FAST FACTS:
*The first woman ever elected to Congress, Jeanette Rankin, was under forty years old.
*The youngest woman to ever serve in the House was Elizabeth Holtzman (D-NY), elected at the age of 31 in 1972.
*Only woman under 40 elected to the Senate: Senator Blanche Lambert Lincoln (D-AR)
*Total number of women under forty elected to Congress: 35
Women Under Forty Elected to the U.S. Senate
Name: Blanche Lambert Lincoln
Party: Democrat
Age Elected: 38
Length of Service: Currently serving her 2nd term as Senator (seat up in 2010)
Date Elected: November 1998
State: Arkansas
Prior Elective Office: Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
Women Under Forty Elected to the U.S. House
Name:
Jeannette Rankin
Party:
Republican
Age Elected:
36
Length of Service: 2 non-consecutive terms
Date Elected: July 11, 1916; November 5, 1940
State & District: Montana, At-Large
Prior Elective Office: None
Other Experience: Chairman and Field Secretary of the Montana Suffrage Association; Field Secretary of the
National
Consumer’s League; Legislative Secretary for the National Council for the
Prevention
of War.
While in Congress: Rankin was the first woman ever elected to Congress as well as the
only person in
congressional history to vote against the United States’ entry into both World Wars.
She also co-sponsored a constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote. Rankin successfully
introduced legislation creating a
13-member Woman Suffrage Committee. When asked why a woman
should be elected to Congress, she answered: “[because] there isn’t a single woman to look after the
nation’s greatest asset: its children.”
Name:
Mae Ella Nolan
Party:
Republican
Age Elected:
36
Length of Service: 1 term
Date Elected: January 23, 1923
State & District: California, 5th District
Prior Elective Office: None
Other Experience: Wife of Rep. John Nolan
While in Congress: Nolan was the first woman to chair a House committee while managing to never give a single speech on
the House floor during her 2 years in office. She was appointed to the Labor Committee and the
Committee on Woman Suffrage, which she gave up to chair the Committee of Expenditures in the Post
Office Department. The New York Times reports that her friends quoted her as “warm-hearted,
home-loving, plain-spoken, and amply supplied with horse sense.” She refused to run for a second term
because “Politics is entirely too masculine to have any attraction for feminine responsibilities.”
Name:
Katherine G. Langley
Party:
Republican
Age Elected:
38
Length of Service: 2 terms
Date Elected: November 2, 1926
State & District: Kentucky, 10th District
Prior Elective Office: None
Other Experience: Worked as secretary to her husband John Wesley Langley during his 18 years in office; Active member
of the Kentucky Republican Party; Founder of the Women’s Republican State Committee; Delegate to
the Republican National Convention in 1924; Served on the Kentucky Railroad Commission.
While in Congress: Langley was the first woman to serve on the elite Committee on Committees. Local papers praised
Langley as “better equipped intellectually than her husband for service in Congress.”
Name:
Kathryn O’Laughlin McCarthy
Party:
Democrat
Age Elected:
38
Length of Service: 1 term
Date Elected: November 8, 1932
State & District: Kansas, 6th District
Prior Elective Office: None
Other Experience: Lawyer in private practice; Delegate to 3 state democratic conventions; Delegate to national democratic
conventions.
While in Congress: McCarthy was assigned to the Insular Affairs Committee. She landed a seat on the Education panel after
being denied being switched to the Agriculture Committee. Working on behalf of the farmers, she
supported most New Deal legislation as well as backed the Agricultural Adjustment Act. She also
supported tariff cuts and a dollar based on commodity prices rather than the gold standard.
Name:
Katharine Byron
Party:
Democrat
Age Elected:
37
Length of Service: Less than 1 term
Date Elected: May 27, 1941
State & District: Maryland, 6th District
Prior Elective Office: None
Other Experience: Filled out the unexpired term of her late husband Rep. William Byron; helped her son 30 years later win
election to the House.
While in Congress: Byron was assigned to the Committee on the Civil Service and the Committee on War Claims. She also
voiced
support for countries fighting against the Nazis and called for increased American military
procedures.
