Barbara Mikulski: “Dean of Senate Women”

Barbara Mikulski, elected to the US Senate in 1985, was the first Democratic woman to hold a Senate seat not previously held by a husband.

She is also the first Democratic woman to serve in both houses of Congress, the first woman to be elected to a Democratic leadership position in the Senate, and the first woman to win a statewide election in Maryland.

Senator Mikulski, a feisty advocate for the working class and for women, is the great-granddaughter of Polish immigrants who owned a bakery in Baltimore.  Born and raised in historic and ethnically rich East Baltimore where her parents ran a neighborhood grocery store, she began her political career by organizing neighbors to stop a 16-lane highway through the historic Fells Point area of Baltimore.  This highway not only threatened Fells Point, but would have cut through the first black home ownership neighborhood in the city.

Barbara Mikulski became known as the street fighter who beat the highway.  This led to a seat on the Baltimore City Council which then led to the US House of Representatives and now to the US Senate.

Senator Mikulski’s advocacy on behalf of women candidates has helped elect six new Democratic women to the United States Senate during her tenure, and has made her the unofficial “Dean of Senate Women.”

Share This