York served in the
Rhode Island Senate from 1991 to 1994, and on the Senate Corporations Committee and the Senate Health, Education and Welfare Committee. During her second term she was chairman of the HEW Committee. In her first bid for governor, she ousted incumbent
Bruce Sundlun in the Democratic primary, winning by over 30 percentage points. The 2002 campaign was particularly costly to York as she spent $3.8 million of her own money to finance what was to be her last bid for elected office. A key turning point in the campaign was when York criticized Carcieri for the actions of businesses he had been associated with but refused to answer Carcieri's request that she reveal what companies her personal assets were invested in. In 2006 she endorsed Republican Senator
Lincoln Chafee in his unsuccessful bid for re-election. (Chafee's Democratic opponent,
Sheldon Whitehouse, had run against York in the 2002 Democratic gubernatorial primary). In the endorsement, York said that Chafee would be the first Republican she voted for since
Richard Nixon. York was appointed to the Providence Zoning Board of Review and was re-appointed by incoming Mayor
Angel Taveras in 2011. She currently serves as the Board's chair. York has received many awards, including the United Way's Legislator of the Year Award and the Claiborne Pell Award for outstanding service to the arts and people with disabilities. ==References==