Name:
Clare Boothe Luce
Party:
Republican
Age Elected:
39
Length of Service: 2 terms
Date Elected: November 3, 1942
State & District: Connecticut, 4th District
Prior Elective Office: None
Other Experience: Member of the National Women’s Party and campaigned from suffrage; Editorial assistant of Vogue;
Associate Editor then Managing Editor of Vanity Fair; Toured the world as a war correspondent for
Time, Life, and Fortune magazines after the outbreak of WWII; Ambassador to Italy; Served on the
President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board under Nixon, Ford, and Reagan.
While in Congress: Luce was assigned to the Military Affairs Committee and used her seat in Congress as a platform
throughout the war to attack the Roosevelt administration. She also proposed a non-aggression pact with
England, France, and other European countries and fought for India’s independence from Britain. Luce
also voted against the
Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Bill. She’s noted for her sharp tongue, which tended to
obscure much of her legislative efforts.
Name:
Winnifred Claire Stanley
Party:
Republican
Age Elected:
33
Length of Service: 1 term
Date Elected: November 3, 1942
State & District: New York, At-Large
Prior Elective Office: None
Other Experience: Lawyer in private practice; Assistant District Attorney of Erie County, NY; Chief Counsel of the New
York State Employees’ Retirement System; Assistant Attorney General for the New York State Law
Department.
While in Congress: Stanley ran with the intent of only serving one term, after New York merged its two at-large districts.
During her campaign, she traveled only by foot, bus or train, refusing the special gas-rationing privileges
given to political
candidates. Newsweek magazine called her “pretty enough to `twitterpate` some of her
colleagues.” Stanley served on the Civil Service and Patents Committees and generally voted against
President Roosevelt’s New Deal Programs. She was a strong advocate of gender and racial equality and
fought for anti-discrimination efforts in the military and in employment.
Name:
Patsy Mink
Party:
Democrat
Age Elected:
36
Length of Service: 12 terms
Date Elected: November 3, 1964
State & District: Hawaii, At-Large
Prior Elective Office: Hawaii House of Representatives in 1956; Hawaii Senate in 1958.
Other Experience: Lawyer in private practice; Attorney of the Hawaii House of Representatives; delegate to the Democratic
National Convention; appointed by President Carter as Secretary of State for Oceans, International
Environment, and Science Affairs; President of liberal Americans for Democratic Action.
While in Congress: Mink was the first woman from Hawaii to be elected to Congress. After being assigned to the Education
and Labor
Committee, she introduced the first child-care bill. Her greatest legislative success was her
Women’s Education Equity Act. Not only did she create the Democratic Women’s Caucus, but she
served as its first chair. She died in office in 2002.
Name:
Margaret Heckler
Party:
Republican
Age Elected:
35
Length of Service: 8 terms
Date Elected: November 8, 1966
State & District: Massachusetts, 10th District
Prior Elective Office: Massachusetts Governor’s Council
Other Experience: Member of Republican town committee of Wellesley, Massachusetts; Secretary of the Depart of Health
and Human Services; Ambassador to Ireland.
While in Congress: Heckler was considered a “liberal” Republican who often crossed party lines. She was an early
opponent to the Vietnam War. She was assigned to the Committee on Government Operations and the
Veterans’ Affairs Committee. She also served on the Banking and Currency, Agriculture, Service and
Technology, Ethics, and the Joint Economic Committee. Being a strong supporter of women’s rights, she
backed the Equal Rights Amendment. She also drafted the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and helped
create the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues.
Name:
Elizabeth Holtzman
Party:
Democrat
Age Elected:
31
Length of Service: 4 terms
Date Elected: November 7, 1972
State & District: New York, 16th District
Prior Elective Office: None
Other Experience: Lawyer; Assistant to Mayor John Lindsay; Democratic state committee member and district leader;
District Attorney
of Brooklyn; City Comptroller of Brooklyn.
