Melvin Eugene Carnahan (February 11, 1934 – October 16, 2000) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 51st Governor of Missouri from 1993 until his death in a plane crash in 2000. A

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

, he was

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population ...

posthumously to the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

; his widow,

Jean Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jea ...

, served in his stead for two years until a

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-larges ...

Early life and education

Carnahan was born in

Birch Tree, Missouri Birch Tree is a city in southwest Shannon County, Missouri, United States. The population was 541 at the 2020 census. History A post office called Birch Tree has been in operation since the 1860s. The community was named for a grove of birch tre ...

, and grew up on a small farm near Ellsinore, Missouri, with his only sibling, Robert "Bob" Carnahan. He was the son of Kathel (Schupp) and

A. S. J. Carnahan Albert Sidney Johnson Carnahan (January 9, 1897 – March 24, 1968) was an American diplomat and politician from Southeast Missouri. He began his career as a teacher and school administrator. He then served as a member of the United States House ...

, the superintendent of Ellsinore schools who, in 1944, was elected to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

, serving from 1945-1947 and 1949-1961. Carnahan moved with his family to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

in 1945 and returned in 1949, the year he met his future wife Jean. There he graduated from Anacostia High School in 1952 and earned a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

(B.A.) in

business administration Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...

from

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

in 1954. He married Jean Anne Carpenter that same year and also entered the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

and served as a special agent for the Office of Special Investigation rising to the rank of First Lieutenant. In 1956, he and his wife moved back to his home state of Missouri. He received a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

(J.D.) from the

University of Missouri School of Law The University of Missouri School of Law (Mizzou Law or MU Law) is the law school of the University of Missouri. It is located on the university's main campus in Columbia, forty minutes from the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City. The sc ...

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is the county seat of Boone County and home to the University of Missouri. Founded in 1821, it is the principal city of the five-county Columbia metropolitan area. It is Missouri's fourth ...

, in 1959.

Political career

State legislator

Carnahan's political career started in 1960 when he was elected to serve as a municipal judge in Rolla. Two years later he was elected as a member of the

Missouri House of Representatives The Missouri House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 163 members, representing districts with an average size of 37,000 residents. House members are elected for two-year terms during general elections ...

representing the Rolla area. He remained in the Missouri house until 1966, winning the position of majority floor leader in his second term. In 1966, he lost an election for the state senate and started practicing law.

State Treasurer

In 1980, Carnahan was elected Missouri State Treasurer. He served in that post from 1981 to 1985. In 1984 he was an unsuccessful candidate for

Governor of Missouri A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political_regions, political region, ranking under the Head of State, head of state and in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of ...

, losing the Democratic

primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

to then-Lieutenant Governor

Kenneth Rothman Kenneth Joel Rothman (October 11, 1935 – April 26, 2019) was an American lawyer and politician from Missouri. He served as the 41st Lieutenant Governor of Missouri from 1981 to 1985. Biography Rothman was born and raised in St. Louis and a ...

, who lost the general election that year to state Attorney General

John Ashcroft John David Ashcroft (born May 9, 1942) is an American lawyer, lobbyist and former politician who served as the 79th U.S. Attorney General in the George W. Bush administration from 2001 to 2005. A former U.S. Senator from Missouri and the 50th ...

Governor of Missouri

In 1988, he was elected Lieutenant Governor of Missouri. In 1992, he faced Mayor of St. Louis Vincent C. Schoemehl in the Democratic primary for governor. He won the Democratic nomination by a wide margin and went on to easily defeat Republican state Attorney General

William L. Webster William Lawrence Webster (born September 17, 1953) is an American lawyer, former politician and convicted felon from Missouri. He served in the Missouri House of Representatives and later as the 39th Missouri Attorney General, Attorney General o ...

in the general election. He was elected Governor of Missouri on November 3, 1992, and reelected for a second term on November 5, 1996, defeating Republican

State Auditor State auditors (also known as state comptrollers, state controllers, state examiners, or inspectors general) are fiscal officers lodged in the executive or legislative branches of U.S. state governments who serve as external auditors, financial ...

Margaret B. Kelly.

2000 Senate election and death

In 2000, Carnahan ran in the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

against Incumbent

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Senator

for United States Senator. It was a heated and intense campaign, in which Carnahan traveled all over Missouri to garner support in what was a very close race. However, early in the evening of October 16, the night before a presidential

debate Debate is a process that involves formal discourse on a particular topic, often including a moderator and audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for often opposing viewpoints. Debates have historically occurred in public meetings, a ...

held at

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

just three weeks before the election, the twin-engine

Cessna Cessna () is an American brand of general aviation aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of the Cessna Aircraft Company, an American general aviation aircraft manufacturing c ...

airplane he was flying on, which was piloted by his son Randy, lost control in rainy and foggy conditions and crashed on a forested hillside near

Goldman, Missouri Goldman is an unincorporated community in Jefferson County, Missouri, United States, approximately 25 miles south of St. Louis, and five miles north of the county courthouse at Hillsboro. Goldman is located on Old Lemay Ferry Road, an old trade r ...

