Jo Ann Emerson

Jo Ann Emerson
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Missouri's 8th district
In office November 5, 1996 – January 22, 2013
Preceded by	Bill Emerson
Succeeded by	Jason Smith
Personal details
Born	Jo Ann Hermann (1950-09-16) September 16, 1950 (age 66) Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.
Political party	Republican (Before 1996; 1997–present) Independent (1996–1997)
Spouse(s)	Bill Emerson (1975–1996) Ron Gladney (2000–present)
Education	Ohio Wesleyan University (BA)

Jo Ann Emerson (born September 16, 1950) is an American politician who was the U.S. Representative for Missouri's 8th congressional district from 1996 to 2013. The district consists of Southeast and South Central Missouri and includes the Bootheel, the Lead Belt and the Ozarks. Emerson is a member of the Republican Party. On January 22, 2013, Emerson resigned her seat in Congress to become the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

With the defeat of Congressman Ike Skelton, Emerson became the dean, i.e., the longest-serving member, of Missouri's congressional delegation in 2011.

She was born Jo Ann Hermann in Bethesda, Maryland. She was a daughter of Albert "A.B." Hermann, who played for the Boston Braves baseball team from 1923–1924 and was executive director of the Republican National Committee. She graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University. She married future U.S. Representative Bill Emerson, a Republican from Cape Girardeau, on June 22, 1975. They had two daughters; Jo Ann also has five stepdaughters and a stepson. Bill was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1980 from Missouri's 10th Congressional District and, subsequent to redistricting, was reelected in 1982 from the 8th District. He died from cancer on June 22, 1996, a few months before the end of his eighth term. The Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge, which links Missouri to Illinois across the Mississippi River, was dedicated to commemorate his efforts to obtain federal funding for its construction.

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