Jean Carnahan - Life and Career

Life and Career

Born Jean Anne Carpenter in Washington, D.C. to a working-class family, she was determined to go to college. She worked through the year while attending George Washington University. She graduated in 1955 with a degree in Business and Public Administration — the first in her family to graduate from high school and college. She is an alumna of Kappa Delta sorority. She married Mel Carnahan in 1954.

As Mel Carnahan entered politics, Jean Carnahan was his political partner for several decades. Mel Carnahan was elected Governor of Missouri, serving 1993–2000. Mrs. Carnahan was an activist First Lady — an advocate for on-site day care centers for working families, childhood immunization, abuse centers, the arts, and Habitat for Humanity.

In 2000, Gov. Carnahan ran for a Senate seat from Missouri against incumbent Republican John Ashcroft. Only three weeks before election day, Carnahan was killed in a plane crash (along with his son, Randy Carnahan, who piloted the plane, and Chris Sifford, the governor's chief of staff and campaign advisor). Due to the short time before the election, Missouri election law did not allow Carnahan's name to be removed from the ballot. Acting Governor Roger B. Wilson announced that he would appoint Jean Carnahan if her husband were to win the election posthumously.

Out of respect, John Ashcroft suspended his campaign during the mourning period for Mel Carnahan. Jean Carnahan did not actively campaign, but announced that she intended to accept Acting Gov. Wilson's appointment and filmed one campaign commercial.

The race between Ashcroft and Mel Carnahan had been close. Carnahan posthumously received the most votes by a slim margin — only 48,000 votes out of 2.36 million cast (51-48%) — and Mrs. Carnahan was appointed to the Senate in 2001. Although arguably under Missouri law Mel Carnahan could not win, since he was dead and therefore did not "live" in the state, and Ashcroft actually won (receiving the most votes of the legally qualified candidates), Ashcroft did not contest the election certification of the Democratic Secretary of State, possibly because no legal precedent had been set. The seat was therefore declared vacant and Jean was appointed although, under Missouri law, she would only serve until a special election could be held in 2002.

The defeated Senator Ashcroft was nominated by Republican President-elect George W. Bush to be U.S. attorney general, and because cabinet appointments are subject to Senate approval, Senator Carnahan found herself in the unusual position of casting a vote on the nomination of her former opponent. She voted against Ashcroft's nomination.

In 2002, the special election was held for the remainder of the 6-year term. Jean Carnahan ran, but was defeated in a close race by Republican James Talent; the margin was only 22,000 votes, 49.8%–48.6%.

The 2004 elections proved better for the Carnahan family, when Senator Carnahan's son, Russ, was elected to Congress, and her daughter, Robin, was elected Missouri's Secretary of State. Robin Carnahan's bid to follow her mother as a United States Senator failed, however, when she was defeated by Republican U.S. Representative Roy Blunt in the 2010 election to succeed Missouri's senior Senator, Republican Kit Bond.

Since losing her Senate race, Jean Carnahan has continued as an activist and author. She has written four books and numerous opinion pieces.

She is among the former Missouri First Ladies who have participated in the cherry blossom tree planting in Marshfield, Missouri.