Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R) Elected 1996, 5th full term
Born:	Sept. 16, 1950, Washington, D.C.
Home:	Cape Girardeau
Education:	Ohio Wesleyan U., B.A. 1972
Religion:	Presbyterian
Marital Status:	married (Ron Gladney)
Professional Career:	Deputy Communications Dir., Natl. Repub. Cong. Cmte., 1984-91; Dir., State Relations & Grassroot Programs, Natl. Restaurant Assn., 1991-94; Sr. Vice Pres., Pub. Affairs, American Insurance Assn., 1994-96.
DC Office	2440 RHOB20515, 202-225-4404; Fax: 202-226-0326; Web site: www.house.gov/emerson
State Offices	Cape Girardeau, 573-335-0101; Farmington, 573-756-9755; Rolla, 573-364-2455.
Additional Info
Committees · Ratings · Key Votes · Election Results District Demographics
More On Missouri
At A Glance · State Profile District Map Redistricting · Almanac Home
Recent News Coverage
Search the CongressDaily, Hotline, House Race Hotline, National Journal and Technology Daily archives using the form above:
[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Mark Twain might not recognize life on the Mississippi below St. Louis today, where the land flattens out and the river is hidden behind levees, which ordinarily, except during the terrible flood of 1993, screen small towns and river roads from the sight of rows of barges tethered together, full of coal and corn and soybeans. The Mississippi today is an industrial waterway. But it was never really all that romantic. Twain's steamboats, as he was at pains to point out, were dangerous, noisy contraptions, forever blowing up or getting embedded in roots and branches in the swirling river currents. This is one of the older settled parts of the U.S.: French settlers founded Missouri towns like Cape Girardeau in the late 1700s. The big influx started a few years after the 1811 earthquake centered on New Madrid; the spongy Mississippi valley land is seismically very active, and this was the site of one of the most devastating earthquakes in U.S. history.

The southeast quadrant of Missouri--the river valley and the hills to the west, with coal and lead mines with their miles of tunnels, plus the Bootheel that hangs down in the far southeast--has not seemed to change much in 50 years. For years there has been a population outflow from the Bootheel, as machines replaced low-wage farm workers and crops shifted from cotton to rice, corn and soybeans. Dairy cattle, pigs, apples, and berries--plus, some timber--are among the area's other products. St. Francois and Iron Counties produce about 80% of the nation's lead; EPA has ordered a cleanup of massive piles of lead waste. An aluminum smelting plant in New Madrid provides more than 1,000 jobs. The only big growth here has been around the retail and medical hub of Cape Girardeau and along I-44; the poverty rate in the Bootheel is the highest in the state. At a point 20 miles south of Rolla in Phelps County is Edgar Springs, the home to 190 residents and the population center of the nation, according to the 2000 Census; 10 years earlier, that designation was 35 miles to the northeast in Steelville.

The sprawling 8th Congressional District of Missouri covers this southeast corner of Missouri. The political heritage is mixed. The Bootheel was as solidly Democratic as the Mississippi Valley around Memphis once was, and some mining counties show traces of Democratic sentiment. Cape Girardeau is heavily Republican and an incubator of Republican talent: it is the home town of Rush Limbaugh, Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder, and Jack Oliver, George W. Bush's chief fundraiser in 2004. For many years this district was safely Democratic, but since 1980, it has been represented by Republicans. This was one of the rural areas that trended to Republicans in the Clinton years, and George W. Bush won 59% of the vote here in 2000 and 63% in 2004.

The congresswoman from the 8th District is Jo Ann Emerson, first elected in 1996 to replace her late husband Bill Emerson, who died that June. Jo Ann Emerson grew up in Bethesda, Maryland, in a Republican family (her father was executive director of the Republican National Committee) but next door to Democrats Hale and Lindy Boggs, who served in Congress over a half-century. In 1975 she married Republican Bill Emerson, then a Washington lobbyist. In 1979, spotting the vulnerability of the Democratic incumbent in the Bootheel district, he went home to Missouri to run, and won with 55% of the vote. In 1995 he was diagnosed with cancer, but missed few votes during radiation therapy. After Bill's death, Jo Ann Emerson decided to run. She had worked for the American Insurance Association and National Restaurant Association and was a press aide at the National Republican Congressional Committee. Her views were conservative, and leading state and national Republicans quickly endorsed her. But Missouri law bars reopening the filing deadline if an incumbent dies less than 11 weeks before the primary, so she ran as an independent. Democrats nominated Emily Firebaugh, a timber company owner who attacked Emerson as a product of the Washington suburbs. Firebaugh spent $831,000, slightly more than Emerson. The Republican nominee Richard Kline was less trouble: In 1995 he had used pepper spray to try to place a Veterans Administration doctor under citizen's arrest. Bill Emerson's record, Jo Ann Emerson's conservative views, and the poignancy of the situation all worked toward an Emerson victory. She won 50%, with 37% for Firebaugh and 11% for Kline. In the same-day special election for the short term, she won with 63%.

