Kilpatrick, Carolyn Cheeks, 1945-

Carolyn Jean Cheeks Kilpatrick (born June 25, 1945) is a former American politician who was U.S. Representative for Michigan's 13th congressional district from 1997 to 2011. She is a member of the Democratic Party. In August 2010 she lost the Democratic primary election to Hansen Clarke, who replaced her in January 2011 after winning the 2010 general election. Kilpatrick is also the mother of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

Born Carolyn Jean Cheeks in Detroit, she graduated from Detroit High School of Commerce. She then attended Ferris State University in Big Rapids from 1968-70 and earned a B.S. from Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo) in 1972. She earned a M.S. from the University of Michigan in 1977. She worked as a high school teacher and was later a member of the Michigan House of Representatives from 1979-96.

In 1996, Kilpatrick challenged three-term incumbent Barbara-Rose Collins in the 1996 Democratic primary for what was then the 15th District. She defeated Collins by a shocking margin, taking 51.6 percent of the vote to Collins' 30.6 percent. This was tantamount to election in this heavily Democratic, black-majority district. She was reelected six times, never dropping below 80 percent of the vote. Her district was renumbered as the 13th District after the 2000 Census. She faced no major-party opposition in 2004 and was completely unopposed in 2006.

Plagued by the controversy surrounding her son and his involvement in a text messaging sex scandal, Kilpatrick faced her first serious challenge in 2008, ultimately triumphing but held to under 40 percent of the vote in the August primary election. In 2010, she was again challenged in the Democratic primary with opposition coalescing around State Senator Hansen Clarke, who would defeat Kilpatrick in the primary by a six and a half point margin.