Background
McCarthy was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts and grew up in Leawood, Kansas, and graduated from Shawnee Mission East High School.
United States Representative from Missouri
McCarthy was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts and grew up in Leawood, Kansas, and graduated from Shawnee Mission East High School.
She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and English from the University of Kansas in 1969 and a Master of Arts in English Education from the University of Missouri–Kansas City in 1976. McCarthy later earned an Master of Business Administration at the University of Kansas.
She served as the United States. Representative for the fifth district of Missouri from 1995 to 2005. Prior to running for public office, McCarthy taught English at Shawnee Mission South High School and the Sunset Hill School. First elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 1976 as a Democrat, McCarthy was re-elected eight times, generally with little opposition.
McCarthy also served as the first female president of the National Conference of State Legislatures in 1994.
In 1994, Congressman Alan Wheat ran for the United States. Senate, leaving an open seat. She was easily reelected four more times.
McCarthy served on the Energy and Commerce committee (subcommittees: Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, Energy and Air Quality, Telecommunications and Internet and Environment and Hazardous Materials) and the Select Committee on Homeland Security as the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence and Counterterrorism subcommittee. McCarthy announced in 2003 that she wouldn"t run for a sixth term in 2004 after revealing that she suffered from alcoholism.
A widely reported incident in which an intoxicated McCarthy fell down inside a House office building forced her to admit her problem and seek treatment.
Selected honors include the Missouri Citizens for the Arts 2005 Advocacy Award and the Business and Professional Women of the United States of America"s Woman of the Year award. McCarthy served as co-chair of the Missouri Commission of Global Climate Change, an extensive two-year (1989–1991) study of scientific data to develop environmental and economic policy options for state action. She was also a congressional representative to the Kyoto Protocol on global climate change and a Harvard fellow at the Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government "The Politics of Alternative Energies", in the fall of 1982.
In December 2003, McCarthy announced that she wouldn"t seek another term in the House.
She was succeeded by Emanuel Cleaver, a fellow Democrat. McCarthy returned to Kansas City, Missouri where she sat on a number of boards and was an active fundraiser and sponsor for a variety of cultural and political activities.
In June 2009, her family revealed that McCarthy was suffering from an advanced form of Alzheimer’s disease and was residing in a nursing home. Their statement said her difficulties were compounded by a bipolar disorder that apparently went undiagnosed for at least a decade.
Karen McCarthy died on October 5, 2010.
McCarthy was 63 years old and had been suffering from Alzheimer"s disease. *Write-in and minor candidate notes: In 2000, Reform candidate Dennis M. Carriger received 974 votes.
Delaware Democratic National Convention, 1992, Democratic National Party Conference, 1982, Democratic National Policy Committee Policy Commission, 1985-1986. Fellow Institute of Politics. Member National Institute of Politics.
Member National Conference on State Legislation (delegate on trade and economic development to Federal Republic of Germany, Bulgaria, Japan, France and Italy, member energy committee 1978-1984, federal taxation, trade and economic development committee 1986, chairman federal budget and taxation committee 1987, vice chairman state federal assembly 1988, president-elect 1993, president 1994), National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (instructor Northern Ireland 1988, Baltic Republics 1992, Hungary 1993).
Married Arthur Benson II (divorced).