Rebecca Latimer Felton (D-Georgia), the first female member of the United States Senate, who served for a single day in 1922.
Currently, since January 20, 2021, there are 24 women serving in the United States Senate, 16 Democrats and 8 Republicans. There have been 58 total women who have served in the United States Senate since its establishment in 1789.[1] The first woman who served as a U.S. senator, Rebecca Latimer Felton, represented Georgia for a single day in 1922. The first woman elected to the Senate was Hattie Caraway from Arkansas in 1932. Seventeen of the women who have served were appointed; seven of those were appointed to succeed their deceased husbands. The 116th Congress had 26 female senators, meaning for the first time in history, over one-quarter of the members of the U.S. Senate was female. Of the 58 women in the U.S. Senate, 36 have been Democrats and 22 have been Republicans.
For its first 130 years in existence, the Senate's membership was entirely male. Until 1920, few women ran for the Senate. Until the 1990s, very few were elected. This paucity of women was due to many factors, including the lack of women's suffrage in many states until ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, women's limited access to higher education until the mid-1900s, public perceptions of gender roles, and barriers to women's advancement such as sex discrimination.
The first woman in the U.S. Senate was Rebecca Latimer Felton, who served representing Georgia for only one day in 1922. Hattie Caraway became the first woman to win election to the Senate representing Arkansas, in 1932. Margaret Chase Smith was the first woman to serve in both the House and Senate; she first served in the House, and began serving in the Senate in 1949. Margaret Chase Smith won her 1960 race for Senate in the nation's first ever race pitting two women (her and Lucia Cormier) against each other for a Senate seat. Muriel Humphrey Brown was the first and only Second Lady to serve in the United States Senate. After her husband, Hubert Humphrey, was defeated in the 1968 presidential election, he won back his old Senate seat representing Minnesota. Following his unexpected death in office, Brown was appointed by the Governor of Minnesota in 1978 to fill her late husband's Senate seat. She served for less than one year, and did not seek reelection.
In 1978, Nancy Kassebaum became the first woman ever elected to a full term in the Senate representing Kansas without her husband having previously served in Congress.[n 1] Since 1978, there has always been at least one woman in the Senate. The first woman to be elected to the Senate without any family connections was Paula Hawkins (R-FL), elected in 1980. She was also the first and to date only female member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints elected to the United States senate. There were still few women in the Senate near the end of the 20th century, long after women began to make up a significant portion of the membership of the House. The trend of few women in the Senate began to change in the wake of the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination hearings, and the subsequent election of the 103rd United States Congress in 1992, which was dubbed the "Year of the Woman".[2] In addition to Barbara Mikulski, who was reelected that year (1992), four women were elected to the Senate, all Democrats. They were Patty Murray of Washington, Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois, and Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, both of California. Carol Moseley Braun, who was African-American, was the first woman of color in the Senate. She was also the first woman to defeat an incumbent senator, winning the 1992 Democratic primary election over Alan Dixon. Later in 1992, Dianne Feinstein was the first woman to defeat an incumbent senator from a different party when she defeated John Seymour in a special election. Feinstein entered the Senate the same year as the first female Jewish senator.[3][4][5]
Bathroom facilities for women in the Senate on the Senate Chamber level were first provided in 1992.[6] Women were not allowed to wear pants on the Senate floor until 1993.[7][8] In 1993, Senators Barbara Mikulski and Carol Moseley Braun wore pants onto the floor in defiance of the rule, and female support staff followed soon after, with the rule being amended later that year by Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Martha Pope to allow women to wear pants on the floor so long as they also wore a jacket.[7][8]
The first time two female senators from the same state served concurrently was beginning in 1993; Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer (both D-CA) were both elected in 1992, with Feinstein taking office that same year (as the result of a special election) and Boxer taking office in 1993 until 2016 when Boxer retired and Feinstein was joined by Kamala Harris. In June 1993, Kay Bailey Hutchison won a special election in Texas, and joined Kassebaum as a fellow female Republican senator. These additions significantly diminished the popular perception of the Senate as an exclusive "boys' club". Since 1992, there has been at least one new woman elected to the Senate every two years with the exception of the 2004 cycle (Lisa Murkowski was elected for the first time in 2004, but had been appointed to the seat since 2002). Since 2004, at least two new women have been elected to the Senate every two years, with the exceptions of 2010, when Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire was the only new woman elected to the Senate, and 2020, when Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming was the lone newly-elected female senator.
In 2008, Kay Hagan became the first woman to unseat a female incumbent, Elizabeth Dole. Upon the opening of the 112th United States Congress in 2011, New Hampshire Democrat Jeanne Shaheen was joined by newly elected Republican Kelly Ayotte, making up the first Senate delegation of two women belonging to different parties. Barbara Mikulski became the longest-serving woman senator (and Congresswoman) in 2012; she retired in 2017 as still the longest-serving after serving for forty years.