, only about south of St. Louis. All three on board the plane (Mel and Randy Carnahan and Chris Sifford, the governor's campaign advisor and former chief of staff) were killed in the crash. Lieutenant Governor

Roger B. Wilson Roger Byron Wilson (born October 10, 1948) is an American politician who briefly served as the 52nd Governor of Missouri from October 16, 2000 to January 8, 2001. Wilson was serving his second four-year term as lieutenant governor and was prepa ...

ascended to the governorship and served out the balance of Carnahan's term, which ended in January 2001. Because Missouri election law would not allow Carnahan's name to be removed from the November 7, 2000, ballot, the campaign chose Carnahan's widow,

Jean Carnahan Jean Anne Carnahan (née Carpenter; born December 20, 1933) is an American politician and writer who was the First Lady of Missouri from 1993 to 2000, and served as the state's junior United States senator from 2001 to 2002. A Democrat, she was ...

, to unofficially become the new Democratic candidate. Wilson promised to appoint her to the seat, if it became vacant as a result of Mel Carnahan's win in the election. Carnahan's campaign continued using the slogan "I'm Still with Mel." A Senate first, Carnahan posthumously won, by a 2% margin. Jean Carnahan was then appointed to the Senate and served until November 2002, when she was defeated by a 1% margin in a

by Republican

Jim Talent James Matthes Talent (born October 18, 1956) is an American politician who was a U.S. Senator from Missouri from 2002 to 2007. He is a Republican and resided in the St. Louis area while serving in elected office. After serving for eight years ...

Awards and recognitions

The Armory and Reserve Center in Rolla Missouri was renamed in honor of him in 2001, as The Mel Carnahan Armory and Reserve Center. A high school, Carnahan High School of the Future, was named after him in 2003.

Personal life

Carnahan and his family were active members of the First Baptist Church of Rolla, where he served as an ordained deacon and member of the building committee. In 1984, he risked his political career by taking a public stand against Missouri ballot issues, Amendments 5 and 7, which would legalize

parimutuel betting Parimutuel betting or pool betting is a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool; taxes and the "house-take" or "vigorish" are deducted, and payoff odds are calculated by sharing the pool among all winnin ...

and create a

state lottery In the United States, lotteries are run by 48 jurisdictions: 45 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Lotteries are subject to the laws of and operated independently by each jurisdiction, and there is no ...

. He was one of only a handful of state elected officials to take such a position; however, both amendments passed. Carnahan married Jean Carpenter in

on June 12, 1954. They had four children, all lawyers.

Russ Carnahan John Russell Carnahan (; born July 10, 1958) is an American politician from the state of Missouri. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the U.S. representative for from 2005 to 2013. At the time, the district included the southern ...

, a former member of the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

for Missouri's 3rd District (2005–2013); Tom Carnahan, founder of

Wind Capital Group Wind Capital Group was a wind power developer founded in 2005 by Missouri native Tom Carnahan. Developed wind farms Blue Grass Ridge Wind Farm On January 31, 2006, Wind Capital Group announced the planned construction of Blue Grass Ridge Wi ...

, which builds

wind farm A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used Wind power, to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundre ...

Robin Carnahan Robin Colleen Carnahan (born August 4, 1961) is an American businesswoman, lawyer, and politician, who previously served as the Missouri Secretary of State and currently serves as the Administrator of General Services in the Biden administrati ...

, former

Missouri Secretary of State The people below have served as the Secretary of State of the U.S. state of Missouri. List Gallery File:Warren E. Hearnes.jpg, Warren E. Hearnes File:James C. Kirkpatrick.jpg, James C. Kirkpatrick File:Rep Roy Blunt.jpg, Roy Blunt File:Mattb ...

(2005–2013); and Roger "Randy" Carnahan, who piloted the plane and perished in the same crash that killed his father.

References

External links

National Governors Association
* * , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Carnahan, Mel 1934 births 2000 deaths 20th-century American politicians Accidental deaths in Missouri Baptists from Missouri Carnahan family Democratic Party governors of Missouri Democratic Party United States senators from Missouri George Washington University School of Business alumni Lieutenant Governors of Missouri Democratic Party members of the Missouri House of Representatives People from Rolla, Missouri People from Shannon County, Missouri People from Southeast (Washington, D.C.) Politicians elected posthumously State treasurers of Missouri United States Air Force officers University of Missouri alumni Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the United States Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 2000