While in Congress: Holtzman is the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. She served on the Judiciary Committee and
participated
in the Watergate impeachment hearings against President Richard Nixon; she later served on
the Budget Committee. Holtzman was also a co-founder of the Congressional Caucus for Women’s
Issues. She made headlines when she sued in a federal court to stop bombings of Cambodia, but her
victory was later overturned by an appeals court.
Name:
Barbara Jordan
Party:
Democrat
Age Elected:
36
Length of Service: 3 terms
Date Elected: November 7, 1972
State & District: Texas, 18th District
Prior Elective Office: First black woman elected to State Senate in 1966; First black chief executive in the country.
Other Experience: Lawyer in private practice; Administrative assistant to county judge of Harris County, Texas; received
Presidential Medal of Freedom; keynote speaker at 2 Democratic National Conventions.
While in Congress: Jordan is known for her eloquent but hard-hitting speeches during the Watergate impeachment hearings
of President
Nixon. She was the first black woman from the South to ever be elected to the U.S.
Congress. She served on the Judiciary Committee and the Government Operations Committee. Jordan
also fought to create bilingual ballots under the Voting Rights Act.
Name:
Patricia Schroeder
Party:
Democrat
Age Elected:
32
Length of Service: 12 terms
Date Elected: November 7, 1972
State & District: Colorado, 1st District
Prior Elective Office: None
Other Experience: Field attorney for Colorado with the National Labor Relations Board; Lawyer in private practice;
President of the Association of American Publishers.
While in Congress: Schroeder was the first woman elected to Congress from Colorado and the first female member with
young children. She served on the Armed Services Committee, Judiciary Committee, and the Post Office
and Civil Service Committee. She served as chair of the Select Committee on Children, Youth, and
Families and the co-chair of the Congressional Caucus for Women’s
Issues. Schroeder co-sponsored
the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and spent 9 years pushing for the passage of the Family and Medical
Leave Act that was eventually passed.
Name:
Mary Rose Oakar
Party:
Democrat
Age Elected:
36
Length of Service: 8 terms
Date Elected: November 2, 1976
State & District: Ohio, 20th District
Prior Elective Office: None
Other Experience: Served on the Cleveland City Council; member of the Democratic state central committee.
While in Congress: Oakar was a member of the House Administration Committee, the Post Office and Civil Service
Committee, and the Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs Committee. She was also the Secretary of the
Democratic Caucus.
Name:
Olympia Snowe
Party:
Republican
Age Elected:
31
Length of Service: 8 terms in House; currently serving second term in Senate
Date Elected: November 7, 1978 to House (1994 to Senate)
State & District: Maine, 2nd District
Prior Elective Office: Elected to Maine State House in 1973, and Maine State Senate in 1976.
Other Experience: District office manager for Representative William S. Cohen; Delegate for the state and national
Republican Conventions.
While in Congress: Snowe was the fourth woman to ever serve in both the House and the Senate. She was the co-chair of
the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues. She also served on the Government Operations
Committee, the Small Business Committee, the Select Committee on Aging, the Joint Economic
Committee, and the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Name:
Claudine Schneider
Party:
Republican
Age Elected:
33
Length of Service: 5 terms
Date Elected: November 4, 1980
State & District: Rhode Island, 2nd District
Prior Elective Office: None
Other Experience: Founder of the Rhode Island Committee on Energy; Executive Director for the Conservation Law
Foundation; Federal Coordinator of the Rhode Island Coastal Management Program.
While in Congress: Schneider was assigned to the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee and the Committee on
Science, Space, and Technology. She was one of the most liberal Republicans in Congress and focused
on environmental, energy, and women’s issues.
Name:
Marcy Kaptur
Party:
Democrat
Age Elected:
36
Length of Service: 10 terms
Date Elected: November 2, 1982
State & District: Ohio, 9th District
Prior Elective Office: None
Other Experience: Assistant Director for Urban Affairs; director of planning for the National Center for Urban Ethnic
Affairs; Urban Planner for the Toledo-Lucas County in Ohio.
