Jean Carnahan's husband Mel had been running against the then-incumbent Senator from Missouri, John Ashcroft. Several weeks before election day, Mel Carnahan was killed in a plane crash (along with his son Randy Carnahan and Chris Sifford, a campaign advisor), but his name could not be removed from the ballot due to Missouri election law. Jean Carnahan announced that if he won, she would take his seat until a special election could be held in 2002. She was appointed by the new governor of Missouri in 2001.
In 2002, a special election for the seat was held, as the law requires. Carnahan tried to win the seat in her own right, but failed to do so; she was defeated by James Talent, a Republican, who currently holds the seat.
Except for her stint in the Senate, Carnahan has never held public office.