Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Missouri elects dead man as senator

Libby Quaid
Wednesday 08 November 2000 01:00 GMT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Citizens of Missouri have elected a dead man to the Senate, choosing Governor Mel Carnahan - who was killed three weeks ago in a plane crash - over Republican incumbent John Ashcroft. Carnahan's widow had agreed to take her husband's place.

Citizens of Missouri have elected a dead man to the Senate, choosing Governor Mel Carnahan - who was killed three weeks ago in a plane crash - over Republican incumbent John Ashcroft. Carnahan's widow had agreed to take her husband's place.

With 84 per cent of the state's precincts reporting, Carnahan had 1,075,872 votes, or 50 percent. Ashcroft, a Republican, had 1,039,409, or 49 percent.

The plane crash that killed Carnahan, his son and an aide last month turned the nationally watched contest against Republican Senator John Ashcroft from notoriously bitter to bizarre.

The crash occurred too late to revise the ballot. No one had ever posthumously won election to the Senate, though voters on at least three occasions sent deceased candidates to the House.

Governor Roger Wilson, who took office after Carnahan's death Oct. 16, said he would appoint Carnahan's 66-year-old widow, Jean, to a two-year term should Ashcroft lose. Mrs Carnahan became the implicit challenger when she declared herself strong enough to accept appointment.

Some Republicans had threatened a court challenge if that happened.

Early Wednesday, as her husband pulled ahead, she addressed hundreds of St. Louis-area supporters by phone from her home in Rolla.

"You have stayed the course; you have kept the faith; you have carried our hopes and dreams," she said.

"Lincoln never saw his nation made whole again," she said. "Martin Luther King never finished his mountaintop journey. My husband's journey was cut short, too. And for reasons we don't understand, the mantle has now fallen upon us."

Ashcroft, 58, resumed his campaign eight days after the crash, airing a new TV ad. Meanwhile, the late governor's campaign spent dlrs 700,000 to broadcast Mrs. Carnahan making a direct appeal to voters to keep her husband's vision alive.

Ashcroft, a favorite of religious conservatives when he mulled a White House bid, signed restrictive abortion laws as governor that later were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. Carnahan, who served one term as Ashcroft's lieutenant governor and succeeded Ashcroft, vetoed further abortion restrictions as well as concealed weapons legislation.

For years, Missouri political analysts and observers have remarked on the dislike between the two, although Ashcroft and Carnahan both denied it.

Their campaign featured allegations of racism against Ashcroft and a response that included a 40-year-old photo of Carnahan in blackface. They also battled over capital punishment, a controversy generated by Carnahan's decision, at Pope John Paul II's behest, to commute a murderer's death sentence.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in