EMERSON WINS BIG IN 8TH DISTRICT CONTESTS

Voters elected Independent/Republican Jo Ann Emerson to Congress Tuesday.

Emerson defeated Democrat Emily Firebaugh and three other candidates to win the 8th District general election.

She also won in a three-way race in the special election to fill the unexpired term of her late husband, Bill Emerson.

Bill Emerson died in June of lung cancer.

With 295 of 516 precincts reporting, Emerson had 66,041 votes. Firebaugh had 46,276 votes; Republican Richard Kline had 14,089; Libertarian Greg Tlapek had 1,561 and Natural Law Party candidate David Zimmer had 777.

Kline won the Republican primary in August.

Jo Ann Emerson became the first woman to be elected to Congress in the 8th District. She also is the first person in 122 years to be elected to Congress from Missouri as neither a Republican nor a Democrat.

Bill Emerson's death occurred too late for Jo Ann Emerson to file for either the primary or the general election. To get on the ballot, she filed as an independent.

But the Cape Girardeau woman was an independent in name only. Republican Party officials backed her and she ran as a Republican in the special election.

Emerson, 46, was elated by her victory.

"There is absolutely no doubt about it that people wanted to continue the commonsense conservative tradition that Bill gave all of us the last 16 years," she said.

"I think the bottom line is that folks felt that I shared their traditional values," she said from the Holiday Inn in Cape Girardeau where about 400 supporters gathered to celebrate her victory.

She said it was a bittersweet victory in that her late husband wasn't there to share it.

Firebaugh, 54, conceded defeat at 9:30 p.m. before a crowd of about 350 supporters in Farmington, where she lives.

"Team Emerson had such an identity and recognition and that was an uphill battle," she told the Southeast Missourian.

"I think Congressman Emerson had served so honorably that they felt Team Emerson and Jo Ann Emerson could carry on the traditions," she said.

"We had a very honorable campaign and I am very proud of not only the staff but also the supporters of this campaign that believed in the issues that we were putting forth," she said.

Firebaugh said she felt it was important to speak out for continued funding of Medicare and federal student loans.

Firebaugh said Emerson outspent her and that was a factor in the election.

She said the election shows there is need for campaign finance reform.

For a county-by-county vote in the 8th D9istrict see Page 8A.