Selina Meyer

**Selina Catherine Meyer** (née Eaton; February 25, 1967 – present) is an American politician and lawyer who is currently serving as the senior Senator for District 4. She was the first woman to serve in the U.S. Senate. Prior to serving as a Senator, Meyer represented District 7 in the United States House of Representatives.

Senator Selina Meyer (R-MD)

### Political Office(s)

Senate Majority Leader, U.S. Senator for District 4, U.S. Representative for District 7

### Residence

Mount Airy, Maryland (primary residence); Charleston, South Carolina; Kennebunkport, Maine; Oak Harbor, Washington; London, England; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

### Net worth

$3.5 billion

Meyer's political career began in the early 1990s. After running unsuccessfully for Maryland State Senate, Meyer was eventually elected to Congress and later served as a U.S. Senator. Meyer gained notable attention after passing the bipartisan 21st Century Education Act and the Assisting Americans with Disabilities Act. Meyer is frequently listed as one of the most active U.S. Senators.

### EARLY LIFE

Selina Catherine Eaton was born to Catherine Calvert Eaton and businessman Gordon Dunn Eaton in Palm Beach, Florida. Eaton's birthdate is officially listed as February 25, 1967, though some have speculated that she may be older or possibly younger.

Eaton was raised in Chevy Chase, Maryland. While she was a child, Eaton had a pony named Ladypepper. It is later claimed that she begged her father to get her a horse named 'Chicklet' and he did, telling Eaton: "Squirrel, you're an intense little girl, and now you finally have a friend." Her father eventually sold her horse to get the IRS off his back, though Eaton was told that her mother sold her horse.

Eaton was raised in Chevy Chase, Maryland. While she was a child, Eaton had a pony named Ladypepper. It is later claimed that she begged her father to get her a horse named 'Chicklet' and he did, telling Eaton: "Squirrel, you're an intense little girl, and now you finally have a friend." Her father eventually sold her horse to get the IRS off his back, though Eaton was told that her mother sold her horse.

Eaton's political career was sparked by her father, who introduced her to President Richard Nixon at his 1973 inaugural ball, and told Eaton that, like Nixon, she was not well-liked but she was respected.

She had a difficult relationship with her exacting and controlling mother, who criticized her weight and would not let her use the "good" piano; this is something she remembers with bitterness at her mother's funeral. Eaton grew up believing that her father was a good person, but later came to the realization that he was even worse than her mother, finding out that he sold her horse to the IRS, had his secretary buy gifts for her, and was cheating on her mother.

In 1979, her father had a heart attack and died while having sex with his secretary in the barn that used to hold Eaton's horse. Eaton was told he died while overseas for business. Eaton was blamed by her mother for his death.

While Eaton grew up in Maryland, she attended boarding school out of state. In 1985, Eaton was admitted to Smith College in Massachusetts. She pursued political science her freshman year because of a boy she had a crush on. She was good friends with Regina Pell during this time, and Regina would recall that they shared a sexually charged moment during their junior year.

It was during her senior year at Smith that Eaton met businessman Andrew Meyer. They moved into an apartment together in a sketchy neighborhood in New Haven in the fall of 1988. Eaton graduated from Smith in spring 1989 and would later go on to Yale. Eaton and Andrew Meyer would marry in 1992, with Eaton taking his name, becoming "Selina Meyer".

Meyer would go on to pursue a career as a lawyer. In the early 1990s, she established a firm with her colleagues Anna, Sarah, and Deborah. It was during her time as a lawyer that she met and became friends with Karen Collins.

Meyer and Andrew's daughter, Catherine Selina Meyer, was born in 1994. Meyer took time off from her law practice to have Catherine. It was on the day that Catherine was born that Meyer met Gary Walsh and decided that she wanted to pursue a career in politics.

At some point in the 1990s, Meyer ran unsuccessfully for Maryland State Senate.Her mother, Catherine Calvert Eaton, attributed this to her "toothy smile."

### U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

After vowing to run for congress after the birth of Catherine, Meyer decided to run in the election to represent District 7 in the U.S. House, where Meyer's summer home of Charleston, South Carolina was. Briefly, Meyer was opposed by Porter Marshall, was an African American veteran who was a regular churchgoer, taught Sunday School, and even built orphanages in Haiti. According to Meyer, "[Marshall] crowded about my having had to take the bar exam so many times, on how few actual clients I had and how rarely I had prevailed in court, and most underhanded of all, he convinced the Baltimore Sun to run an article about my DUIs and featuring a very unflattering mug shot." However, Marshall shot himself in the back 27 times at the age of 57.

During the campaign, Andrew was sleeping with her press secretary at the time, and blamed Meyer for it. Meyer made Andrew fire her and would replace her with Mike McLintock. It was a very close race, and people criticized Meyer for being cold and unrelatable. Her opponent was "some old white guy". Meyer would go on to win the election.

Meyer was sworn into Congress on January 3.

Meyer would later describe the reality of Congress to be a "crushing blow", remarking on how "uncool" the House of Representatives is, describing the other members as "nerds" who had bad breath, unsavory fashion choices and terrible hair. She would also remark the lousy pay compared to other political positions.

In her autobiography, Meyer recalls several moments standing out to her: "I remember Langon Kruger of Nebraska cornering me in the cloakroom and going on and on about why I had to vote for some place or another to become a National Grassland and thinking 'My God, this is actually important to this guy.' That was eye-opening. And of course Dan Chase of the West Palm Beach area, remember him? We went to Italy on a fact-finding trip together, and he introduced me to a lot of women I later learned were prostitutes. So in this way I put in my pocket the gold coin of experience--the only coin that may never be seen."

The senior Senator from District 4, Frederick Friedman, had a mental breakdown and resigned. Meyer decided to run for the open seat, citing her reasoning as the following: "Ask yourself, which would you rather have: a job where you have to get elected every two years, you have no power, and there's more than four hundred gross dweebs and small-town nobodies fighting for attention, or a job as a senator?"

During her Senate campaign, with money dwindling, Meyer blackmailed Sally Nuefeld, a large financial donor, after catching her in the act with Andrew.

On election night, Meyer won the race in a landslide as she was unopposed.

### U.S. SENATE

Once in the Senate, Meyer would remark a similar feeling of disappointment, and claimed to be "bored of out my skull". Meyer was also incredibly frustrated by the then-Majority Leader Cameron Andrews' unwillingness to even be a member of the majority party. After less than a week in the Senate, Meyer began telling allies she was going to challenge Andrews for Majority Leader. Meyer would successfully be elected Majority Leader at the start of her second term.

Early on in her term, Meyer would be joined by newcomer Amy Brookheimer, who would prove to be one of her longtime confidantes.

Meyer would divorce Andrew early into her first term as Senator, while keeping his last name. During her time in the Senate, she became close with Mike, her press secretary, who implied that she drank heavily during this time.

Meyer and Washington Congressman Jakob Ainsley had a "sexually-charged moment" after the Friedman Hearing. Meyer was offended when, several years later, Ainsley has no idea what she was talking about.

Meyer's first bill which she wrote while he was in the House, the 21st Century Education Act, was passed during Meyer's first term in the Senate.

Meyer is firm supporter of President Benjamin Bryant, often holding fundraisers at her homes in Maryland and Saudi Arabia for the President. Meyer was also offered the position of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court and initially accepted the President's offer. However, after long reconsideration, Meyer decided she would stay in the Senate because, "I can't trust any of those fuckers to get anything done without me."