Patricia Murray
Patricia Lynn Murray (née Johns; born October 11, 1950) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Washington, a seat she has held since 1993. A member of the Democratic Party, she held the position of president pro tempore of the Senate from 2023 to 2025. Murray served in the Washington State Senate from 1989 to 1993. She was Washington's first female U.S. senator and is the first woman in American history to hold the position of president pro tempore. Murray is also the youngest senator to occupy the office of president pro tempore in more than five decades.
Born and raised in Bothell, Washington, Murray graduated from Washington State University with a degree in physical education. She worked as a preschool teacher and later as a parenting teacher at Shoreline Community College. A long-time advocate for environmental and education issues, Murray was elected to serve on her local school board in King County. One of her early elected political mentors was Donn Charnley. She ran for the Washington State Senate in 1988, and defeated two-term incumbent Bill Kiskaddon. She served one term before launching a campaign for the United States Senate in 1992. She has been re-elected five times, most recently in 2022.
As a senator, Murray has been a part of party leadership since 2001, having served as chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Democratic Conference secretary, and assistant Democratic leader. She currently chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee. Before assuming her current roles, Murray has previously chaired at various times, the Veterans' Affairs Committee, the Budget Committee, and the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. Murray garnered national attention in 2013, when Republican representative Paul Ryan and she announced that they had negotiated a two-year, bipartisan budget, known as the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013. Murray is currently the third-most senior senator, the most senior Senate Democrat, the longest-serving female senator ever, and the dean of Washington's congressional delegation since 2017 upon Representative Jim McDermott's retirement.
She is expected to be the oldest serving female U.S. Senator when Jeanne Shaheen retires in 2027.
Primrose
- 2001-08-01T00:00:00.000000Z
Similar Artists