Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick Loses Seat Amid Son Kwame's Scandals

Sexy text messages, perjury charges and a Detroit political career mired in corruption brought Democratic Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick's distinguished congressional career to an end Tuesday night -- and she had only her son to blame.

That son -- former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick -- is serving five years in prison for violating the terms of his 2009 probation. He originally went to jail for perjury and corruption related to a sex and text-message scandal between him and his chief of staff in the mayor's office. He was sent back to prison in 2010 on additional perjury charges.

Although Represenative Kilpatrick's 14 years in Congress were scandal-free, and she eventually nabbed a spot on the powerful Appropriations Committee, a poll just before Tuesday's primary showed that 44 percent of voters planned to choose someone other than the incumbent because of the mess surrounding the former mayor.

The congresswoman also faced her toughest opponent ever Tuesday night in Hansen Clarke, an Ivy League-educated Michigan state senator with a compelling personal story and a slogan telling voters "It's Time for a Change."

Clarke soundly defeated Kilpatrick, by 47 percent to 41 percent.

Clarke is the son of a Bangladeshi immigrant father and African-American mother, who raised him on her own when his father died. Clarke's mother worked as a school crossing guard to pay the bills and turned to food stamps as she struggled to raise him on her own.

He later won a scholarship to Cornell University, where he finished with a bachelor's degree in fine arts and painting, and went on to study law at Georgetown.

After working in politics for several years, Clarke ran for the Michigan state House. He went on to the state Senate then set his sights on Kilpatrick's congressional seat.

Despite a 5-to-1 fundraising disadvantage and no money for television ads, Clarke ran an aggressive campaign. He barnstormed the district, giving voters a locally focused platform of job training, stabilizing home values, and reining in the cost of health care.

"This election is a lot bigger than me and the incumbent," Clarke told supporters at his victory party Tuesday night.

In a local television interview Wednesday morning, he added, "I know that the voters are tired of the political system in Detroit, and that's what's being overthrown right now. It's not just the Kilpatrick family."

Representative Kilpatrick rarely spoke about her son publicly, and offered few words Tuesday night when it became clear she had lost the primary. "We did not win the election," she said. "There were six candidates in this race. Unfortunately they made it two, and that's OK."

If Clarke wins the November general election in the heavily Democratic district, he would not only have ended the Kilpatrick family political dynasty, he would also become the first Bangladeshi-American to serve in Congress. He will face Republican John Hauller of Grosse Pointe in the November election.