Women in the U.S. Senate

As of the 2006 elections, there are 16 women (an all-time high) serving in the 100-person body, including freshmen Senators Claire McCaskill and Amy Klobuchar. The Senatorial representation of three states (California, Washington and Maine) is entirely female. California's current two senators (Boxer and Feinstein) are the first two women to be elected to the U.S. Senate in the same election (in 1992) from the same state. Six of the women currently serving as Senators have also been elected to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives—a distinction once held by only Margaret Chase Smith—Mikulski, Snowe, Boxer, Lincoln, Stabenow, and Cantwell.

Name	Party-State	Dates Served
Rebecca Latimer Felton	Dem. GA	1922
Hattie Wyatt Caraway	Dem. AK	1931 - 1945
Rose McConnel Long	Dem. LA	1936 - 1937
Dixie Bibb Graves	Dem. AL	1937 - 1938
Gladys Pyle	Rep. SD	1938 - 1939
Vera Cahalan Bushfield	Rep. SD	1948
Margaret Chase Smith	Rep. ME	1949 - 1973
Eva Kelley Bowring	Rep. NE	1954
Hazel Hempel Abel	Rep. NE	1954
Maurine Brown Neuberger	Dem. OR	1960 - 1967
Elaine S. Edwards	Dem. LA	1972
Muriel Humphrey	Dem. MN	1978
Maryon Allen	Dem. AL	1978
Nancy Landon Kassebaum	Rep. KS	1978 - 1997
Paula Hawkins	Rep. FL	1981 - 1987
Barbara Mikulski	Dem. MD	1987 -
Jocelyn Burdick	Dem. ND	1992
Dianne Feinstein	Dem. CA	1993 -
Barbara Boxer	Dem. CA	1993 -
Carol Moseley-Braun	Dem. IL	1993 - 1999
Patty Murray	Dem. WA	1993 -
Kay Bailey Hutchison	Rep. TX	1993 -
Olympia Jean Snowe	Rep. ME	1995 -
Sheila Frahm	Rep. KS	1996
Mary Landrieu	Dem. LA	1997 -
Susan Collins	Rep. ME	1997 -
Blanche Lincoln	Dem. AR	1999 -
Debbie Stabenow	Dem. MI	2001 -
Jean Carnahan	Dem. MO	2001 - 2003
Hillary Rodham Clinton	Dem. NY	2001 -
Maria Cantwell	Dem. WA	2001 -
Elizabeth Dole	Rep. NC	2003 -
Lisa Murkowski	Rep. AK	2003 -

 

Information courtesy of the Center for American Women in Politics.