While in Congress: Kaptur fought strenuously against NAFTA and opposed the GATT trade agreement. She was a strong
supported for organized labor and U.S. jobs. Kaptur was assigned to the Banking, Finance, and Urban
Affairs Committee and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. She served on the prestigious Budget
Committee and then later on the Appropriations Committee.
Name:
Jill Long
Party:
Democrat
Age Elected:
37
Length of Service: 3 terms
Date Elected: March 28, 1989
State & District: Indiana, 4th District
Prior Elective Office: None
Other Experience: Business Professor at Indiana University; Member of the Valparaiso City Council.
While in Congress: Long was on the Agriculture Committee and pushed through several amendments to the 1990 Farm Bill.
She also served on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee and fought for better treatment of posttraumatic
stress
disorder and comprehensive health care services for women vets. Long was a member of the
Select
Committee on Hunger and the Task Force on Government Waste. She was generally liberal on
social
issues and strictly conservative on fiscal issues.
Name:
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Party:
Republican
Age Elected:
37
Length of Service: 8 terms (currently in office)
Date Elected: August 29, 1989
State & District: Florida, 18th District
Prior Elective Office: Florida state House of Representatives and state Senate.
Other Experience: Founder of private elementary school Eastern Academy.
While in Congress: Ros-Lehtinen was the first Cuban-American elected to Congress. She was assigned to the Government
Reform and Oversight Committee and the Committee on International Trade, where she backed bills
aimed at reducing foreign spending. She was also a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Her
primary legislative focus had been aimed against Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Also, her Hispanic
background
often led her to oppose her party on immigration issues.
Name:
Susan Molinari
Party:
Republican
Age Elected:
31
Length of Service: 5 terms
Date Elected: March 20, 1990
State & District: New York, 14th District
Prior Elective Office: Member of the New York City Council
Other Experience: None
While in Congress: Molinari was the Vice Chair of the House Republican Conference and the keynote speaker at the
Republican Convention in 1996. She was the first woman to ever wear pants on the House floor. She
was also assigned to the Small Business Committee, Public Works and Transportation Committee, and
the Budget Committee. Molinari was liberal on social issues, but conservative on economic issues. In
1995,
she led a congressional delegation to the war-torn area of Bosnia.
Name:
Blanche Lambert Lincoln
Party:
Democrat
Age Elected:
32
Length of Service: 2 terms in the House (currently in her second term in the
Senate)
Date Elected: November 3, 1992 to House (1998 to Senate)
State & District: Arkansas, 1st District
Prior Elective Office: None
Other Experience: Receptionist to Representative Bill Alexander; current member of U.S. Senate.
While in Congress: Lincoln was assigned to the prestigious Energy and Commerce Committee as well as the Agriculture
and Merchant Marine Committees. She generally voted along moderate lines. She opposed the 1993
Brady Bill, backed a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget, and voted against lifting the
ban on homosexuals in the military.
Name:
Cynthia McKinney
Party:
Democrat
Age Elected:
37
Length of Service: 5 terms (currently returned to office)
Date Elected: November 3, 1992
State & District: Georgia, 11th District
Prior Elective Office: Member of Georgia state House of Representatives.
Other Experience: Faculty member at Clark Atlanta University and Agnes Scott College.
While in Congress: McKinney was the first black woman ever elected to Congress from Georgia and is one of the more
controversial members of Congress. She made headlines in 1993 when she attacked the amendment
prohibiting Medicaid funding for abortions as racist. She also served on the Banking and Financial
Services
Committee and the Committee on International Relations.
Name:
Nydia Velazquez
Party:
Democrat
Age Elected:
39
Length of Service: 6 terms (currently in office)
Date Elected: November 3, 1992
State & District: New York, 12th District
Prior Elective Office: First Latina to serve on the New York City Council.
Other Experience: Special assistant to the U.S. Representative Ed Towns; director of the Department of Puerto Rican
Community Affairs.
