Robin Carnahan

Robin Carnahan
38th Missouri Secretary of State
Incumbent
Assumed office January 10, 2005
Governor	Matt Blunt Jay Nixon
Preceded by	Matt Blunt
Personal details
Born	August 4, 1961 (1961-08-04) (age 50) Rolla, Missouri
Political party	Democratic Party
Spouse(s)	Juan Carlos Antolinez
Alma mater	William Jewell College University of Virginia
Profession	Businesswoman Lawyer
Religion	Baptist
Website	Secretary of State’s Website Campaign Website

Carnahan with Barack Obama at the Folly Theater in Kansas City on July 8, 2010

Robin Carnahan (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician, daughter of Missouri politicians Mel and Jean Carnahan and the current Missouri Secretary of State. She is a member of the Democratic Party and was the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2010, to replace retiring Republican Sen. Kit Bond.

Early life, education and career

Robin Carnahan grew up near Rolla, Missouri, the only daughter in a family of 4 children. After graduating from Rolla High School, she enrolled at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, where she graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in Economics.

Carnahan continued her education at the University of Virginia School of Law where she served as Executive Editor of the Virginia Journal of International Law before receiving her Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree in 1986. She returned to Missouri and began practicing law with the St. Louis law firm of Thompson & Mitchell, where she focused on business and corporate law.

In 1990 Carnahan went to work in central Europe as part of a team from the National Democratic Institute. In this role, she helped draft voting laws, train new political leaders and monitor elections in Hungary and Czechoslovakia.^[1] Since then, she has worked in six countries as part of the National Democratic Institute. Later, Carnahan served as an assistant to the chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States.^[2]

Today, Carnahan still manages her family's farm and Angus cattle operation outside of Rolla, Missouri.^[3]

Missouri Secretary of State

On November 2, 2004, Robin Carnahan was elected as Missouri's 38th Secretary of State. In her first bid for elected office, she defeated then-Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives Catherine Hanaway (R) in a close race. In 2005 she was named as one of 24 "rising stars" in American politics by the Aspen Institute's Rodel Foundation, a leading nonpartisan think tank.

Coming into office, one of Carnahan’s priorities was to reduce red-tape for businesses. She was involved with efforts to expand more than 80% of business filings online and reducing expenses for paper filings.^[4] Cracking down on scam artists has been another priority. The Securities Division under her direction has taken the lead on a number of high profile cases, including a national settlement in August 2008 in which Wachovia Securities agreed to repay over 40,000 investors who had nearly $9 billion frozen in auction-rate securities accounts.^[5][6]

Carnahan also has worked to increase access to public documents and information by expanding online availability of information through the Missouri State Archives and Missouri State Library. The award-winning Death Records and Missouri Digital Heritage Initiative projects have received over 23 million hits in the past year.^{[citation needed]}

In 2008, Carnahan worked with Missouri's local election authorities to ensure all eligible Missourians had access to the ballot box. She has been a strong advocate for early voting, paper ballots and better training for Election Day poll workers.^[7]

In 2007, Carnahan served as Co-Chair of the Elections Committee of the National Association of Secretaries of State and continues to serve on the Executive Committee, as well as Chair of the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State. She has been called upon to testify on election matters before US House and Senate Committees.

In November 2008, Carnahan was reelected with nearly 62% of the vote by receiving over 1.7 million votes, the most votes ever cast for a candidate in Missouri history.^[8]

2010 U.S. Senate campaign

On February 3, 2009, Carnahan announced she would run for the United States Senate in 2010 to replace retiring U.S. Senator Kit Bond, saying it's time to “stop the political bickering and start solving problems”.^[9] She was elected the Democratic nominee in the primary election held August 3, 2010.

In October, Carnahan was endorsed by the Kansas City Star,^[10] the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,^[11] and the St. Louis American.^[12] However, Carnahan was handily defeated by Republican Roy Blunt in the election as part of a Republican wave of victories in the midterm.

Political positions

Carnahan said she would have voted for the Democrats' health care bill in the U.S. Senate and supports a public option for health care.^[13]

Carnahan said that she would not have voted for the $700 billion Wall Street bailout, but would have voted for the 2009 stimulus bill because it “kept cops in the street, teachers in classrooms, and cut taxes for millions of Missourians.” ^[14]

In March 2010, Carnahan called for a complete ban on earmarks.^[15] In September 2010, she proposed a 10 percent pay cut for Congress until the federal budget is balanced.^[16]

During a July 2010 campaign stop, Carnahan said she would work to ban Congress members from becoming lobbyists and would make information about meetings between lobbyists and Congress members available to the public.^[17]

Family legacy

Carnahan comes from a family that has been active in Missouri politics for several generations. Her grandfather, A.S.J. Carnahan Carnahan was elected to the House of Representatives as a Democrat from south-central Missouri. He served only one term before being defeated in 1946, but ran again in 1948 and won. Carnahan served in the House for six consecutive terms, but failed to win the Democratic Party's nomination for his own seat in 1960. In 1961, Carnahan was appointed by President John F. Kennedy as the first American ambassador to Sierra Leone; he retired from this post in 1963. Her father, Mel Carnahan served in several offices and was Governor of Missouri from 1993 until his death in 2000. Her mother, Jean Carnahan served Missouri as a United States Senator when she was appointed to fill the seat Gov. Carnahan won posthumously.

Her brother Russ Carnahan is a member of Congress and represents the southern portion of the St. Louis Metropolitan Area. Her brother Tom Carnahan is president of Wind Capital Group. Robin Carnahan is married to Juan Carlos Antolinez.

On February 27, 2006 Carnahan announced that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. She continued to serve as Secretary of State while undergoing treatment and her cancer is in remission.^[18]

Electoral history

References

External links

• Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan official Missouri government site
• Robin Carnahan for U.S. Senate official campaign site
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at the National Institute for Money in State Politics
• Appearances on C-SPAN programs
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Missouri Digital Heritage