Tammy Baldwin

Tammy Suzanne Green Baldwin (born February 11, 1962) is an American politician and lawyer who has served as the junior United States senator from Wisconsin since 2013.

Baldwin graduated from Madison West High School in 1980 as the class valedictorian.

She earned a B.A. from Smith College in 1984 and a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1989.

Baldwin was first elected to political office in 1986 at the age of 24, when she was elected to the Dane County Board of Supervisors, a position she held until 1994.

She also served one year on the Madison Common Council to fill a vacancy in the coterminous district.

She was a lawyer in private practice from 1989 to 1992.

In 1992, Baldwin ran to represent Wisconsin's 78th Assembly district in western Madison.

She won the Democratic primary with 43% of the vote.

In the general election, Baldwin defeated Mary Kay Baum (Labor and Farm Party nominee) and Patricia Hevenor (Republican Party nominee) by a vote of 59%-23%-17%.

She was one of just six openly gay political candidates nationwide to win a general election in 1992.

In 1993, she said she was disappointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton's support of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, calling it "a concession to bigotry".

In 1994, Baldwin won election to a second term with 76% of the vote.

In early 1994, she proposed legalizing same-sex marriage in Wisconsin.

In 1995, she proposed domestic partnerships in Wisconsin.

On the heels of Jeffrey Dahmer's death in prison, she proposed the creation of a review board to investigate the deaths of prison inmates.

In 1996, she was elected to a third term with 71% of the vote.

Baldwin was the first openly lesbian member of the Wisconsin Assembly and one of a very few openly gay politicians in the country at the time.

In 1997, she authored a bill changing Wisconsin's candidate filing system to an electronic one.

Baldwin opposed capital punishment in Wisconsin.

In 1997, she voted against a bill that would have imprisoned doctors who performed late-term abortions.

In 1998, U.S. Congressman Scott Klug of the 2nd district, based in Madison, announced he would retire, prompting Baldwin to run for the seat.

Baldwin's ads leaned into the fact that Wisconsin had never sent a woman to Congress, and many of her ads targeted younger voters.

She won the Democratic primary with a plurality of 37% of the vote.

In the general election, she defeated Republican nominee Josephine Musser, 53%-47%.

Baldwin's campaign drew strong turnout in Dane County, using a team of volunteers, many of whom were students.

A member of the Democratic Party, she served three terms in the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing the 78th district, and from 1999 to 2013 represented Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives.

Baldwin, who is a lesbian, became the first openly LGBT woman elected to the House of Representatives and to the Senate in 1999 and 2013, respectively.

She was also the first woman to be elected to either chamber from Wisconsin.

Baldwin identifies as a progressive, and she has a consistent progressive voting record.

She supports Medicare for All, LGBTQ rights, and gun control, and opposed the Iraq War.

After the retirement of Congressman Ron Kind in 2023, she became the dean of Wisconsin's congressional delegation.

Baldwin was born and grew up in Madison, Wisconsin.

In 2012, Baldwin was elected to the United States Senate, defeating Republican nominee Tommy Thompson.

Her mother, who died in 2017, was 19 and going through a divorce when Baldwin was born.

Baldwin was raised by her grandparents and spent Saturdays with her mother, who suffered from mental illness and opioid addiction.

Her maternal grandfather, biochemist David E. Green, was Jewish (the son of immigrants from Russia and Germany), and her maternal grandmother, who was Anglican, was English-born.

Baldwin's aunt is biochemist Rowena Green Matthews.

Through her maternal grandfather, Baldwin is a third cousin of comedian Andy Samberg.

In 2018, Baldwin was reelected, defeating Republican nominee Leah Vukmir.

On April 12, 2023, Baldwin announced her candidacy for reelection in the 2024 Senate election in Wisconsin.