Category: State Senator / page 8

Jackie Speier
Jackie Speier


Jackie Speier served in the U.S. House of Representatives for California from 2008 until her retirement in 2023. Speier was born May 14, 1950, in San Francisco, California. She received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of California-Davis in 1972 and her Juris Doctorate from the University of California Hastings School of Law in 1976. From 1973 to 1978, Speier worked as a staff member for California Representative Leo Joseph Ryan. In 1978, she was part of Ryan's fact-finding mission investigating allegations of human rights abuses by Jim Jones […]
Debbie Stabenow
Debbie A Stabenow


Debbie Stabenow assumed office as a Michigan United States senator in January 2001, the first woman to represent the state in the U.S. Senate. On Jan. 5, 2023, Stabenow announced that she would not seek reelection in 2024. Stabenow was born April 29, 1950, in Gladwin, Michigan. She completed her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Social Work degrees from Michigan State University in 1972 and 1975, respectively. Before entering politics, Stabenow worked with youth in the public schools. Stabenow served as Ingham County commissioner from 1975-1978. She served in […]
Jane Swift
Jane Swift


Jane Swift was the acting governor of Massachusetts from 2001-2003, while also serving as lieutenant governor. She was the youngest female governor or acting governor in U.S. history. Swift was born in North Adams, Massachusetts, on February 24, 1965. In 1987, she graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, with a bachelor's degree in American studies. Swift began her political career at age 25 when she was elected to the Massachusetts Senate, serving from 1991-1997. In 1996, she was the Republican nominee for U.S. Congress in Massachusetts' 1st congressional district […]
Dina Titus
Dina Titus


Alice Costandina "Dina" Titus served Nevada's 3rd Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives from 2009 to 2011. In 2012, she was elected as the U.S. Representative for Nevada's 1st District. Titus was born May 23, 1950, in Thomasville, Georgia. She received her bachelor's degree from the College of William & Mary, a master's degree from the University of Georgia, and a doctorate from Florida State University. Following graduation from Florida State University, Titus taught at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas from 1979 until her retirement with […]
Norma Torres
Norma Torres


Norma J. Torres assumed office in the U.S. House of Representatives in California's 35th District in January 2015. Torres was born April 4, 1965, in Guatemala and immigrated to the United States when she was five years old. She received her bachelor's degree in labor studies from the National Labor College in Silver Springs, Maryland. Torres worked as a 911 dispatcher from 1990 to 2008. In 1994 she led a campaign to require the hiring of bilingual 911 operators. She was an active member of AFSCME and Local #3090's of […]
Kelly Tshibaka
Kelly Tshibaka


Kelly Tshibaka ran for election to the U.S. Senate for the state of Alaska in 2022, losing in the general election. She was born in Alaska and grew up in Wasilla and Anchorage Alaska. She earned a bachelor's degree from Texas A&M and would go on to study and graduate with a law degree from Harvard University. She has served as commissioner of the Department of Administration of the state of Alaska, Special Assistant to the Department of Justice’s Inspector general, The assistant inspector general and chief data officer at […]
Caryn Tyson
Caryn Tyson


Caryn Tyson is a member of the Kansas State Senate. In 2018, she was a candidate to represent Kansas’ 2nd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, losing in the primary. Tyson was born in Parker, Kansas, on February 15, 1963. She earned two Bachelor of Science degrees (mathematics and computer science) from Kansas State University before completing a Master of Science in engineering management from the University of Kansas. Before her time in the public sphere, she worked in the IT field for over 24 years, including space […]
Leah Vukmir
Leah Vukmir


Leah Vukmir served in the Wisconsin Senate from 2011 to 2019 and in the Wisconsin State Assembly from 2002 to 2011. Vukmir was the Republican nominee in the 2018 U.S. Senate election in Wisconsin, running unsuccessfully against incumbent Senator Tammy Baldwin. Vukmir was born on April 26, 1958, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She received a Bachelor of Science in nursing from Marquette University and a Master of Science in nursing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before entering politics, she was a pediatric nurse practitioner.
Mimi Walters
Mimi Walters


Marian "Mimi" Walters served in the U.S. House of Representatives for California's 45th Congressional District from 2015 to 2019. Walters was born on May 14, 1962 in Pasadena, California. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1984. She began her career as a stockbroker. From 1996 to 2000, Walters was councilwoman and from 2000 to 2004 she was mayor of Laguna Niguel. She then served in the California State Assembly from 2004 to 2008. From 2008 to 2015, Walters served […]
Kelli Ward
Kelli Ward


Kelli Ward represented Arizona's District 5 in the Arizona Senate from January 2013 to December 2015. She ran for the U.S. Senate in Arizona in the 2016 Republican primary, but lost in the primary to incumbent Senator John McCain. She also ran for the U.S. Senate in 2018 to fill retiring Sen. Jeff Flake's seat, but again lost in the primary. Ward was born January 25, 1969, in Fairmont, West Virginia. She earned her Bachelor of Science in psychology from Duke University, her Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from West Virginia […]