In 2012, there was a second "Year of the Woman" with the election of five women and the reelection of six women. This beat the record of four new female senators from 1992 and set the record of five new women and eleven female senators in one Senate class. The five new women were Democrats Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Republican Deb Fischer of Nebraska. Hirono was the first Asian-American woman and first Buddhist person in the Senate, and Baldwin was the first openly gay person in the Senate.
In 2016, Hillary Clinton became the first former Female Senator and First Lady to win a major-party's nomination for President of the United States. Despite winning a plurality of the popular vote, she ultimately lost her bid to President Donald Trump.
Joni Ernst became the first female combat veteran to serve in the Senate when she joined in 2015. Catherine Cortez Masto, elected in 2016 was the first Latina senator.[9] In a June 2016 primary election, as a result of California's recent establishment of the top-two primary, Attorney General of CaliforniaKamala Harris and U.S. Representative Loretta Sanchez became the first women of the same party to advance to a Senate general election. In November 2016, Harris became the first woman to defeat a woman of the same party in a Senate general election. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, both of New Hampshire hold the distinction of being the first and second women elected both governor and senator of a state; both served as Governor of New Hampshire and served together in the Senate starting in 2017.
In 2017 Tammy Duckworth became the first female double amputee in the U.S. Senate. On April 9, 2018, Duckworth gave birth to her daughter Maile Pearl, becoming the first incumbent senator to give birth.[10] Shortly afterward, rules were changed so that a senator has the right to bring a child under one year old on the Senate floor and breastfeed them during votes.[11] The day after those rules were changed, Maile became the first baby on the Senate floor when Duckworth brought her.[11][12]
In 2018 Kyrsten Sinema defeated Martha McSally to become Arizona's first female senator, and the first openly bisexual senator from any state. Two weeks later, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey announced that he would appoint McSally to Arizona's other Senate seat, which was becoming vacant with the resignation of Jon Kyl. Sinema and McSally have been the only concurrently serving female senators to have previously faced off against each other in a Senate election. McSally exited the Senate in late 2020 after losing that year's special election to Mark Kelly, a Democrat.
Cumulatively, 36 female U.S. senators have been Democrats, while 22 have been Republicans. As of 2019, no female U.S. senator has ever died in office, won election to the House after her Senate term, resigned from a state governorship for the purpose of a Senate appointment by her successor, also won election as an independent or to represent more than one state in non-consecutive elections, served both seats of a state at different times, switched parties, or represented a third party in her career.
At the start of the 117th Congress on January 3, 2021, there were 26 women serving in the United States Senate, 17 Democrats and 9 Republicans, the highest proportion of women serving as U.S. senators in history. Since January 20, 2021, there have been 24 women serving in the United States Senate, 16 Democrats and 8 Republicans.
In January 2017, the number of serving women senators reached a record of 21, 16 of whom were Democrats, and the other 5 being Republicans. Democratic Senators Barbara Mikulski and Barbara Boxer did not seek reelection in 2016, while four new Democratic senators were elected: Catherine Cortez Masto (Nevada), Tammy Duckworth (Illinois), Kamala Harris (California), and Maggie Hassan (New Hampshire). Incumbent Republican senator Kelly Ayotte (New Hampshire) lost to Hassan. Both of the seats that changed hands from Republican to Democrat were won by women (Duckworth and Hassan); this was also the case in the 2018 Senate election (Rosen and Sinema).
In January 2018, after the appointment of Democrat Tina Smith of Minnesota to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Al Franken, and in April 2018 after the appointment of Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Thad Cochran, the number reached 23. In January 2019, four new women senators (Blackburn, McSally, Rosen, and Sinema) were seated although two women senators (Heitkamp and McCaskill) lost reelection bids, so the number of female senators increased to 25, with 17 being Democrats and 8 being Republicans. In January 2020, Kelly Loeffler was appointed to the Senate from Georgia, increasing the number of women in the Senate to 26, the highest proportion of women serving as U.S. senators in history.
Martha McSally lost an election to finish John McCain's unexpired term on November 3, 2020, and left the Congress on December 2, which reduced the number of female senators to 25. On January 3, 2021, Cynthia Lummis, the first woman senator from Wyoming, began her term, so the number of female senators reached 26 once again. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris was elected Vice President of the United States; she resigned her Senate seat on January 18, 2021 in anticipation of the scheduled commencement of her term as Vice President (and thus President of the Senate) on January 20, which reduced the number of female senators to 25. In addition, Loeffler lost the January 5, 2021 special election runoff for the remainder of the term to which she had been appointed, and she left office on January 20, which further reduced the number of women serving in the Senate to 24.
