Category: U.S. Senator / page 2

Catherine Cortez Masto
Catherine Cortez Masto


Catherine Cortez Masto assumed office as a U.S. senator from Nevada in January 2017. She is the first woman to represent Nevada in the U.S. Senate and the first Latina senator in U.S. history. Cortez Masto was born on March 29, 1964, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Cortez Masto earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in finance from the University of Nevada in 1986 and a J.D. from Gonzaga University School of Law in 1990. Cortez Masto served as attorney general of Nevada from 2007 to 2015, and was […]
Elizabeth Dole
Elizabeth Dole


Elizabeth Dole served as a U.S. senator for North Carolina from 2003 to 2009, as U.S. secretary of labor under President George H.W. Bush, and as U.S. secretary of transportation under President Reagan. Dole was born in Salisbury, North Carolina, on July 29, 1936. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Duke University in 1958, a Master of Arts degree in education and government from Harvard University in 1960 and a Harvard law degree in 1965. From 1969 to 1973, Dole served as deputy assistant to […]
Tammy Duckworth
Tammy Duckworth


Tammy Duckworth assumed office in the U.S. Senate for the state of Illinois in January 2017. She is the first female military veteran elected to the Senate as a Democrat, joining Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA). In 2018, Duckworth became the first senator to give birth while serving in office. Prior to being elected senator, Duckworth served in the U.S. House of Representatives for Illinois' 8th District from 2013 to 2017. She was the first woman with a disability elected to Congress and the first member of Congress born in Thailand. […]
Joni Ernst
Joni Ernst


Joni Ernst assumed office in the U.S. Senate in 2015, the first woman from Iowa elected to either house of Congress and the Senate's first female combat veteran. Ernst was born on July 1, 1970, in Red Oak, Iowa. She earned a bachelor's degree from Iowa State University in 1992 and has a master's degree from Columbus College (now Columbus State University) in 1995. Ernst served a combined 23 years with the United States Army Reserve and the Iowa Army National Guard, attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel. From 2003 […]
Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Feinstein


Dianne Feinstein served as a United States senator from California from November 1992 to September 2023, the first woman senator from that state. On Feb. 14, 2023, she announced that she would not run for re-election in 2024, but passed away before finishing her term. Feinstein was born in San Francisco, California, on June 22, 1933. She graduated from Stanford University in 1955. Feinstein was a member of the California Women's Board of Terms and Parole from 1960-1966. She served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from 1970-1978 and […]
Rebecca L Felton
Rebecca L Felton


Rebecca Latimer Felton, a prominent suffragist and temperance advocate but also a white supremacist and an advocate of segregation and lynching, was the first woman to serve in the United States Senate, as a senator for Georgia. Appointed to fill a vacancy, she served only 24 hours. Felton was born on June 10, 1835, in De Kalb County, Georgia. She graduated from Madison Female College in 1852. In 1953, she married William H. Felton, a state legislator, physician, Methodist minister and planter. She began her political career as his campaign […]
Deb Fischer
Deb Fischer


Deb Fischer assumed office as a U.S. senator from Nebraska in January 2013, the third female senator from Nebraska and the first elected to a full term. Born March 1, 1951 in Lincoln, Nebraska, Fischer attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and graduated with a B.S. in education in 1988. Fischer served on the Valentine Rural High School Board of Education from 1990-2004, as president of the Nebraska Association of School Boards and as a commissioner on the Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Post-Secondary Education from 2000-2004. In 2004, Fischer was elected […]
Kirsten E Gillibrand
Kirsten E Gillibrand


Kirsten Gillibrand assumed office as a United States senator from New York in January 2009, after being appointed to fill the seat vacated by Senator Hillary Clinton when she became U.S. secretary of state for the Obama Administration. Gillibrand won a special election in 2010, and full terms since. In March 2019, she announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States, but withdrew from the race in August 2019. Gillibrand was born December 9, 1966, near Albany, NY. She graduated from Dartmouth College with a […]
Kay Hagan
Kay Hagan


Kay Hagan served in the U.S. Senate representing North Carolina from 2009 to 2015. Hagan was born on May 26, 1953, in Shelby, North Carolina. After the family moved to Lakeland, Florida, her father later served as the mayor of Lakeland. Hagan's mother was the sister of Lawton M. Chiles, Jr., who represented Florida in the U.S. Senate from 1971 to 1989 and served as the state’s governor from 1991-1998. Hagan earned a B.A. in American Studies from Florida State University in 1975 and a J.D. from Wake Forest University […]
Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris


Kamala D. Harris assumed office as vice president of the United States on Jan. 20, 2021, the first woman to serve in that office. Following President Joe Biden's withdrawal from the 2024 re-election campaign on July 21, 2024, Harris announced her candidacy for president. On August 2, she announced that she had secured enough votes from Democratic Party delegates to win the party’s nomination. Harris was the first Indian American to serve as a U.S. senator and only the second Black female in the U.S. Senate. In January 2019, she […]