Barbara Cubin

Barbara Lynn Cubin (née Turner; born November 30, 1946) is an American politician who was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, Wyoming's sole member of that body.

She was the first woman elected to Congress from Wyoming.

Cubin was born in Salinas, California.

She grew up in Casper, Wyoming, and graduated from high school there.

She received a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.

Cubin worked as a substitute science and math teacher, and was employed full-time as a social worker for senior citizens and disabled adults.

She later worked for the state Labor Department and Ironworkers' Union to train minorities and Vietnam War veterans to become iron workers.

In 1974, Cubin joined the Wyoming Machinery Company as a chemist, and in 1975, began managing the office of her husband, Fritz Cubin, a physician.

Cubin and her husband Fritz married in 1975 and had two children.

Cubin began her political career in November 1986, when she was elected to the Wyoming House of Representatives from Natrona County, Wyoming.

She served there for six years.

During the 1992 session, she was the primary sponsor of legislation that put on the ballot an initiative that would create the sentence of life without parole.

In November 1992, Cubin was elected to the Wyoming Senate, representing part of Casper, Wyoming.

She served there for two years before being elected to the U.S. House.

In 1993 and 1995, she had surgeries related to her gall bladder.

In November 1994, Cubin ran for Wyoming's U.S. House seat, to succeed Republican Craig Thomas, who was running for (and would be elected to) the United States Senate.

Cubin defeated eight other Republicans in the primary, then won the general election against Bob Schuster, a wealthy Jackson attorney and then-partner of prominent trial attorney Gerry Spence.

Cubin's first race was very close by Wyoming standards (Wyoming is one of the most Republican states in the nation), with Cubin getting 53% of the vote.

It was also the most expensive campaign in state history.

Cubin became the first woman to win an election for federal office in the state of Wyoming.

In 1996, Cubin was re-elected with 55 percent.

Subsequent races were less close, until 2004, when she again won with 55% of the vote.

By contrast, George W. Bush won the state with 69 percent of the vote.

In July 2005, she suffered a mild heart attack and underwent surgery to place a stent in an artery that was 70 percent blocked.

Cubin's voting record is conservative: the American Conservative Union gave her 2005 voting record a rating of 96 points out of 100.

An opponent of abortion in any form, Cubin consistently voted for restrictions on abortion and against funding of family planning groups that provide abortion services, counseling or advocacy.

In 2006, Cubin won her seat again, but barely, registering 48 percent of the vote to her Democratic opponent Gary Trauner's 48 percent.

Early in her House tenure, she served on the House Science Committee.

In her last terms in office, she was a member of the House Resources Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

In the wake of the Democratic takeover of Congress in the 2006 elections, Cubin served only on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, as a Member of both the Health and Telecommunications Subcommittees.

In 2006, Cubin was listed as cosponsoring legislation that would sell off some federal land to help pay for Hurricane Katrina and other disaster relief.

Cubin maintains she never signed on to the legislation, saying there must have been a clerical error.

About 42 percent of Wyoming's land is owned by the federal government, including Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.

Relatedly, she focused much of her attention on the mining and land use issues important to Wyoming.

She cofounded the Congressional Mining Caucus and introduced legislation to allow mining companies operating on federal lands to pay taxes in minerals rather than dollars.

With regard to global warming, Cubin has stated that "there still exists broad disagreement within the scientific community on the extent to which humans actually contribute to the Earth's temperature changes."

The League of Conservation Voters, a nonpartisan PAC, gave Cubin a lifetime rating of 3 on a scale of 0 to 100.

Fritz Cubin, who was a doctor, died in 2010 after a decade of serious health problems.

In past elections, Cubin fended off attacks on missed floor votes, which she attributed to her husband's severe health problems.

Cubin also has had health issues of her own.