Maria Cantwell
Maria Ellen Cantwell (/ˈkæntˌwɛl/; born October 13, 1958)[1] is an American politician and former businesswoman serving as the junior United States senator from Washington since 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, she served in the Washington House of Representatives from 1987 to 1993, and in the United States House of Representatives from Washington's 1st congressional district from 1993 to 1995.
Maria Cantwell
Born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, Cantwell graduated from Miami University before moving to Seattle to work on Alan Cranston's 1984 presidential campaign. In 1986, she was elected to the state House of Representatives, where she served until her election to Congress in 1992. Cantwell served one term in Congress before losing her seat to Republican Rick White in the 1994 election. She then briefly worked in the private sector as vice president of marketing for RealNetworks.
Despite having vowed to remain out of politics, Cantwell ran for the United States Senate in 2000. She defeated Republican incumbent Slade Gorton in one of the closest elections in the state's history. Cantwell was reelected in 2006, 2012, and 2018. Upon the February 2017 resignation of Jeff Sessions to become United States Attorney General, she became the most senior junior senator. She is the second female senator from Washington, after Patty Murray.
Early life, education, and early political career[edit]
Cantwell was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. She was raised in a predominantly Irish American neighborhood on the south side of Indianapolis. Her father, Paul Cantwell,[2] served as county commissioner, city councilor, state legislator, and chief of staff for U.S. Representative Andrew Jacobs Jr.;[2] he was the Democratic nominee for Mayor of Indianapolis in 1979.[3] Her mother, Rose, was an administrative assistant. Her ancestry includes Irish and German.[2]
Cantwell attended Emmerich Manual High School, and was inducted into the Indianapolis Public Schools Hall of Fame in 2006.[4] After high school, Cantwell attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in public administration.[5]
A year after graduating, Cantwell worked on Jerry Springer's unsuccessful 1982 Ohio gubernatorial campaign.[6] Cantwell moved to Seattle, Washington, in 1983, to campaign for U.S. Senator Alan Cranston (D-CA) in his unsuccessful bid for the 1984 Democratic presidential nomination.[6][5] She then moved to the Seattle suburb of Mountlake Terrace, because it reminded her of Indianapolis,[7] and led a successful campaign in 1986 to build a new library there.[8] As of 2000, Cantwell lived in Edmonds, Washington with her mother.[9]
Washington House of Representatives (1987–1993)[edit]
Tenure[edit]
As a state representative, Cantwell helped write Washington's Growth Management Act of 1990, which required cities to develop comprehensive growth plans, and she negotiated its passage.[14][15] She also worked on legislation regulating nursing homes. Cantwell resigned on January 3, 1993, in preparation to be sworn in as a member of the United States House of Representatives.
Private sector employment (1995–1999)[edit]
After her defeat, Cantwell vowed to leave politics. Political ally Rob Glaser offered her a job as vice president of marketing for RealNetworks.[22] Among her accomplishments was the live internet streaming broadcast of a Mariners-Yankees baseball game in 1995, which marked the start of internet broadcasts of Major League Baseball games.[23]
In 1998, the company was criticized by privacy groups, which alleged that the RealJukebox software program incorporated spyware to track unsuspecting users' listening patterns and download history. In response, RealNetworks amended its privacy policy to fully disclose its privacy practices regarding user listening patterns. Subsequently, RealNetworks submitted to independent outside audits of its privacy practices. Several lawsuits regarding alleged privacy violations were settled out of court. This incident has shaped her views on privacy and her opposition to the Bush administration's post-9/11 policies.[24]
Personal life[edit]
In 2006, it emerged that court files concerning a loan Cantwell made in 2001 to her former boyfriend, boss, and campaign manager, lobbyist Ron Dotzauer, to help him through his divorce litigation, had been sealed. A Sound Politics reporter had the file unsealed and discovered that Cantwell was identified in the divorce records "as the 'other woman'".[123]
Cantwell was also formerly in a relationship with Seattle-based track and cross country star Scott Daggatt, then serving as a stockbroker of a Seattle-based National Securities Corporation.[124]
Owing to a sharp decrease in the value of her RealNetworks stock, Cantwell's personal fortune had declined significantly by 2011.[125]
Media related to Maria Cantwell at Wikimedia Commons