Emma Kerr-Carpenter is an American politician serving as a member of the

Montana Senate The Montana State Senate is the upper house of the Montana Legislature, the state legislative branch of the U.S. state of Montana. The body is composed of 50 senators elected for four years. Half of the Senate is up for election every two years. ...

from the 23rd district. She was appointed in December 2024 to succeed Kathy Kelker in the 24th district before a successor came in January 2025. She previously served in the

Montana House of Representatives The Montana House of Representatives is, with the Montana Senate, one of the two houses of the Montana Legislature. Composed of 100 members, the House elects its leadership every two years. Composition of the House In the event that the parti ...

, representing the 49th district following her appointment on July 10, 2018 to succeed Kelly McCarthy.

Early life and education

Kerr-Carpenter was born in

Watertown, New York Watertown is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, New York, United States. It is approximately south of the Thousand Islands, along the Black River, about east of where it flows into Lake Ontario. The city is bordered by the t ...

. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in international relations and religion from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

Career

After graduating from college, Kerr-Carpenter taught English in

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte is the List of largest cities in Brazil, sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population of around 2.3 million, and the third largest metropolitan area, containing a population of 6 million. It is the List of cities in Sout ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. She then relocated to

Billings, Montana Billings is the most populous Lists of populated places in the United States, city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, i ...

, where she became a family support specialist for the Family Support Network. She joined Youth Dynamics of Montana in 2015 as a youth case manager and has since worked as the organization's marketing and education coordinator. In 2018, when incumbent representative Kelly McCarthy announced that he was moving to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, Kerr-Carpenter was appointed to fill his vacant seat in the

. She won a full term in November 2018 and was re-elected in 2020.

Personal life

Kerr-Carpenter lives in

with her husband, Dan.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kerr-Carpenter, Emma Politicians from Watertown, New York Boston University alumni Women state legislators in Montana Democratic Party members of the Montana House of Representatives Politicians from Billings, Montana 21st-century American women politicians Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century members of the Montana Legislature