Although Jo Ann Emerson had never held elected office before succeeding her late husband, Representative Norvell William (Bill) Emerson, her upbringing and work and life experience suited her to the task. Within a short period, Emerson established herself as one of the Republican Party’s leading Members. “I never sought this job. Fate put me here,” she said. “So, I want to take the skills that I have, whether it’s coalition building or strategy or being able to solve problems, and put them to work. I’m very locally oriented. I want to get things done for the folks back home.”

Jo Ann Emerson was born Jo Ann Hermann in Bethesda, Maryland, on September 16, 1950, the daughter of Ab Hermann, a former professional baseball player and executive director of the Republican National Committee, and Sylvia Hermann. Emerson grew up near Washington and was initiated into politics at an early age. Thomas Hale Boggs Sr., the Louisiana Democrat who eventually became House Majority Leader, was a neighbor, and the families socialized often. After graduating in 1968 from Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Emerson earned a BA in political science from Ohio Wesleyan University four years later and pursued a career in public affairs as a lobbyist. In 1975 she married lobbyist and Missouri native Bill Emerson, and the couple raised two daughters: Victoria and Katharine. In 1980 Bill Emerson defeated an incumbent Democrat from a district representing the sprawling agricultural and mining region in rural southeast Missouri to win a seat in the United States House of Representatives. Jo Ann Emerson worked as a deputy communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee in the early 1980s.

Shortly before his death from lung cancer in June 1996, Bill Emerson asked Jo Ann to consider running for his seat, a request repeated by his staff and constituents. She agreed. Under the slogan “Putting People First,” Emerson touted her conservative platform and her ability to build consensus. She said that she planned to make the seat “a living memorial to Bill.” For guidance, Emerson looked to family friend Corinne Claiborne (Lindy) Boggs of Louisiana, who had served with distinction in the U.S. House for nearly two decades after succeeding her husband in 1973, when he was killed in an airplane crash. Two elections were scheduled for the same day the following November: a special election to complete the last two months of the 104th Congress (1995–1997) and an election to a full term in the succeeding Congress. Emerson received the Republican nomination for the unexpired term, but for the general election, Missouri election officials ruled that she was ineligible to run as a Republican. Richard Kline, who had already filed in the GOP primary against Bill Emerson, took the Republican slot on the general election ballot. Accordingly, Jo Ann Emerson formally entered general contest race as an Independent, though always affiliating herself with Republicans. Emerson won the special election with 63 percent of the vote and simultaneously won the full term with 51 percent. In each of her eight re-elections, Emerson was returned to office without difficulty, consistently capturing about 70 percent of the vote. In January 2000, Emerson married St. Louis labor lawyer Ron Gladney. Emerson has six stepchildren, two with Bill Emerson and four with Gladney.

Jo Ann Emerson (born September 16, 1950) is an American politician who was the U.S. Representative for Missouri's 8th congressional district from 1996 to 2013. The district consists of Southeast and South Central Missouri and includes the Bootheel, the Lead Belt and the Ozarks. Emerson is a member of the Republican Party. On January 22, 2013, Emerson resigned her seat in Congress to become the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. She served as CEO until August 2015.

With the defeat of Congressman Ike Skelton, Emerson became the dean, i.e., the longest-serving member, of Missouri's congressional delegation in 2011.

She was born Jo Ann Hermann in Bethesda, Maryland. She was a daughter of Albert "A.B." Hermann, who played for the Boston Braves baseball team from 1923–1924 and was executive director of the Republican National Committee. She graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University.