Francine Sullivan

[quote="Federal States of Xathuecia";p="37180165"]Repost with updated dates.

[spoiler=Senator Francine Sullivan][align=center][img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Us\_senate\_seal.png[/img]
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[b][size=150]Character Information Sheet[/size][/b][/align]
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[b]Character Name:[/b] Francine "Frankie" Sullivan
[b]Character Gender[/b]: Female
[b]Character Age:[/b] 75
[b]Height:[/b] 5 ft. 7 in.
[b]Weight:[/b] 154 lbs.
[b]Character Position/Role:[/b] Senior Senator for Alaska (2002 - Present), Mayor of Anchorage (1997 - 2002), NASA Astronaut and Scientist (1976 - 1994)
[b]Character State of Origin:[/b] Alaska
[b]Character State of Residence:[/b] Alaska
[b]Character Party Affiliation[/b]: Democrat (1986 - Present)

[align=center][b][u]Character Strengths[/u][/b]
[size=120]F[/size]ormer astronaut which gives Sullivan a strong and popular folksy image, Receives above-average women turnout, Many political connections across the state and very well-known, Largely recognized as effective and bipartisan even in the times of President Wolf

[b][u]Character Weaknesses:[/u][/b]
[size=120]T[/size]reads a careful line of both staying true to being a Democrat yet in a state that Republicans often carry, Has often dealt with tough political opponents and reelection campaigns, Has been criticized by some national Democratic figures for her record of working with Burke and Wolf, Disliked by progressives, Largely regarded as a very vulnerable seat, Previously on the wrong sides of many issues, Often outspent and outraised by Republicans who continue to try to unseat Sullivan[/align]
[size=130][b]Biography[/b][/size]
[size=120]B[/size]orn in nineteen forty-six, the young Francine Sullivan was born in Fairbanks, Alaska to father, Marcus L. Sullivan, and mother, Dolly E. Sullivan nee Robertson.  Marcus was an engine mechanic at Ladd Army Airfield and from this early moment, the spirit of service to country was instilled in the young Francine.  She proved to be a quite unruly child, a behavior she jokingly claims to have kept given her often independent and moderate tenure as a Senator.  Similarly, the young Sullivan girl also often enjoyed exploring outside and frequently, once she learned how to walk and more so once she learned how to ride a bike, went out for hours at an end to explore.  This would likely only be a precursor to her own future in exploring beyond America's last frontier but the last human frontier: space.  Still, it was a long way from that part of her life just yet and it was still years away before she would become one of the handful of Americans to go to outer space.

[size=120]A[/size]s she began attending middle and high school, Francine was often called "Frankie" mockingly.  The nickname ended up sticking and it led to her own acceptance of it, often directly asking to be called by it during her latter years at Fairbanks High School.  She would later remark that this was one of the first instances where she knew that she would have to pick her fights, a key life lesson that would stick with Frankie Sullivan throughout her entire career.  By now, her interest in the sciences had grown and she largely enjoyed her biology and chemistry courses.  While her school did not particularly have anything of significant in terms of course work or projects in these two courses, the Sullivan girl often was more than resourceful.  She submitted a number of outside science fair projects to the state fair in Anchorage and while her mother Dolly disliked traveling down to the coastal state capitol, the Sullivans often made the trip to help their young daughter keep up her scientific interests.  And despite the mild sexism that came from a girl doing science, Frankie persevered.  She also made a number of close friends among the Native community attending the high school, leading to a number of anecdotes that she has come to later cite as a reason she makes Native issues a priority for herself.

[size=120]W[/size]ith limited options for college in Alaska, it was clear that if Francine intended to study science, she would likely need to go out of the state and somewhere far more focused on her subject matter.  As well as a place she would feel comfortable, given that it would be unlikely she could return to Fairbanks regularly due to the cost and the distance.  Thus, with the help of her father Marcus' friends at Ladd, the Sullivans found a willing family to host their eldest daughter in Sacrament, near the McClellan Air Force Base.  With her accommodations settled with some trusted acquaintances, she applied to the University of California, Davis.  There was where she began studying biology and chemistry, at the time separate programs due to the lack of an integrated biochemistry.  She largely was a studious girl, mostly in part due to living with a host family and not on campus, though this arrangement changed in her junior and senior year.  It was in these last two years that she decided to strike it out on her own with two fellow students from the University and the trio quickly became close friends.  One stayed at UC Davis for Medical School, another left for home, and as for Francine, she applied and was accepted at the University of Texas at Austin's up and coming biochemistry graduate program.

