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BACKGROUND Brad Rogers Carson (born March 11 1967 ) is an American Lawyer and Politician . Carson's father worked for the Bureau Of Indian Affairs and the family moved around Reservation s in Nevada , Arizona , North Carolina and Kansas . Carson was a top student at Jenks High School and won a National Merit Scholarship to attend Baylor University , where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa . He went on to become the first student at Baylor to be awarded a Rhodes Scholarship in 75 years. As a Rhodes Scholar , Carson went to the University Of Oxford and earned a Master's Degree in Politics, Philosophy And Economics . He later attended the Univeristy Of Oklahoma Law School , graduating at the top of his class in 1994 . After graduation, Carson took a job at a prestigious Oklahoma law firm, Crowe & Dunlevy. In 1996 , his firm was awarded the Exceptional Contribution to Legal Services Award by Legal Services of Eastern Oklahoma. ELECTION TO CONGRESS In 1997 Carson was selected as a White House Fellow , where he was assigned to The Pentagon as a Special Assistant to the Secretary Of Defense . An enrolled tribal member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, he was elected, as a Democrat , to the United States House Of Representatives in 2000 from Oklahoma representing the 2nd Congressional District of Oklahoma winning 55% of the vote. THE 2004 U.S. SENATE RACE In 2004 , Carson decided to seek the open U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Republican Don Nickles . Although he easily won the Democratic nomination, he faced a tough general election contest with former Republican congressman Tom Coburn . Although Carson described himself as a Conservative Democrat, he was viewed by many as more moderate than his Republican opponent. This race was considered one of a handful of Competitive Races for the U.S. Senate in 2004. According to some accounts, The Cherokee Nation attempted to assist Carson in his race for Senate by releasing information that they claimed to demonstrate that Coburn was racist. This move was controversial even among Cherokee Nation tribal members. The " Smear Campaign " did not work, however, and Coburn defeated Carson in the November general election. By many accounts, the 2004 U.S. Senate campaign between Carson and Coburn was one of the most Partisan races of that year. Coburn and Carson both presented themselves as supporting the traditional definition of marriage as "a union of one man and one woman." Carson also attempted to distance himself from the "liberal" label by appearing in a commercial, sitting with his wife at the kitchen table, and describing how awful he thinks being considered "liberal" is. POST-CONGRESSIONAL WORK Defeated by Coburn and unable to seek re-election to the House, Carson's term in the United States Congress expired on January 3 , 2005 (Carson was succeeded by Democratic Representative Dan Boren of Seminole, Oklahoma ). Carson indicated that he had no immediate plans to seek political office. In January, 2005 , he accepted a semester-long teaching fellowship specializing in U.S. Politics at Harvard University . He now works for the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma in Catoosa, Oklahoma . |
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