Jo Ann Emerson

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Jo Ann Emerson
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Missouri's 8th district
Incumbent
Assumed office
November 5, 1996
Preceded by Bill Emerson
Personal details
Born September 16, 1950 (1950-09-16) (age 61)
Bethesda, Maryland
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Bill Emerson (1975-1996 death)
Ron Gladney (2000-present)
Residence Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Alma mater Ohio Wesleyan University
Occupation association executive
Religion Presbyterian

Jo Ann Emerson (born September 16, 1950) is the U.S. Representative for Missouri's 8th congressional district, serving since 1996. The district consists of Southeast and South Central Missouri and includes the Bootheel, the Lead Belt and the Ozarks. Emerson is a member of the Republican Party.

With the retirement of U.S. Senator Kit Bond at the conclusion of the 111th Congress, Emerson became the dean of Missouri's congressional delegation.

Contents

[edit] Early life, education and career

Emerson was born in Bethesda, Maryland and graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University. She married future U.S. Representative Bill Emerson, a Republican from Cape Girardeau, on June 22, 1975. They had two daughters; Jo Ann also has five stepdaughters and a stepson. Bill was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1980 from Missouri's 10th Congressional District and, subsequent to redistricting, was reelected in 1982 from the 8th District. He handily retained his seat through 1994, his final election, before succumbing to cancer on June 22, 1996. The Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge, which links Missouri to Illinois across the Mississippi River, was dedicated to commemorate his efforts to obtain federal funding for its construction.

As of 2007, Bono Mack was one of six representatives to be elected to their seats following the deaths of their husbands—Lindy Boggs (D-LA), Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO), Lois Capps (D-CA), Doris Matsui (D-CA), and Sala Burton (D-CA).Following Bill's death, Jo Ann married Ron Gladney in 2000. From this marriage she gained a stepdaughter and a stepson.

[edit] U.S. House of Representatives

[edit] Committee assignments

[edit] Other memberships

  • Vice President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly
    • Vice Chair of the Subcommittee on Democratic Governance
  • Vice Chair of the Center Aisle Caucus
  • Honorary and Life Trustee of Westminster College
  • Co-Chair of the Board of Directors for the Congressional Hunger Center
  • Founding Member of the Bipartisan Congressional Retreat

Emerson, whose voting record in Congress has established her as one of the more moderate Republicans, has a history of bipartisanship while in the U.S. House of Representatives. She is a member of the moderate Republican Main Street Partnership.

On May 24, 2005, Emerson was one of 50 Republicans to vote in favor of overturning President George W. Bush's ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. She cast her "yea" vote the day after her mother-in-law died from Alzheimer's Disease, one of the illnesses for which scientists believe they can create better treatments from stem cell research.

On July 12, 2007, Emerson was one of only four Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives who voted to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq by April 2008.[1]

On September 15, 2009, Emerson was one of seven House Republicans to vote in favor of the Democrats' proposed resolution to condemn U.S. Representative Joe Wilson (R-South Carolina) for shouting "You lie!" in the middle of President Barack Obama's joint address to the U.S. Congress on health care reform.

Her margins of victory in the district have always been higher than those of GOP presidential candidates George W. Bush and John McCain as well as Republican gubernatorial candidates Kenny Hulshof, Matt Blunt and Jim Talent.

[edit] Political campaigns

When her husband Bill died in 1996, Jo Ann announced she would run for his vacant seat. However, Missouri state law prohibited her from filing in the Republican primary for the general election. In November, Jo Ann Emerson competed in two elections on the same day. She ran as an independent against Democrat Emily Firebaugh and Republican Richard Kline in the general election and as a Republican against Firebaugh in the special election to finish the last two months of her late husband's term. She won both elections easily and has been reelected seven times without serious difficulty. She is the first Republican woman elected to the U.S. Congress from Missouri. She served the last two months of her husband's term as an independent caucusing with the Republicans before officially becoming a Republican at the start of the new Congress in 1997. She was briefly the first Independent elected to federal office in Missouri in 122 years.[2]

[edit] 2008

[edit] 2010

[edit] Electoral history

2010 Election for U.S. Representative of Missouri’s 8th Congressional District
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Jo Ann Emerson 128,499 65.56 -5.88
Democratic Tommy Sowers 56,377 28.76 +2.60
Independent Larry Bill 7,193 3.67 +3.67
Libertarian Rick Vandeven 3,930 2.01 +0.41
2008 Election for U.S. Representative of Missouri’s 8th Congressional District
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Jo Ann Emerson 198,798 71.44 -0.20
Democratic Joe Allen 72,790 26.16 -0.24
Libertarian Branden C. McCullough 4,443 1.60 -0.36
Constitution Richard L. Smith 2,257 0.81
2006 Election for U.S. Representative of Missouri’s 8th Congressional District
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Jo Ann Emerson 156,164 71.64 -0.57
Democratic Veronica J. Hambacker 57,557 26.40 -0.22
Libertarian Branden C. McCullough 4,268 1.96 +1.29
2004 Election for U.S. Representative of Missouri’s 8th Congressional District
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Jo Ann Emerson 194,039 72.21 +0.45
Democratic Dean Henderson 71,543 26.62 -0.29
Libertarian Stan Cuff 1,810 0.67 -0.65
Constitution Leonard J. Davidson 1,319 0.49
2002 Election for U.S. Representative of Missouri’s 8th Congressional District
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Jo Ann Emerson 135,144 71.76 +2.45
Democratic Gene Curtis 50,686 26.91 -2.04
Libertarian Eric Van Oostrom 2,491 1.32 +0.33
2000 Election for U.S. Representative of Missouri’s 8th Congressional District
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Jo Ann Emerson 162,239 69.31 +6.69
Democratic Bob Camp 67,760 28.95 -6.74
Libertarian John B. Hendricks, Jr. 2,328 0.99 -0.71
Green Tom Sager 1,739 0.74
1998 Election for U.S. Representative of Missouri’s 8th Congressional District
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Jo Ann Emerson 104,271 62.62 +12.15
Democratic Anthony J. “Tony” Heckemeyer 59,426 35.69 -1.59
Libertarian John B. Hendricks, Jr. 2,827 1.70 +0.58
1996 Election for U.S. Representative of Missouri’s 8th Congressional District
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Jo Ann Emerson 112,472 50.47 '
Democratic Emily Firebaugh 83,084 37.28
Republican Richard Kline 23,477 10.53
Libertarian Greg Tlapek 2,503 1.12
Natural Law David R. Zimmer 1,318 0.59

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/roll624.xml
  2. ^ Official Manual State of Missouri 2001–2002. Matt Blunt, Secretary of State. p. 117. 

[edit] External links

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by
Bill Emerson
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Missouri's 8th congressional district

1996–present
Incumbent
United States order of precedence
Preceded by
Earl Blumenauer
D-Oregon
United States Representatives by seniority
115th
Succeeded by
Dan Lungren
R-California
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