Wishing Tammy Baldwin A Happy Birthday

     Today, Tammy Baldwin marks a milestone event: her 60th birthday! She is one of few people in the U.S. government who can seriously argue that she has spent the supermajority of her years fighting for what is right for her constituents and for the nation as a whole.

     The class valedictorian of Madison West High School, Baldwin earned a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1989 and began a private law practice. During this time, she served on the Madison Common Council from 1985 to 1986 and the Dane County Board of Supervisors from 1986 to 1993. After this, Baldwin moved to the Wisconsin Assembly from 1993 to 1999. One of few openly LGBTQ politicians at the time, she made the issue of LGBTQ rights her priority, opposing President Clinton's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and proposing same-sex marriage and same-sex civil unions. 

     From 1999 to 2013, Baldwin served in the U.S. House of Representatives, the first open lesbian in Congress, the first woman from Wisconsin, and the first openly LGBTQ person in the House. In 2013, she was elected to the Senate, the first openly LGBTQ person to serve in the Senate. She was succeeded in the House by Mark Pocan, the first openly LGBTQ man and second LGBTQ person to represent Wisconsin (and the second district) in the House.

     In 2017, Baldwin succeeded Patty Murray as Secretary of the Senate Democratic Caucus, one of the five most powerful positions in Senate Democratic leadership (after Majority Leader and Chair Chuck Schumer, Whip Dick Durbin, Assistant Leader Patty Murray, and Vice Chairs Mark Warner and Elizabeth Warren).

     Happy birthday, Tammy Baldwin, and may you continue to climb the political ladder as high as it will take you!!!