While in Congress: Velazquez was the first Puerto Rican woman elected to Congress and spent much of her political career
working on behalf of immigrants. She made history in 1998 when she was named ranking Democrat of
the House Small Business Committee, the first Hispanic woman to ever serve as ranking member or
chair
of a full House or Senate committee. She established herself as a solid liberal and was a strong
proponent of increasing minimum wage, as well as voted against efforts to overhaul the welfare system
and ban
same-sex marriages. She also attacked legislation that would make English the official language.
Name:
Maria Cantwell
Party:
Democrat
Age Elected:
34
Length of Service: 1 term in House (currently serving in her first term in the Senate)
Date Elected: November 3, 1992 (elected to the Senate in 2000)
State & District: Washington, 1st District
Prior Elective Office: Elected as Washington State Representative in 1987 and chaired Committee on Trade and Economic
Development.
Other Experience: Worked for Senator Alan Cranston’s campaign; elected to U.S. Senate in 2000.
While in Congress: Cantwell was a member of the Public Works Committee, Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee,
Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Democratic Steering and Policy Committee. She continually pushed
for
smaller government spending during her term in office.
Name:
Lynn Rivers
Party:
Democrat
Age Elected:
37
Length of Service: 4 terms
Date Elected: November 8, 1994
State & District: Michigan, 13th District
Prior Elective Office: Michigan State House of Representatives
Other Experience: Member of Ann Arbor Board of Education
While in Congress: Rivers was assigned to the Science and Budget Committees. She focused much of her legislative
attention
on education and felt the government should spend more on public education and less on the
military. She
was an outspoken opponent of Republican efforts to create school vouchers to pay for
tuition at private
schools as well as their efforts to reduce the cost of Medicare spending.
Name:
Enid Greene Waldholtz
Party:
Republican
Age Elected:
36
Length of Service: 1 term
Date Elected: November 8, 1994
State & District: Utah, 2nd District
Prior Elective Office: Deputy chief of staff to Utah Governor Norman Bangerter.
Other Experience: National Chair of the Young Republicans.
While in Congress: Waldholtz was given a prestigious seat on the Rules Committee. She had a child during her first year
in Congress, making her only the second woman in history to give birth while in Congress.
Name:
Loretta Sanchez
Party:
Democrat
Age Elected:
36
Length of Service: 5 terms (still in office)
Date Elected: November 5, 1996
State & District: California, 46th District
Prior Elective Office: None
Other Experience: Financial advisor
While in Congress: Sanchez serves on the was assigned to the Education and Welfare Committee where she fought to
expand
the Head Start preschool program as well as the National Security Committee. She and her
sister, Linda
(also first elected under age 40), are the first sisters to serve in Congress.
Name:
Diana DeGette
Party:
Democrat
Age Elected:
39
Length of Service: 4 terms (still in office)
Date Elected: November 5, 1996
State & District: Colorado, 1st District
Prior Elective Office: Colorado State House of Representatives
Other Experience: Civil Rights Lawyer
While in Congress: DeGette was assigned to the House Commerce Committee. She worked for liberal causes and focused
on gun control issues. She also sponsored bills to allow patients to sue their health care management
organization, prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage to abused spouses, and to raise the
smoking age from 18 to 21.
Name:
Tammy Baldwin
Party:
Democrat
Age Elected:
36
Length of Service: 4 terms (still in office)
Date Elected: November 3, 1998
State & District: Wisconsin, 2nd District
Prior Elective Office: Wisconsin State Assembly
Other Experience: JD from University of Wisconsin
While in Congress: She serves on the Committees on the Budget and the Judiciary. Baldwin is the first woman to be
elected to Congress from Wisconsin and is the first open lesbian to be elected to Congress.
Name:
Mary Bono
Party:
Republican
Age Elected:
37
Length of Service: 5 terms (still in office)
Date Elected: November 3, 1998
State & District: California, 45th District
Prior Elective Office: none
Other Experience: wife of former Representative Sonny Bono
While in Congress: She ran for her husband’s seat after he was killed in a skiing accident.
