U.S. Senate (1987–2017)
Elections presenting a photo to
Queen Elizabeth II and
Prince Philip in
Greenbelt, Maryland Mikulski first ran for the U.S. Senate in
1974, winning the Democratic nomination to face
Republican incumbent
Charles Mathias. Although well known to residents in her city, Mikulski had limited name recognition in the rest of the state. As an advocate for
campaign finance reform, Mathias refused to accept any contribution over $100 to "avoid the curse of big money that has led to so much trouble
in the last year". However, he still managed to raise over $250,000, nearly five times Mikulski's total. Ideologically, Mikulski and Mathias agreed on many issues, such as closing tax loopholes and easing taxes on the
middle class. On two issues, however, Mathias argued to reform Congress and the U.S. tax system to address inflation and corporate price fixing, contrary to Mikulski. With
Maryland voters, Mathias benefited from his frequent disagreements with the
Nixon administration and his liberal voting record. On November 5, 1974, he was re-elected by a 57% to 43% margin, though he lost badly in Baltimore City and
Baltimore County, where Mikulski was popular. Mathias announced his retirement before the
1986 election. At the time of this announcement, it was expected that then-
Governor Harry Hughes would be the favorite to succeed Mathias. However, Hughes became caught up in the aftermath of the Maryland
savings and loan crisis. He lost popularity with voters, opening the door for Mikulski's bid for the Senate. The
Republican nominee was
Linda Chavez, who left her post as
Assistant to the President for Public Liaison in an attempt to win the seat. The election was the second time in modern U.S. history that two women faced each other in a statewide general election. The race was covered by national media, with observers noting that Chavez was very unlikely to win. In the campaign, Chavez attacked Mikulski, a lifelong Baltimore resident, as a "San Francisco-style, George McGovern, liberal Democrat". Chavez was accused of making Mikulski's
sexual orientation a central issue of the
political campaign. Chavez wrote that the term referred to
Jeane Kirkpatrick's
1984 Republican National Convention "Blame America First" speech, in which she coined the phrase "San Francisco Liberal" in reference to the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco. Brennan had not been part of Mikulski's staff for five years, but Chavez implied Brennan was still working on Mikulski's campaign. Mikulski did not respond in kind to the attacks. She defeated Chavez with 61% of the vote. She also served alongside
Paul Sarbanes, the man she'd succeeded in the House. Mikulski, popularly known as "Senator Barb", was re-elected with large majorities in
1992,
1998,
2004, and
2010. Having won re-election in 2010, she surpassed
Margaret Chase Smith as the longest-serving female senator.
ABC News named Mikulski its
Person of the Week for that milestone. On March 17, 2012, she became the longest-serving female member of Congress in the history of the United States, surpassing the previous record-holder, Rep.
Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts, who served from 1925 to 1960. and actor
David Hyde Pierce in promoting awareness of
Alzheimer's disease. . In September 2009, the "tell-all" book
The Clinton Tapes revealed that during the
2000 presidential election, President
Bill Clinton suggested Mikulski as a running mate for
Al Gore, who instead chose his colleague
Joe Lieberman. In 2007, Mikulski endorsed her colleague, Sen.
Hillary Clinton (D-
NY), for
President of the United States, praising her as a leader and citing her desire to break the "
glass ceiling" by electing the first woman president. Senator Mikulski nominated Hillary Clinton for President of the United States at the Democratic National Convention on July 26, 2016. From 2007 to 2017, Mikulski served alongside
Ben Cardin, who succeeded her in the 3rd District and held it for 20 years until succeeding Sarbanes in the Senate.
Legislation On June 3, 2013, Mikulski introduced the
Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 2013 (S. 1086; 113th Congress), which passed in the Senate. The bill would
reauthorize the
Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to provide
block grants to the states to help low-income parents find child care for their children. In addition to reauthorizing the program, it also makes amendments to the law to try to improve it. Some of those improvements include required background checks on grant recipients and annual inspections. a measure that aims to strengthen the Fair Labor Standards Act's protections against pay inequalities based on gender. It is a bill that "punishes employers for retaliating against workers who share wage information, puts the justification burden on employers as to why someone is paid less and allows workers to sue for punitive damages of wage discrimination". Mikulski said that "it brings tears to my eyes to know women are working so hard and being paid less" and that "it makes me emotional when I hear that... I get angry, I get outraged and I get volcanic". In 1993, Senators 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. ==Political positions==