[size=120]H[/size]er thesis and focus was on a number of experiments relating to x-rays and radiation's effects on biological systems.  This was particularly interesting for Sullivan due to the ways that radiation affected proteins, with her research largely concentrating on the chemical interactions.  Even in the present day, when Francine has clearly left behind her science, she remains quite knowledgable about modern developments in biochemistry and has become a major proponent of science in the Senate.  Nonetheless, this became her career as a graduate student for a number of years until nineteen seventy-two.  It was then when she was offered a coveted position of post-doc in her UT Austin lab, eventually climbing to senior research associate in her specific biochemistry division, a position just shy of becoming a full-fledged professor.  During this part of her scientific career was when Francine married, specifically another graduate student who was a year older than her in his own studies, Timothy Hudson.  They had a rather fun time together, as the pair was definitely nerdy and enjoyed speaking about their science to one another, often to the extent that it led to the newly-weds having few family friends in Austin because of this scientific obsession.  The pair took a trip to Alabama, where Hudson was from, and to Fairbanks as well, to introduce Timothy to the rest of Frankie's family.  She did opt to keep her maiden name largely due to her belief that her doctorate belonged to her and her family's name, as she was the first in her family to reach this highest level of education.

[size=120]T[/size]he second phase of now Dr. Sullivan's life began in nineteen seventy-eight, when she had applied to NASA's Astronaut Corp due to their new policy to advertise towards female candidates.  It had been a rather impulsive decision, as Francine was quite satisfied with life but yearned for more.  She had felt that her ambitions had been stifled and due to the overt sexism in the scientific field, she often felt distraught that obtaining a full-fledged professorship would not only be difficult but a long time.  Thus, when she saw the opportunity and with Timothy's obvious approval to please his wife, Francine had applied.  And within a year, she was invited to rounds of interviews before becoming accepted to join the Corp.  It was also a turbulent personal time for the Sullivan-Hudson's, who, a year before, had had a daughter.  Thus Timothy often took breaks from work to care for their young daughter, a sacrifice that Frankie often continues to highlight when describing her marriage and husband, and included it in her future memoir, Frankie Sullivan: Alaska's Astronaut, as well.

[size=120]W[/size]ith Francine's acceptance to the Corp and her extensive scientific research as a biochemist, she became the lead in a number of research projects to be conducted on the effects of radiation in space as well as a number of biological experiments, particularly with plants in space.  Her role as a scientist also helped her become an aide to others on missions, often serving as a research assistant and helping design experiments.  As for the spaceflights herself, Sullivan began full-on training two years after acceptance to the Corp and had her first mission on the Space Shuttle Discovery.  She flew a total of five missions, including not just the Discovery but also the Atlantis and Columbia, becoming the first American woman to fly her third, fourth, and fifth mission in space.  Her final mission in nineteen ninety-three was her stay on the Russian space station Mir, which led to Sullivan holding the record of longest spaceflight until 2007.  She gained renowned attention for this mission in particular due to the fact it was a number of delays that extended her trip, not actually planned for that long.  Though once Sullivan returned, she made it clear that she was done with actually traveling in space and wanted to spend more time at home.  Her family had moved to Houston by now due to her job and thus she accepted a role of trainer for one more year, before submitting her resignation to NASA.

[size=120]W[/size]ith her children largely learning the Sullivan-Hudson nest, Francine convinced her rather less enthusiastic husband to move back to Alaska.  It was a move motivated largely by two reasons: the declining health of her parents was something that weighed heavily in her mind and their retirement to a home in Anchorage made it far more accessible to reach them than when they had lived in Fairbanks.  Similarly, the more elderly parents of Timothy had died when she had been in space, leaving her poor husband in a rather depressed state and one that Sullivan believed could be fixed by leaving Texas altogether.  Thus, as they said their good-byes and embarked on an adventure to hopefully strengthened her husband's down spirits and calm her own worried ones, Frankie also began to write her memoir.  It contained her life story, all fifty-one years she had been alive, and her own connections to Alaska herself.  The latter part was a specifically important one, as she wanted to reconnect with her home state once more, using the memoir to do just that.  Thus, when it was published in early 1995, the book made her an overnight sensation in Alaska.  Sullivan had been hardly known in the state but the book changed that within a few months of being released, entering the NYT best seller's list for a brief time.

[size=120]W[/size]hile officially retired, she began a science organization for Alaskan youth later that year, using her newfound popularity to raise support for science education in the area.  She also became a frequent guest of honor at veteran and native organizations in the state due to her memoir's distinct stories about her father and her high school friends.  It was also around this time that, rather accidentally, Francine began to make a number of political comments regarding Anchorage including the need to reduce crime in the city, to move the state capitol to the city, and to get more people to visit the city.  At the encouragement of local media and friends, as well as a number of city council members unfavorable towards the other potential candidates; and since the race for mayor was officially non-partisan, Sullivan saw no need to disclose her personal politics to widely either.  So she entered the nineteen ninety-seven race for Mayor of Anchorage, on a platform of addressing crime, renewing talks with state legislators about potentially making Anchorage the capitol, and her signature proposal: make the city tourist friendly.

