Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick

Infobox_Congressman
name = Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick


date of birth = birth date and age|1945|06|25
place of birth = Detroit, Michigan
state = Michigan
district = 13th
term_start = January 3, 1997
preceded = Lynn Rivers
succeeded = Incumbent
party = Democrat
religion = African Methodist Episcopal
spouse = Bernard Kilpatrick (divorced)
children = Kwame Kilpatrick
occupation= high school teacher
alma_mater= Ferris State University, Western Michigan University, University of Michigan
residence= Detroit

Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (born June 25, 1945, Detroit, Michigan) is an American politician and mother of former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. She has been a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives since 1997. Since the 2002 redistricting, she has represented the 13th District comprising most of Detroit and portions of Downriver. She is the Chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus in the 110th Congress (2007-8).

Biography

Born Carolyn Jean Cheeks, she graduated from the Detroit High School of Commerce. She then attended Ferris State University in Big Rapids from 1968 to 1970 and received a B.S. from Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo) in 1972. She earned a M.S. from the University of Michigan in 1977. She worked as a high school teacher and was later a member of the Michigan State House of Representatives from 1979 to 1996.

She was married to Bernard Nathaniel Kilpatrick, with whom she has daughter Ayanna and son Kwame Kilpatrick. Kwame Kilpatrick recently resigned as Detroit's mayor following his guilty plea to two felonies for obstruction of justice.

She has six grandsons, including two sets of twins.

Career

She is a member of the Detroit Substance Abuse Advisory Council.

Having defeated incumbent Barbara-Rose Collins in the 1996 Democratic primary, Kilpatrick was elected as a Democrat from Michigan's 15th congressional district to the 105th and to the three succeeding Congresses, serving in the U.S. House from January 3 1997 to the present. After redistricting in 2003, she began representing the 13th district. She was one of the 31 who voted in the House to not count the electoral votes from Ohio in the United States presidential election, 2004. [http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/roll007.xml]

On December 6, 2006, The Congressional Black Caucus unanimously chose Kilpatrick as its chairwoman for the next two years.

In 2008, she faced stern challenges from former State Representative Mary Waters and State Senator Martha Scott in the Democratic primary. Kilpatrick's campaign was plagued by the controversy surrounding her son and his involvement in a text messaging sex scandal. However, on the August 5 primary election, Kilpatrick narrowly won with 39.1 percent of the vote, compared to Waters' 36 percent and Scott's 24 percent. On September 29th, 2008, she voted against the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. [http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll674.xml]

Committee Assignments

*Appropriations Committee
**Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government
**Subcommittee on Homeland Security
*Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group
*Chairperson of the Congressional Black Caucus

References

* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/kilguss-kim.html#RWS02J0MO The Political Graveyard]

External links

* [http://www.house.gov/kilpatrick/ U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick] official House site
*CongBio|k000180
* [http://herndon1.sdrdc.com/cgi-bin/can_detail/H6MI15127 Federal Election Commission — Ms. Carolyn Kilpatrick] campaign finance reports and data
* [http://www.ontheissues.org/MI/Carolyn_Kilpatrick.htm On the Issues — Carolyn Kilpatrick] issue positions and quotes
* [http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.asp?cid=N00004005 OpenSecrets.org — Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick] campaign contributions
* [http://www.vote-smart.org/bio.php?can_id=BC036076 Project Vote Smart — Representative Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (MI)] profile
* [http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/k000180/ Washington Post — Congress Votes Database: Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick] voting record
* [http://www.michigandems.com/ Michigan Democratic Party]
* [http://www.michiganliberal.com/tag.do?tag=CD13 Michigan Liberal's 13th Congressional District section]