, Warren County, and part of St.Louis County.

Personal life
Nieves is a graduate of Pacific High School in Franklin County. In 1984, Nieves enlisted in the United States Navy, serving ten years as a Hospital Corpsman, as a field medic alongside the Marines.

Following his military service, Nieves returned to Franklin County. He currently resides in Washington, Missouri with his wife, Julie.

Nieves is the host of a morning talk radio show called "The Patriot Enclave" on KWMO 1350 AM in Washington, MO and functions as KWMO's marketing director. He and his wife also operate Nieves Enterprises and Hwy 66 Auto Sales. Additionally, Nieves serves as a high school substitute teacher and is also a zone pastor of Living Bread Church. Nieves frequently speaks to groups about small business operations, concentrating in the areas of professional development and team building. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Nieves is "something of a bully. In August 2010, after winning the Senate primary, he pulled a gun on a man who worked for his opponent’s campaign." 

In August 2010, Nieves was accused of assaulting an opponents' campaign worker, Shawn Bell, following a contentious primary election which Nieves won, during a visit by Bell to Nieves' campaign headquarters while he and his campaign manager were winding down the campaign. Nieves denied any assault had occurred and his campaign manager, who was present during the entire visit by Bell, concurred with this denial. On September 10, 2010, Franklin County Prosecuter Bob Parks announced he would not be seeking criminal charges against Nieves, commenting that he could not prove that a criminal act had occurred. Shawn Bell announced in a statement that he still planned to file a civil lawsuit against Nieves, while Nieves told the Washington Missourian that he was ready to forgive Bell.

Elected office
A new 98th District was created after redistricting following the 2000 census. The 110th and 98th merged into the new (98th) District. In 2002, Nieves ran to replace outgoing State Representatives May Scheve(D) and Francis Overschmidt(D). Nieves won a primary race against Dave Bailey, and won a general election contest against Tom Herbst. He won reelection in 2004, 2006, and 2008. His term expired in 2010, at which point he ran to succeed John Griesheimer as a state senator.