Life and Political Career
Carson was born in Louisville, Kentucky. The daughter of Velma V. Porter, she moved to Indianapolis while still a girl and worked in various positions to support her family. She graduated from Crispus Attucks High School in 1955 in Indianapolis. She then attended Martin University in Indianapolis and Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis. She was a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.
In 1965, while working as a secretary at UAW Local 550, she was hired away by newly elected congressman Andrew Jacobs to do casework in his Indianapolis office. When his own electoral prospects looked dim in 1972, he encouraged Carson to run for the Indiana House of Representatives, which she did; she was elected in 1972, serving as a member for four years. In 1976, she successfully ran for the Indiana Senate, where she served for 14 years.
In 1990 she was elected as a trustee for Center Township (downtown Indianapolis), and was responsible for running welfare in central Indianapolis. Carson served six years as a trustee, creating a $6 million surplus from the office's $20 million debt. Jacobs has said Carson "not only took cheats off the welfare rolls, she sued them to get the money". When Jacobs retired in 1996, Carson ran as his replacement in what was then the 10th District, and won Democratic endorsement despite being heavily outspent by party chairman Ann DeLaney, 49 percent to 31 percent.
In the general election she faced Republican Virginia Blankenbaker, a state senator and stockbroker who, like Carson, was a grandmother with liberal views on abortion and the death penalty. Each raised a similar sum of money, but Carson won 53 percent that November.
Read more about this topic: Julia Carson
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