CLAYTON, Mo. – Missouri’s incoming attorney general says public safety will be the main focus as her historic term gets underway next week.

In an exclusive sit-down interview, Republican Catherine Hanaway said she will be completely ready when she takes the oath Monday, becoming the first woman to hold the state’s top legal post.

“I'm very excited about the whole thing,” Hanway said. “I’m mostly excited about the fact that I can really have an impact.”

At the top of her priority list: public safety.

“(Priority number one, two, and three is fight crime,” she said. “That is the most important thing that this office does.”

Hanaway said crime impacts every region of the state, and it has a direct impact on Missouri’s economy.

Hanaway also weighed in on the legality of ongoing efforts to redraw Missouri’s eight congressional districts.

“All that Missouri's constitution says is that when you draw congressional districts, they have to be compact and reflect and divide the population as equally as possible,” said Hanaway. “I think that's where people who will challenge this will come at it and say, ‘hey, you don't have a new census; how can you possibly divide it equally?”

“I think there were a lot of problems with the 2020 census,” Hanaway continued. “I’m not sure it got divided equally then.”

A former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, Hanaway is transitioning to her new role from her tenure at legal powerhouse Husch-Blackwell, where she served as the lead attorney.

“All three of my kind of ‘big jobs,’ being Speaker of the House, U.S. Attorney and being chair of this law firm are going to help me tremendously,” she said. “The U.S. attorney experience is directly relevant. You're the chief federal law enforcement official for half the state. Now, I'll be the chief state law enforcement official for the whole state.”

Hanaway, who was appointed to the position by Governor Mike Kehoe after the sudden resignation of Andrew Bailey, will be sworn in during a private ceremony Monday. 

Bailey announced last month that he is taking a job with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.