Claire McCaskill
Candidate for Senate
Missouri
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Claire McCaskill has spent all of her life in Missouri. She was born in Rolla and raised in Houston, Missouri, where her father William worked at the McCaskill & Sons feed mill. The family later moved to Lebanon, hometown of her mother, Betty.
Claire attended Hickman High School in Columbia, where her mother became Columbia’s first woman city council member. She remained in Columbia after high school and graduated from University of Missouri undergraduate and law school and later clerked for the Missouri Court of Appeals in Kansas City.
Claire served in the Missouri House of Representatives from 1983 to 1988 where she was a leader on criminal justice issues, increasing sentences for repeat violent criminals and earning the Outstanding Legislator Award from the Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys in 1987.
Claire was the first woman ever to be elected Jackson County Prosecutor. During her term, she put more criminals behind bars than any other Missouri prosecutor; established a special Domestic Violence Unit to combat domestic violence and child abuse; was recognized nationally as a leader in the war on meth; and created one of AmericaÂ’s first Drug Courts.
As State Auditor, Claire revolutionized her office, turning it into a determined watchdog over taxpayers' money. She made state government more accountable to the people it serves, uncovering millions of dollars in wasteful spending and exposing inefficient government practices. Her audits uncovered education dollars wasted on bureaucracy rather than properly spent on classroom learning, and advocated ways to save millions in the Medicaid program designed to reduce the cost of medicine for everyday Missourians.
Claire is married to Joseph Shepard, a St. Louis businessman. Together they have a blended family of seven children and one grandchild: Benjamin, 30, Carl, 27, Marilyn, 25, Michael, 23, Austin, 18, Maddie, 16, Lily, 13, and Victoria, 1.
Claire is a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Jefferson City and St. Gerard Majella Catholic Church in St. Louis.
