Former member of Congress · last served 113th Congress
Jo Ann Emerson
Jo Emerson was a Republican U.S. representative from Missouri, first elected to Congress in 1997, who voted with most Republicans on 92% of the 112th Congress’s yes/no votes.
How we count: “Broke with party” is a yes/no roll call where the member voted against most of their own party on that vote (party as recorded; even splits not counted). “Pork: own share” splits each earmark shared by several members evenly among them.
5 most recent votes
- YeaOn Motion to Concur in the Senate Amendments — American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012Jan 1, 2013 · Passed
- YeaOn Agreeing to the Resolution — Providing for consideration of the Senate amendments to the bill (H.R. 8) to extend certain tax relief provisions enacted in 2001 and…Jan 1, 2013 · Passed
- YeaOn Motion to Suspend the Rules and Concur in the Senate Amendment — Drywall Safety Act of 2012Jan 1, 2013 · Passed
- YeaOn Motion to Suspend the Rules and Concur in the Senate Amendment — To provide for the conveyance of certain property from the United States to the Maniilaq Association located in Kotzebue, Alaska.Jan 1, 2013 · Passed
- YeaOn Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass — Congressional Pay Freeze and Fiscal Responsibility ActJan 1, 2013 · Passed
5 most recent bills
- H.R. 313 GSA Act of 2013Aug 1, 2013 · Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
- H.R. 315 Synthetic Cathinones Control Act of 2013Feb 28, 2013 · Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, And Investigations.
- H.J.Res. 19 Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States giving Congress power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States.Feb 28, 2013 · Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution And Civil Justice.
- H.J.Res. 18 Proposing an amendment to the Constitution to provide for a balanced budget for the United States Government and for greater accountability in the enactment…Feb 28, 2013 · Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution And Civil Justice.
- H.R. 314 Inspector General Improvement Act of 2013Jan 18, 2013 · Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Top bills sponsored
- H.R. 4037 (108th) To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 475 Kell Farm Drive in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, as the "Richard G. Wilson Processing…Became law
- H.R. 342 (110th) To designate the United States courthouse located at 555 Independence Street in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, as the "Rush Hudson Limbaugh, Sr. United States…Became law
- H.R. 5401 (109th) Lewis and Clark Commemorative Coin Correction ActBecame law
- H.R. 2474 (108th) To authorize the Congressional Hunger Center to award Bill Emerson and Mickey Leland Hunger Fellowships for fiscal years 2003 and 2004.Became law
- H.R. 4220 (110th) Federal Food Donation Act of 2007Passed a chamber
- H.R. 2434 (112th) Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2012Reported from committee
- H.R. 6020 (112th) Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2013Reported from committee
- H.R. 376 (109th) Medicare's Equitable Drugs for Seniors Act of 2005167 cosponsors
Laws first, then bills that passed a chamber, were reported from committee, or drew the most cosponsors.
Elections Rep. Emerson has won
Rep. Emerson has won 9 U.S. House elections (1996–2012). Of the contested races, margins ran from 13.2 to 47.4 points.
Full election history for this seat →
Source: MIT Election Data and Science Lab, U.S. House V15 / U.S. Senate V8 (CC0), retrieved 2026-10-18; winners matched to member records by seat and term. Results run through the 2024 elections; nothing from 2026 is shown until it is certified. A margin is a fact about one election, never a score of how well a member represents anyone, and PORKER does not rank members by it.
How has Missouri’s 8th district done while Rep. Emerson served?
2005 to 2011 in MO-8: typical household income was about the same after inflation, the share of people below the poverty line was about the same, and the share of workers looking for a job was up 1.7 points.
Each mini chart has its own scale, fitted to its lines (it does not start at zero), so compare the numbers, not the heights. Teal = district, oxblood = state, grey = U.S.
While they served, not because of them. This shows what happened in Missouri’s 8th district during Emerson’s time representing it (1997 to 2013). It does not say what the member did or caused. It is not a score, and PORKER never ranks members on it.
Only one set of district lines is shown. MO-8 was redrawn in 2012 and again in 2022, and a redrawn district is a different place. So this card shows only the longest stretch on the same lines during the term, 2005 to 2011 (no 2020 yearly estimate), not the full 1997 to 2013.
Official records on bills this member sponsored
113th Congress. What Congress.gov lists for the 5 bills sponsored.
| Record | Bills | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Bills sponsored | 5 | Source: Congress.gov member record, PORKER copy of October 26, 2026 ↗ See them → |
| With a sponsor’s constitutional-authority statement | 5 | See the 5 → |
| With a CBO cost estimate listed | 1 | See the 1 → |
| With a committee report listed | 0 | None listed |
Evidence
- How counted
- Bills where this member is the lead (first-listed) sponsor in the 113th Congress, read from the stored Congress.gov bill records
- Fields
- cboCostEstimates, committeeReports, constitutionalAuthorityStatementText, notes
- PORKER copy refreshed
- October 26, 2026 (nightly)
Read this first. These are counts of records Congress.gov lists. Many bills never get a CBO estimate or a report, so a zero is not a mark against a member. We never show this as a score.
Data as of Oct 26, 2026 · latest recorded House vote Sep 16, 2026 · Sources: Congress.gov, Senate.gov, House Clerk, Appropriations Committee earmark tables. PORKER is non-partisan.