Currently, four states (Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, and Washington) are represented by two women in the U.S. Senate. Eleven current female senators had previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives, a distinction long held only by Margaret Chase Smith: Senators Stabenow, Cantwell, Gillibrand, Baldwin, Hirono, Capito, Duckworth, Blackburn, Rosen, Sinema, and Lummis.
Before 2001, a plurality of women joined the U.S. Senate through appointment following the death or resignation of a husband or father who previously held the seat. An example is Muriel Humphrey (D-MN), the widow of former senator and Vice PresidentHubert Humphrey; she was appointed to fill his seat until a special election was held (in which she did not run). However, with the election of three women in 2000, the balance shifted; more women have now entered service as a senator by winning elections than by being appointed.[citation needed]
Recent examples of selection include Jean Carnahan and Lisa Murkowski. In 2000, Jean Carnahan (D-MO) was appointed to fill the Senate seat won by her recently deceased husband, Mel Carnahan. Carnahan—even though dead—defeated the incumbent senator, John Ashcroft. Carnahan's widow was named to fill his seat by Missouri GovernorRoger Wilson until a special election was held. However, she lost the subsequent 2002 election to fill out the rest of the six-year term. In 2002, Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) was appointed by her father Alaska GovernorFrank Murkowski, who had resigned from the Senate to become governor, to serve the remaining two years of his term. Lisa Murkowski defeated former governor Tony Knowles in her retention bid in 2004.
Another famous name is Nancy Landon Kassebaum (R-KS), the daughter of former Kansas governor and one-time presidential candidate Alf Landon. After retiring from the Senate, she married former senator Howard Baker (R-TN). Kassebaum has the distinction of being the first female elected senator who did not succeed her husband in Congress (Margaret Chase Smith was only elected to the Senate after succeeding her husband to his House seat). At the time of her retirement in 1997, Kassebaum was the second longest serving female senator, after Smith; since that year five women have had Senate careers longer than Kassebaum's.
Among the women elected or selected in Senate history, by stature, Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) is the shortest at 5 feet (1.52m), whereas Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) is the tallest at 5feet 11inches (1.80m).[13][14] Mikulski and Loeffler have also been the shortest and one of the tallest respectively among all female members of Congress.
List of states represented by women
This map shows (as of the 116th Congress) which states have had a female senator via party
Eight Democratic women senators appear at the 2008 Democratic Convention in Denver. It has become a tradition at Democratic conventions for incumbent women senators to appear on opening night.
33 states have been represented by female senators, and 20 are currently represented. In 2009, North Carolina became the first state to have been represented by female senators of both parties, and the first to have a female senator succeeded by a female senator from the other party. In 2011, New Hampshire became the second state to be represented by female senators from both parties, and the first to have female senators of both parties serving concurrently. In 2021, Wyoming became the latest state to have a female senator.
On January 3, 2019, Arizona's Kyrsten Sinema and Martha McSally became the first women from the same state to start their first Senate terms on the same date.
↑ Of the female senators who preceded Kassebaum: Rebecca Latimer Felton, Rose McConnell Long, Dixie Bibb Graves, Vera C. Bushfield, Eva Bowring, Elaine S. Edwards, Muriel Humphrey, and Maryon Pittman Allen were all appointed and were never elected; Gladys Pyle (R-SD) and Hazel Abel (R-NE), were elected, but not to full terms (i.e., to complete terms where the previous senator had died or resigned, not to new six-year terms); Hattie Caraway and Maurine Brown Neuberger were both elected to full six-year terms, but their husbands had held the seat previously. Margaret Chase Smith's (R-ME) husband never served in the Senate, but he did serve in the House. When he died, Margaret won the ensuing election. Of the appointed senators, Long, Bushfield, Humphrey, and Allen were all appointed to fill out part of the terms of their deceased husbands, while Graves and Edwards were appointed by their husbands, the governor of their states at the time. However, Kassebaum's father was a former governor of Kansas, which means that the first woman to be elected to the Senate without any family connections was Paula Hawkins, elected in 1980 to represent Florida.
↑ Bob Krueger and John F. Seymour, defeated by Kay Bailey Hutchison and Dianne Feinstein respectively, were appointed to the Senate by the governors of their states.
↑ Abel resigned 3 days before the end of her term, a common practice to give her successor seniority advantage.
1 2 Predecessor resigned early to give successor seniority advantage, so the senator was appointed for the few days prior to the commencement of the elected term
1 2 When Kay Hagan defeated Elizabeth Dole, it was the first time in history a woman candidate defeated an incumbent woman.
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↑ Plaskow, Judith (July 8, 2008). "Embodiment, Elimination, and the Role of Toilets in Struggles for Social Justice". Cross Currents. 58 (1): 51–64. doi:10.1111/j.1939-3881.2008.00004.x.
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