Bill Emerson; Congressman From Missouri Was Seeking Reelection

Rep. Bill Emerson, a Missouri Republican who was running for reelection while battling inoperable lung cancer, has died at age 58.

Emerson, a senior member of the House Agriculture Committee, died Saturday at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in suburban Maryland, where he had been hospitalized for observation Monday with a respiratory infection stemming from his ongoing cancer treatment. But there had been no indication that he was in imminent danger.

“I am resting comfortably and following doctors’ orders,” Emerson said in a written statement issued Thursday night, the first public acknowledgment of his hospitalization.

Emerson was a pack-a-day cigarette smoker when he was diagnosed in November as having inoperable lung cancer. He had been undergoing alternating chemotherapy and radiation treatments. His wife and family were with him when he died.

Emerson was running for reelection to a ninth term in southeast Missouri, even though it was nearly impossible for him to return home. But the eight-term Republican had expressed pride at not missing a single vote earlier this year, despite having to nap on couches in the House cloakroom occasionally during late-night debate.

“I have not faltered. I expect I’m going to continue doing the job,” Emerson had said recently. But of late he had to use a wheelchair and was often seen using an oxygen mask as he arrived to vote on the House floor.

Had he been reelected and the GOP held its majority in the House, Emerson would have been in line to become the next chairman of the Agriculture Committee.