Horn, Joan Kelly, 1936-

Joan Kelly Horn (born October 18, 1936) is an American teacher, political consultant, and politician from Missouri. A member of the Democratic Party, she served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Missouri's 2nd congressional district from 1991 to 1993.

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, she attended public schools there before moving on to Saint Louis University, completing three semesters. She left school in 1956 to marry and worked part-time as a Montessori teacher while raising her family. She later resumed her education, earning a BA and an MA in political science from the University of Missouri at St. Louis, in 1973 and 1975, respectively. In 1987 Horn married her second husband, E. Terrence Jones, a dean at the University of Missouri at St. Louis. The couple divorced in 1999.

Upon the completion of her academic studies, Horn worked on a variety of local projects encompassing education, conservation, and community development. She also was active in the local Democratic Party and led both the Missouri Women’s Political Caucus and the Freedom of Choice Council. In 1987 Horn became committeewoman in Clayton Township, Missouri. She also served as a political consultant in a firm she operated with her husband.

She was elected to Congress in 1990, upsetting incumbent Republican Jack Buechner by 54 votes in a district that included most of St. Louis' western suburbs, such as Florissant, St. Charles, and Town and Country. Earlier in 1990, the Democratic-controlled Missouri state legislature approved a new congressional district map that was intended to preserve heavy Democratic majorities in the two districts that included St. Louis itself — the 1st, represented by Democrat Bill Clay and the 3rd, represented by then-House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt. In the process, the legislature shifted most of the heavily Democratic areas of the 2nd to the 1st and 3rd. Though Horn asked for the map to be withdrawn, she was turned down by Clay and Gephardt. In November 1992, Horn was narrowly defeated by Republican State House Minority Leader Jim Talent.

After leaving Congress, Horn served in the Department of Commerce and resumed her local service commitment as director of the St. Louis community development agency. In 1996 she attempted a political comeback when she announced her candidacy for her old district. Declaring herself “the voice of moderation,” she defeated her four opponents in the Democratic primary but lost once again to Talent in the general election, garnering just 37 percent of the vote.