Rep. Russ Carnahan (D) Elected 2004, 1st term
Born:	July 10, 1958, Columbia
Home:	St. Louis
Education:	U. of MO, B.S. 1979, J.D. 1983
Religion:	Methodist
Marital Status:	married (Debra)
Elected  Office:	MO House of Reps., 2000-04.
Professional Career:	Practicing atty, 1988-96; Consultant, BJC HealthCare, 1996-2004.
DC Office	1232 LHOB20515, 202-225-2671; Fax: 202-225-7452; Web site: www.house.gov/carnahan
State Offices	Crystal City, 636-937-8039; St. Louis, 314-962-1523.
Additional Info
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Middle America, it could be said, lies somewhere on the south side of metropolitan St. Louis. The geographical center of the country's population was here in 1980, just south of St. Louis in once rural and now mostly suburban Jefferson County; while that point has moved about 35 miles southwest, St. Louis is still the metro area nearest the demographic midpoint of a country most of whose people live in million-plus metro areas. Geographically, this is a node where some of the nation's main arteries come together. The Missouri River flows into the Mississippi a few miles north of St. Louis's Gateway Arch; the National Road and its successors, U.S. 40 and Interstate 70, cross the Mississippi just below the Arch. And the great tides of Southerners migrating west up the Mississippi and Germans migrating overland met here to create one of the nation's largest and most bustling cities out of a town founded by the French before the Revolutionary War. The south side of St. Louis is famous for its pleasant parks and tight-knit, neat neighborhoods, including "Little Bosnia" in the Bevo Mill neighborhood; its most famous symbols are the Anheuser-Busch brewery just south of downtown and Grant's Farm, where Ulysses S. Grant lived in the 1850s and where Anheuser-Busch now keeps the Budweiser Clydesdales. But many more people now live in the suburbs heading out all directions, well into Jefferson County to the south. In St. Louis County and south St. Louis, the Catholic Church has closed more than 20 parishes and eight schools since 1970, and the number of registered parishioners has dropped by half to about 115,000, while suburban parishes have been growing.

The 3d Congressional District of Missouri consists of the south side of St. Louis, part of suburban St. Louis County and, to the south, Jefferson County and rural Ste. Genevieve County, the site of Missouri's oldest permanent settlement, founded near a salt mine in 1730. Its St. Louis County portions are mostly suburbs close to the St. Louis City line--Clayton, Maplewood, Richmond Heights, Webster Groves, Affton, Lemay, Oakville. This is the descendant of districts dominated by St. Louis voters, but today the city casts less than 25% of its votes, fewer than in Jefferson County, where local Republicans have been making inroads; almost half are cast in St. Louis County. Ethnically, this has been a heavily German-American area since the mid-19th century. Politically, it has been Democratic since the New Deal of the 1930s. The district voted 57% for John Kerry in 2004; Ste. Genevieve was the only non-metropolitan Missouri county Kerry carried.

The congressman from the 3d District is Russ Carnahan, a Democrat elected in 2004. He succeeded Richard Gephardt, who retired after serving 28 years as a tireless party strategist, including nearly six years as majority leader and eight years as minority leader, and twice unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for president. Carnahan is the son of the late governor Mel Carnahan and former Senator Jean Carnahan, who was appointed to the Senate seat that her husband won after he died in an airplane crash two weeks before the 2000 election. Russ Carnahan grew up in Rolla and graduated from the University of Missouri and its law school. He practiced law with his wife Debra until 1996, when he took a job as a lobbyist and consultant with BJC Health System, now BJC HealthCare, a non-profit that operates several nursing homes and hospitals. In 1990 he ran unsuccessfully against Republican Bill Emerson in the old 10th Congressional District in southeast Missouri. In 2000 he was elected to the state House and after the 2002 election became chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. In 2003 it was obvious that Gephardt was running for president and would not run for reelection, and Carnahan decided to run in the 3d District.

Carnahan was among four current or former state legislators running in the primary. Opponents ganged up on him, claiming he had a thin legislative record and was trading on his family name. His toughest opponent turned out to be Jeff Smith, a political science instructor at Washington University in St. Louis, who worked as a volunteer in Bill Bradley's presidential campaign in 2000 and Howard Dean's in 2004. He was endorsed by Dean and by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and assembled a large corps of volunteers. Gephardt remained neutral, but many of his allies backed state Senator Steve Stoll, who supported gun rights and opposed abortion. This turned out to be a very close race. Carnahan won with 23% of the vote, Smith finished a close second with 21% and Stoll was not far behind with 18%. Smith led in St. Louis City and County; Stoll led by a wide margin in Jefferson and Ste. Genevieve Counties; Carnahan ran second or third in each--a sign that he greater name recognition but lacked a committed core of supporters. Smith took St. Louis County, which had the biggest turnout with 36% of the Democratic vote; he got 28% there to 27% for former state representative Joan Berry and 22% for Carnahan. In Jefferson County, which cast 30% of the vote, Stoll led Carnahan, 46%-22%.

In the general election Carnahan faced Republican author Bill Federer, who had lost twice to Gephardt. Federer spent heavily; he opposed all abortions and criticized Carnahan for supporting the national assault weapon ban, which expired September 13. Carnahan called for increased funding for education and said that he would "retarget" Bush's tax cuts to the middle class. Carnahan won 53%-45% on the same day his sister Robin Carnahan was elected Missouri's secretary of state. Federer led 50%-48% in Jefferson County, but Carnahan carried St. Louis County 52%-46%, and St. Louis City 61%-36%. Carnahan's margins in both primary and general were not so large as to preclude future opposition. Smith, who was a visiting professor at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire during the spring, left open the possibility that he might run again.

Committees

• Science (11th of 20 D): Research.
• Transportation & Infrastructure (32d of 34 D): Aviation; Highways, Transit & Pipelines; Water Resources & Environment.

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2004 general	Russ Carnahan (D)	146,894	53%	$1,392,248
	Bill Federer (R)	125,422	45%	$1,367,643
	Other	5,600	2%
	Russ Carnahan (D)	24,507	23%
	Jeff Smith (D)	22,783	21%
	Steve Stoll (D)	19,372	18%
	Joan Barry (D)	18,922	18%
	Mariano Favazza (D)	9,647	9%
	Mark Smith (D)	7,400	7%
	Other	4,370	4%
2002 general
Dick Gephardt (D)	122,181	59%	$3,389,306
	Catherine Enz (R)	80,551	39%	$114,143
	Other	4,146	2%

2004 Presidential Vote Kerry (D) 168,740 (57%) Bush (R) 127,668 (43%)

2000 Presidential Vote Gore (D) 140,954 (54%) Bush (R) 112,460 (43%)

For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Third District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: D + 8
• District Size: 1,266 square miles
• Population in 2000: 621,690; 86.7% urban; 13.3% rural
• Median Household Income: $41,091; 10.1% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 24.2% blue collar; 60.4% white collar; 15.4% gray collar; 13.2% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 85.7% White, 9.1% Black, 1.6% Asian, 0.2% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 1.4% Two+ races, 0.1% Other, 1.8% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 23.1% German, 11.6% Irish, 5.9% English
• Click here for statewide demographic data.