INDIANAPOLIS- U.S. Rep. Julia Carson died Saturday following a battle with lung cancer.\nCarson, D-Ind., died at home, said family spokesman Vanessa Summers. She was 69.\nCarson had been away from Washington since she was admitted to an Indianapolis hospital September 21 for about a week. Her office had said at that time that she had deep infection in her leg, near a spot where a vein was removed in January 1997 when she underwent double heart bypass surgery just weeks after she was first elected to Congress.\nCarson announced Nov. 26 that she was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and that she would not run next year for a seventh term representing the city of Indianapolis.\nShe had said in a statement that she expected to return to Washington after recuperation, but a doctor then diagnosed her with lung cancer.\n"It had gone into remission years before, but it was back with a terminal vengeance," Carson said in the statement.\nFuneral arrangements were pending.\nCarson also had suffered in recent years from high blood pressure, asthma and diabetes. She missed dozens of House votes in 2004 because of illness and spent the weekend before the 2004 election in the hospital for what she said was a flu shot reaction — but still won re-election by 10 percentage points.\nCarson, who grew up in poverty and attended an all-black Indianapolis high school, became the first black and first woman to represent Indianapolis in Congress when she won her first term in 1996.\nCarson was born to a single mother who worked as a housekeeper. She graduated in 1955 from Crispus Attucks High School, attending the segregated school at the same time as basketball star Oscar Robertson.\nShe began her political career in the 1960s, when then-U.S. Rep. Andy Jacobs Jr. hired the United Auto Workers secretary to work in his office. It was Jacobs who encouraged Carson to run for the Indiana Legislature in 1972 — the first of her more than two dozen victories in local, legislative and congressional elections.\nShe ran for Congress in 1996 when Jacobs decided to retire after three decades in the House.
Politicians remember Carson:\n"We are deeply saddened at the loss of any member of our Indianapolis community, especially one whom we have known for so long as Julia Carson. On behalf of Marion County Republicans, I offer our condolences to Congresswoman Carson's family; we are keeping them in our thoughts and prayers."\n-Tom John, chairman, Marion County Republican Central Committee, in a statement released Dec. 15\n"I am deeply saddened by the passing of Congresswoman Julia Carson. She was an example for all of us: a true Horatio Alger story. From the simplest of beginnings, she became a legendary figure in Indiana politics. The deep love she held for her constituents and her advocacy on their behalf, particularly the least fortunate among us, will be her lasting legacy for the people of Indianapolis."\n-Murray Clark, Republican Party chairman, in a statement released Dec. 15\n"The citizens of Indianapolis have lost a true friend with the passing of Congresswoman Julia Carson, and I extend my deepest and most heartfelt sympathies to her family, friends and supporters. Congresswoman Carson made sure her voice was heard even when others' were silenced. May God grant her everlasting peace."\n-Greg Ballard, Indianapolis mayor-elect, in a statement released Dec. 15
