Claire Conner McCaskill is an American politician who served as a United States senator from Missouri from 2007 to 2019 and as State Auditor of Missouri from 1999 to 2007.
60 Facts About Claire McCaskill
2.
Claire McCaskill graduated from the University of Missouri and the University of Missouri School of Law.
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Claire McCaskill ran for Governor of Missouri in the 2004 election, defeating Democratic incumbent Bob Holden in the Democratic primary and losing to Republican Matt Blunt in a close general election.
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Betty Anne Claire McCaskill lost a race for a seat in the state House of Representatives to Leroy Blunt, the father of US Senator Roy Blunt and grandfather of former Missouri Governor Matt Blunt.
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Claire McCaskill spent her early childhood in the small Missouri town of Houston, later moving to Lebanon, and eventually Columbia.
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Claire McCaskill attended David H Hickman High School in Columbia, where she was a cheerleader, Pep Club president, a member of the debate club, a musical cast member, and homecoming queen.
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Thereafter, Claire McCaskill joined the Jackson County prosecutor's office, where she specialized in arson cases.
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In 1982, Claire McCaskill was elected to represent the Brookside neighborhood of Kansas City in the Missouri House of Representatives.
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Claire McCaskill left the State House and contemplated running for Jackson County Prosecutor in 1988, but did not pursue the position when her mentor, fellow Democrat and incumbent Prosecutor Albert Riederer decided to seek another term.
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In 1990, Claire McCaskill was elected to the Jackson County Legislature.
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In December 1991, Claire McCaskill announced her intention to run for county prosecutor.
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Claire McCaskill said that crime had "run amok" during Riederer's eleven years as county prosecutor.
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Claire McCaskill won the Democratic primary, and she went on to win the 1992 general election with 53 percent of the vote.
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Claire McCaskill was the first woman to serve as prosecutor for Jackson County.
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Claire McCaskill was reelected in 1996 with 71 percent of the vote.
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In 1998, Claire McCaskill was elected as State Auditor with 50.3 percent of the vote in the general election.
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Claire McCaskill was the second female to hold the post, the first having been her immediate predecessor, Margaret B Kelly.
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When Claire McCaskill ran for reelection in 2002, the winner of the Republican Party primary was Al Hanson, who had previously been incarcerated for fraud.
19.
Claire McCaskill ran unopposed in the Democratic primary and faced Republican nominee Todd Akin in the general election.
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Claire McCaskill's comments caused controversy and he was criticized by members of both parties.
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Claire McCaskill faced calls to withdraw from the race but did not do so, and McCaskill opened up an increasing lead in opinion polls.
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Specifically, her campaign ran ads during primary season criticizing Akin as being too conservative; Claire McCaskill did this to encourage conservatives to vote for Akin.
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Claire McCaskill has said that one of the reasons she lost was her party's lack of reach to rural Americans.
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Claire McCaskill was the first elected woman to represent Missouri in the US Senate.
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In January 2008, Claire McCaskill endorsed then-Senator Barack Obama in his campaign for the Democratic nomination for president, making her one of the first Senators to do so.
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Claire McCaskill was one of the most visible faces for his campaign, and her support was crucial to Obama's narrow victory in the Missouri primary in February 2008.
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Claire McCaskill has credited her daughter Maddie as having persuaded her to publicly endorse Obama.
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Claire McCaskill was frequently mentioned as a possible vice-presidential nominee for Obama, but was never seriously considered.
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Claire McCaskill spoke on the opening day of the Democratic National Convention in August 2008.
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In 2013, Claire McCaskill announced that she would be supporting Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.
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Claire McCaskill described Bernie Sanders as "too liberal" and "extreme" and saying that the enthusiasm of his supporters was no more impressive than that of Ron Paul's supporters in 2012.
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Ahead of an August 7,2018, Missouri vote on Proposition A on adopting a right-to-work law in Missouri, Claire McCaskill endorsed a "no" vote on the proposition.