In the House, Emerson has had a moderate-leaning voting record though sometimes conservative on cultural issues. On the Appropriations Committee and its Agriculture Subcommittee, her priority was addressing low prices for farm commodities. She worked with other members from farm districts to open agricultural trade with Cuba and made visits to Cuba to encourage deals; she pushed legislative steps to overturn Bush administration restrictions on the shipment of personal items to family members on the island. She demanded protection of U.S. food aid programs from international trade restrictions. After September 11 she bucked Attorney General--and former Missouri Senator--John Ashcroft by voting with House Democrats to federalize airport security.

Emerson cast the deciding vote in June 2003 on the House version of the Medicare/prescription drug bill. She opposed the measure but changed her vote in exchange for a promise from Speaker Dennis Hastert for a floor vote on reimportation of prescription drugs (she complained that her mother-in-law paid $11,000 a year for drug coverage) and assurance that Majority Whip Roy Blunt wouldn't whip Republicans to vote against it. She got the vote; Blunt did not do any whipping but former whip and now-Majority Leader Tom DeLay did. Emerson's side won, but the provision failed to become law. In November, she was one of 25 House Republicans who voted against the conference report on the Medicare/prescription drug bill. Her independence has not seemed to affect her influence among House Republicans, perhaps because she has been upfront with party leaders about her views.

Emerson has won reelection without difficulty. In 2002, she turned down the opportunity to run against Senator Jean Carnahan. Her stepdaughter served with the First Infantry Division in Iraq.

Committees

• Appropriations (22d of 37 R): Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA & Related Agencies; Energy & Water Development & Related Agencies; Homeland Security.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2004	20	0	43	9	78	42	86	76	78	90	--
2003	10	--	17	0	--	54	92	100	--	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2003 LIB	--	2003 CONS		2004 LIB	--	2004 CONS
Economic	37%	--	63%		47%	--	52%
Social	39%	--	61%		25%	--	73%
Foreign	20%	--	79%		51%	--	48%
For National Journal's complete 2004 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 108th Congress (More Info)
1. Drilling in ANWR Y 2. Approve Bush Tax Cuts * 3. Medicare/Rx Bill N 4. Bar Overtime Pay Regs. Y 5. DC School Vouchers * 6. Ban Human Cloning Y		7. Restrict Gun Liability Y  8. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion Y  9. Ban Same-Sex Marriage Y 10. Fund Iraq War Y 11. Bar Cuba Embargo Funds Y 12. Intelligence Reorg. Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2004 general	Jo Ann Emerson (R)	194,039	72%	$1,163,588
	Dean Henderson (D)	71,543	27%	$17,801
	Other	3,129	1%
2004 primary	Jo Ann Emerson (R)	65,052	89%
	Richard Allen Kline (R)	8,401	11%
2002 general	Jo Ann Emerson (R)	135,144	72%	$777,711
	Gene Curtis (D)	50,686	27%
	Other	2,491	1%
Prior winning percentages: 2000 (69%); 1998 (63%); 1996 (50%); 1996 (63%)

2004 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 173,378 (63%) Kerry (D) 97,778 (36%)

2000 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 143,511 (59%) Gore (D) 93,244 (38%)

For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Eighth 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: R +11
• District Size: 18,818 square miles
• Population in 2000: 621,690; 39.6% urban; 60.4% rural
• Median Household Income: $27,865; 18.2% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 34.5% blue collar; 47.7% white collar; 17.8% gray collar; 15.1% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 92.5% White, 4.3% Black, 0.4% Asian, 0.6% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 1.1% Two+ races, 0.0% Other, 1.0% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 13.7% USA, 12.7% German, 8.5% Irish
• Click here for statewide demographic data.