Cindy O'Laughlin is a member of the Missouri State Senate, representing District 18. She assumed office in 2019. Her current term ends on January 6, 2027. O'Laughlin became majority leader of the Missouri Senate at the start of the 2023 legislative session. In a statement following her selection as speaker, she said, "Starting today, we have one caucus.. My election to this position brings about a new way of doing things in the Senate: I am a woman in leadership. My husband is in trucking, and I’ve never been accused of being the establishment." O'Laughlin served as State Senate Majority Leader from 2023 to 2024. O'Laughlin began serving as State Senate President Pro Tempore in 2025. O'Laughlin earned a B.S. in business administration from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1978. Her career experience includes working as a vice president of Leo O’Laughlin, Inc., and owning and operating a trucking company and ready-mix concrete business. She also worked as a school bus driver and as a school administrator. O'Laughlin was elected to the chamber in 2018. O'Laughlin was a member of the conservative caucus from 2018 to 2020. When the caucus dissolved in 2022, it called for new leadership in the chamber, with O'Laughlin's name included in a shortlist of potential majority leaders.
