Category: U.S. Senator / page 4

Martha McSally
Martha McSally


Martha McSally was appointed to the U.S. Senate for Arizona on Jan. 3, 2019, to finish the term of the late Senator John McCain, who passed away on August 25, 2018. McCain's first appointed successor, retired Senator Jon Kyl, served only until the end of that Congress. McSally was the 2020 Republican nominee for the seat, losing in the general election. McSally was born on March 22, 1966, in Warwick, Rhode Island. She graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 1988, earned a master's degree in public policy […]
Barbara Mikulski
Barbara Mikulski


Barbara Mikulski served as Maryland's United States senator from 1986-2017. Mikulski was the first Democrat woman senator elected in her own right. She was also the first woman to chair the Senate Committee on Appropriations. In 2011 Mikulski became the longest-serving female senator and in 2012, the longest-serving woman in Congress. Mikulski was born July 20, 1936, in Baltimore, Maryland. She received her Bachelor of Arts in sociology in 1958 from Mount Saint Agnes College (now part of Loyola University Maryland) and her master's degree in social work from the […]
Lisa Murkowski
Lisa Murkowski


Lisa Murkowski has served in the U.S. Senate for Alaska since 2002. Murkowski was the first elected Alaska-born senator and first woman to represent Alaska in the Senate. Murkowski was born May 22, 1957, in Ketchikan, Alaska. Her father is former U.S. senator and governor of Alaska Frank Murkowski. She graduated from Georgetown University in 1980 with a Bachelor of Arts in economics and from Willamette University in 1985 with a Juris Doctor. Prior to her political career, Murkowski was an Anchorage District Court attorney from 1987-1989 and a private […]
Patty Murray
Patty Murray


Patty Murray assumed office as Washington's United States senator in January 1993, becoming the state's first female senator. Murray was also the first female chair of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee and the first female chair of the Senate Budget Committee. On Jan. 3, 2023, Murray became the first woman to be elected Senate president pro tempore, placing her third in the line of presidential succession. Murray was born October 11, 1950, in Bothell, Washington. She graduated from Washington State University in 1972 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in […]
Jacklyn "Jacky" Rosen
Jacklyn "Jacky" Rosen


Jacklyn "Jacky" Rosen assumed office in the U.S. Senate on Jan. 3, 2019. Previously, Rosen served in the U.S. House of Representatives for Nevada's 3rd congressional district from 2017 to 2019. Rosen was born on August 2, 1957 in Chicago, Illinois. She graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in psychology in 1979. She also received an associate’s degree in computing and information technology in 1985 from Clark County Community College (now the College of Southern Nevada). Before beginning her political career, Rosen worked as a computer programmer […]
Jeanne Shaheen
Jeanne Shaheen


Jeanne Shaheen assumed office as a United States senator for New Hampshire in January 2009. Shaheen is the first female U.S. senator from New Hampshire, the first woman to be elected governor of New Hampshire, and the first woman to be elected as both a U.S. governor and a U.S. senator. Shaheen was born January 28, 1947, in Saint Charles, Missouri. She received her bachelor's degree in English from Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania in 1969 and her master's degree in political science from the University of Mississippi in 1973. Prior […]
Kyrsten Sinema
Kyrsten Sinema


Kyrsten Sinema assumed office in the U.S. Senate for Arizona on Jan. 3, 2019. Previously, she served as the U.S. representative from Arizona's 9th Congressional District. On March 5, 2024, Sinema announced that she was not running for re-election to the Senate. Sinema was born on July 12, 1976, in Tucson, Arizona. She earned her B.A. from Brigham Young University in 1995, her Master of Social Work from Arizona State University in 1999, a J.D. from Arizona State University College of Law in 2004 and a Ph.D. in justice studies […]
Margaret Chase Smith
Margaret Chase Smith


Margaret Chase Smith served as a U.S. representative from Maine from 1940-1949 and a U.S. senator from 1949-1973. Smith was the first woman to serve in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and the first woman in Maine to serve in Congress. Smith was also the first woman to have her name placed in nomination for president by a major party. Smith was born in Skowhegan, Maine, on December 14, 1987. After graduating from high school, she worked as a teacher, telephone operator, office manager for a woolen […]
Olympia Snowe
Olympia J Snowe


Olympia Snowe served as a U.S. senator for Maine from 1995 to 2013. Snowe was born February 21, 1947, in Augusta, Maine. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of Maine in 1969 and married state representative Peter Snowe the same year. In the early 1970s, she worked at the Auburn Board of Voter Registration, then as an office manager for U.S. Representative (and future secretary of defense) William S. Cohen. In 1973, Snowe was elected to the seat in the Maine House of Representatives […]
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 […]