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In 2010, Claire McCaskill voted for the DREAM Act, which would have given undocumented immigrants who entered the United States as children a pathway to citizenship provided that they fulfilled certain conditions.
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Claire McCaskill co-sponsored the Saving Federal Dollars Through Better Use of Government Purchase and Travel Cards Act, which sought to improve the processes related to the use of credit cards by government employees.
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Claire McCaskill voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, popularly known as ObamaCare, in December 2009.
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At each event during her 2018 re-election bid campaign, Claire McCaskill asked attendees with preexisting conditions to stand up, and vowed to keep in place health insurance protections for such individuals.
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Claire McCaskill received an "F" rating from the National Rifle Association for not supporting their view of Second Amendment rights and opposing all right-to-carry legislation.
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Claire McCaskill voted for expanded background checks and co-sponsored the "Feinstein Amendment," a proposal that would have made it illegal for individuals on the terror watchlist to purchase guns.
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In January 2016, Claire McCaskill was one of eighteen senators to sign a letter to Thad Cochran and Barbara Mikulski requesting that the Labor, Health and Education subcommittee hold a hearing on whether to allow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to fund a study of gun violence and "the annual appropriations rider that some have interpreted as preventing it" with taxpayer dollars.
40.
In January 2018, Claire McCaskill announced her support for a Senate bill intended to reverse the Federal Communications Commission's repeal of net neutrality; as she was the 30th Senator to support the bill, it was ensured that the bill would reach the floor of the Senate.
41.
In October 2017, Claire McCaskill was one of four Democrats who voted to confirm FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, who announced the plan to reverse net neutrality rules earlier that year.
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In explaining her vote, Claire McCaskill said that she disagreed with Pai on net neutrality but voted for Pai because "the president has a right to the chairman because he won the election".
43.
In June 2017, Claire McCaskill co-sponsored the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, Senate Bill 720, which made it a federal crime, punishable by a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment, for Americans to encourage or participate in internationally sponsored boycotts against Israel and Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories if protesting actions by the Israeli government.
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In July 2018, Claire McCaskill introduced legislation that would make it illegal to knowingly and intentionally spread false information about an election, such as false information about the time and place of voting, voter qualifications and registration status.
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On March 16,2011, Claire McCaskill told reporters that she was "embarrassed" about revelations that her office had used taxpayer money for the senator's use of a private airplane she co-owned with her husband and friends.
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Claire McCaskill noted that she had paid $38,800 in sales taxes on the plane, and she had only recently become aware that Missouri imposed a property tax on private aircraft.
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Claire McCaskill said she was "disappointed" in herself for not ensuring that Timesaver LLC paid the property taxes.
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Claire McCaskill had been a leading critic of Attorney General Jeff Sessions's meetings with Russian government officials in his capacity as United States senator and had called for Sessions's resignation on this account.
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Claire McCaskill said that the nature of her meetings with the Russian ambassador were different to his.
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Claire McCaskill was elected Missouri State Auditor in the 1998 Missouri State Auditor election and re-elected in the 2002 Missouri State Auditor election.
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On January 15,2019, Claire McCaskill joined NBC News and MSNBC as a political analyst.
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Claire McCaskill is featured as a regular guest on Deadline: White House and Morning Joe.
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Claire McCaskill makes frequent appearances on The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell and The 11th Hour with Brian Williams along with, MSNBC and NBC News Special Event Breaking News Coverage.
54.
In May 2021, Claire McCaskill was reportedly being considered for an ambassadorship in Europe under the Joe Biden administration.
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Claire McCaskill was married to David Exposito, with whom she had three children.
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The couple divorced in 1995, after 11 years of marriage, while Claire McCaskill was Jackson County Prosecutor.
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Claire McCaskill reigned as champion for four days, and later sold several of her prizes to pay off her student loan debt.
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Claire McCaskill maintains residences in Washington, DC and Kirkwood, a suburb of St Louis.
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Claire McCaskill joined Sheryl Sandberg's movement to encourage young women to be more assertive in professional interactions.
60.
On February 22,2016, Claire McCaskill announced that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.