Category: State Senator / page 4

Pam Jochum
Pam Jochum


Pam Jochum is among the top ranking senators currently serving in the Iowa state Legislature. She is a member of the Democratic Party and represents the people of Dubuque. Jochum was first elected to the Iowa Senate in 2008 and was re-elected to her second term in 2012 after serving in the Iowa House of Representatives from 1993-2009. Before serving as a state legislator, Jochum earned her associate’s and bachelor’s degrees in speech communication from Loras College in Dubuque. Prior to being elected, she worked at Loras College in a […]
Eddie Bernice Johnson
Eddie Bernice Johnson


Eddie Bernice Johnson represented the 30th congressional district of Texas in the United States House of Representatives from 1993 until her retirement from the House in 2023. In 2021, Johnson became the first African American and first female ranking member of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. She was also the first nurse elected to Congress. Johnson was born December 3, 1935, in Waco, Texas. She received a nursing certificate from St. Mary's College at the University of Notre Dame, her bachelor's degree in nursing at Texas Christian […]
Barbara Jordan
Barbara Jordan


Barbara Jordan represented the 18th District of Texas in the United States House of Representatives from 1973 to 1979. Jordan is remembered for her eloquent opening remarks on the impeachment against President Richard Nixon for crimes associated with the Watergate scandal in 1974, as well as being the first woman and first African American keynote speaker at a Democratic National Convention in 1976. Jordan was born on February 21, 1936 in Houston, Texas. She completed a Bachelor of Arts at Texas Southern University in 1956 and graduated with a law […]
Patty Judge
Patty Judge


Patty Judge served as Iowa's lieutenant governor from 2007 to 2011. She was the 2016 Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate from Iowa, but lost to incumbent Senator Charles Grassley. Judge was born November 2, 1943, in Fort Madison, Iowa. She earned her Registered Nursing degree from Iowa Methodist School of Nursing; she also attended the University of Iowa. She earned her real estate broker's license and set up a small business specializing in selling and appraising farms. In the 1980’s, she served as a mediator for the Iowa Farmer Creditor […]
Laura Kelly
Laura Kelly


Laura Kelly assumed office as governor of Kansas on Jan. 14, 2019. Kelly was born January 24, 1950, in New York City. She earned a Bachelor of Science in psychology at Bradley University and a Master of Science in therapeutic recreation at Indiana University. Before entering politics, Kelly worked as a recreation therapist and as a director of recreation therapy and physical education. She was the executive director of the Kansas Recreation and Park Association from 1988-2004. Kelly served in the Kansas Senate from 2005-2019. Sources: Ballotpedia (n.d.). Laura Kelly […]
Molly Kelly
Molly Kelly


Molly Kelly is an attorney and former state legislator in New Hampshire. She ran unsuccessfully for governor of New Hampshire in 2018. Kelly was born on September 15, 1949, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She earned her Associate of Arts in mental health technology from Purdue University, her Bachelor of Arts from Keene State College in 1983, and her Juris Doctor from The University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce Law Center in 1985. Kelly served in the New Hampshire Senate from 2006 to 2016. In addition to her service in the […]
Mary Kramer
Mary E Kramer


Mary E. Kramer served as U.S. ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean from 2004 to 2006. Prior to serving as ambassador, Kramer served in the Iowa state Senate from 1990 to 2003. She was elected president of the Senate in 1997, becoming the first independently elected woman to fill the post. Kramer was born June 14, 1935, in Burlington, Iowa, and grew up in Iowa City. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in piano performance and a Master of Arts in education, both from the University of Iowa. For […]
Barbara Lee
Barbara Lee


Barbara Lee assumed office in April 1998 through a special election, representing California's 9th District in the United States House of Representatives. Following redistricting, Lee was elected to represent District 13 in 2012 and then District 12 in 2022. On Feb. 21, 2023, Lee announced that she was running for the U.S. Senate seat held by Dianne Feinstein, who was to retire at the end of her term but subsequently passed away before the term ended. Lee came in fourth in California's top-two open primary system, behind fellow Democrats and […]
Lourdes "Lou" Leon Guerrero
Lourdes "Lou" Leon Guerrero


Lourdes "Lou" Leon Guerrero assumed office as governor of Guam on Jan. 7, 2019, Guam's first female governor and the first Pacific Islander woman to serve as a state or territorial governor in the United States. Leon Guerrero was born in Guam. She earned a Bachelor of Science in nursing from California State University, Los Angeles in 1973 and a Master of Public Health from UCLA in 1979. Prior to her political career, Leon Guerrero worked in healthcare as a nurse, nursing director and director of operations, and then served […]
Debra “Debbie” Lesko
Debra "Debbie" Lesko


Debra "Debbie" Lesko assumed office as U.S. representative for Arizona's 8th Congressional District on May 7, 2018, after winning a special election to replace Trent Franks, who resigned on Feb. 27, 2018. She won re-election to the seat in the 2018 midterm elections. Lesko was born on Nov. 14, 1958, in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. She received a Bachelor of Arts in business from the University of Wisconsin. She moved to Arizona in the 1980s and owned a construction sales business. Lesko previously served as a member of the Arizona Senate from […]