Name:
Heather Wilson
Party:
Republican
Age Elected: 37
Length of Service: 5 terms (still in office)
Date Elected: June 25, 1998
State & District: New Mexico, 1st District
Other Experience: MA from Oxford
Name:
Melissa Hart
Party:
Republican
Age Elected:
38
Length of Service: 3 terms (still in office)
Date Elected: November 11, 2000
State & District: Pennsylvania
Prior Elective Office: Pennsylvania State Senate
Other Experience: JD from Catholic University
WOMEN UNDER FORTY CURRENTLY IN THE 109TH CONGRESS
Name:
Linda Sanchez
Party:
Democrat
Age Elected:
33
Length of Service: 2 terms
Date Elected: November 4, 2002
State & District: California, 39th District
Prior Elective Office: none
Other Experience: Executive Secretary-Treasurer for the Orange County Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO; International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 441; National Electrical Contractors Association
(NECA); JD from UCLA
While in Congress: She serves on the Committees on the Judiciary, Government Reform, and Small Business. She and her
sister, Loretta (also first elected under age 40), are the first sisters to ever serve in Congress.
Name:
Stephanie Herseth
Party:
Democrat
Age Elected:
33
Length of Service: 1 term
Date Elected: June 1, 2004 (special election)
State & District: South Dakota, At-Large
Prior Elective Office: none
Other Experience: Executive Director of the South Dakota Farmers Union Foundation; South Dakota Public Utilities
Commission; Legal Counsel for the Elderly; law clerk to the Honorable Diana Gribbon Motz on the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit; JD from Georgetown Law School
While in Congress: She serves on the Committees on Agriculture, Resources, and Veterans Affairs. Herseth first ran for
Congress in 2002 against former Governor Bill Janklow. A few months later, he killed a motorcyclist in
a car accident and had to resign. She ran in the special election in June of 2004 and defeated John Thune
(who later defeated Senator Tom Daschle). Former Governor Ralph Herseth was her grandfather and
Lorna B. Herseth, South Dakota's Secretary of State, was her grandmother. Her father, Lars, served in
the state legislature for 20 years and was the Democratic nominee for Governor in 1986.
Name:
Cathy McMorris
Party:
Republican
Age Elected:
33
Length of Service: 1 term
Date Elected: November 2, 2004
State & District: Washington, 5th District
Prior Elective Office: Washington State House of Representatives and served as House Minority Leader, Chair of the House
Commerce and Labor Committee and Vice-Chair of the House Agriculture and Ecology Committee
Other Experience: Named “Legislator of the Year” by the Washington Farm Bureau; Vice-Chair of the George W. Bush
2000 Presidential Campaign for the 5th Congressional District of Washington; MBA from University of
Washington. While in Congress: She serves on the Committees on Armed Services, Resources, and
Education and the Workforce. She is also an Assistant Majority Whip. She first ran for state legislature
at the age of 23.
Name:
Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Party:
Democrat
Age Elected:
37
Length of Service: 1 term
Date Elected: November 2, 2004
State & District: Florida, 20th District
Prior Elective Office: Florida House of Representatives and served as Democratic Leader Pro Tempore, Democratic Floor
Leader, and Chair of the Committee on Higher Education; Florida State Senate
Other Experience: Legislative aide to State Representative Peter Deutsch; Board of Directors of Planned Parenthood of
Broward and South Palm Beach Counties, the American Jewish Congress-Southeast Region, and the
Westside Regional Medical Center.
While in Congress: She serves on the Committee on Financial
Services. She was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1992 at the age of 26, which
made her the youngest woman to ever serve in the Florida legislature.
List compiled by LaToya Washington, American University Washington Semester Program; Barbara Palmer, Political Director of
WUFPAC; and Susannah Shakow, President of WUFPAC.
Information for this list for the women serving from 1916-1998 is from original data created by Dennis Simon, Southern Methodist University and Barbara Palmer, American University; Karen
Foerstel, Biographical Dictionary of Congressional Women, Greenwood Press, 1999.
Information for this list for the women serving from 1998 to the present is from original data compiled by
WUFPAC.
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