[size=120]F[/size]rancine won by a wide margin and began her tenure as mayor.  Her first major campaign tenet was slightly successful, as she managed to expand volunteer firefighter training and numbers, while failing to secure any major police or first responder funding for expansion.  She did make headlines for publicly discussing and holding roundtables regarding Native disparities when it came to crime though she failed to actually address the issue.  Likewise, Sullivan failed to make any headway regarding a possible renewed capitol change and was largely laughed by a number of state officials.  She also faced a lawsuit after supporting the removal of a gay pride exhibit from a local public library in the city.  Her biggest success did come from her tourism bent, as she managed to lower the city's bed tax by two percentage points and through partnerships with local petroleum companies, expanded the Alaska Center for Performing Arts and a number of city parks and playgrounds.  She also gained some renown for a number of guest lectures she gave at the University of Alaska Anchorage and the Alaska Pacific University, often highlighting both scientific and public service topics.  Due to a largely supportive base, she ran for a second term in two thousand with a focus on continuing her work and while facing a more close election, she again won handily.

[size=120]I[/size]t was in two thousand and four though, that would prove her biggest political test.  Since (Not-Frank Murkowski) had groomed his daughter (Not-Lisa Murkowski) to run for his U.S. Senate seat in two thousand and two upon his election to Governor, there had been a serious conversation among state Democrats to recruit Alaska's Astronaut for the race in the upcoming year.  And the blatant nepotism was something that was already creating some anger among voters, leading many to suspect a folksy hero with a story and rather clean yet experienced record like Frankie could win.  Thus, a number of operatives and state political leaders descended onto the mayor to convince her it was time for her to step up.  But she was a stubborn lady, not quite sure of her experience to qualify as a senator or to even mount a large political campaign.  Sullivan also worried it would force her and Timothy into a new kind of political spotlight and microscope, and while they were Democrats, Anchorage didn't seem to care.  But the rest of Alaska would.

[size=120]S[/size]till, after two or so months mulling over the decision, she entered the race.  And immediately, Francine faced political attacks for seemingly abandoning her post as mayor only a year after being elected.  Likewise, she was critiqued for her lack of experience, something the (Not-Murkowski) campaign highlighted repeatedly.  On the other hand, Sullivan's campaign focused on her record of accomplishing things despite political barriers, of standing up for all Alaskans and representing the spirit of the Last Frontier, and her own connections to Natives, to veterans, to the everyday Alaskan family through her continued organization for promoting science among youth.  As for the issues, she sought to let her record speak for herself, defining her campaign as one for fiscal responsibility, social values, and strengthening public services.  Her label as a Democrat also helped, receiving a number of donations and support from popular moderate Democrats, including an ad featuring John Glenn supporting Sullivan's bid as an "American hero".  Thus, as Election Day came, Francine pulled off a victory of six points over (Not-Murkowski), winning the Alaska U.S. Senate seat for the Democratic Party in well-over twenty-two years.

[size=120]R[/size]egarding her actual legislative tenure, Frankie has largely remained a moderate and has shifted leftwards on social policy throughout the years.  Having authored a number of major bipartisan bills, she has also established herself as a political moderate.  Science and technology are often things that guide her decisions and largely have contributed to her receiving a number of awards from scientific agencies and groups for her continued support for research.  Regarding abortion, Sullivan is largely pro-choice.  She has supported embryonic stem cell research though has sided with her more conservative colleagues in cutting federal dollars to this type of research, though she has come out against defunding Planned Parenthood.  Likewise, she voted against the Republican repeal of the Affordable Care Act and she had supported the Affordable Care Act when initially passed, though cites numerous changes need to be made to help make it better.  Sullivan has indicated some support for a single-payer system but has stated it would need to be bipartisan or else it's a "pipe dream".  She has authored laws to increase funding for rural healthcare and authored the Improving Access to Maternity Care Act as well.  She has also authored the STATES Act to help businesses in state's where marijuana was legal to not be hurt by federal laws.

[size=120]A[/size]s for issues of equality, Francine opposes affirmative action as well as legacy admissions.  Likewise, she often retains a tough on crime approach, though she has moderated it as the years have gone by.  She voted with her fellow Alaskan senator against the FIRST STEP Act.  She has denounced the alt-right and has supported and authored a number of hate crime legislation to address what she has called a dangerous reality.  Sullivan voted in favor of a federal constitutional amendment to define marriage to be between one man and one woman; as well as defending her state's right to define marriage.  She has since changed her perspective and supported the repeal of "Don't ask, don't tell", supporting gay marriage in 2012.  She has also voted against the DREAM Act but has criticized Wolf's threats to cancel DACA.  Sullivan sponsored the Border and Port Security Act to help expand the border patrol personnel numbers.  As for other civil liberties and national security issues, Sullivan opposes the use of torture as well as supporting efforts to repeal the PATRIOT Act.  She has authored the Suicide Prevention for America’s Veterans Act and the Military Hunger Prevention Act as well.  Sullivan has also continued to support military expenditures due to her state's large amounts of military installations and workers, as well as supporting an increase in development/modernization, especially following threats from Russian and North Korean aggression.

[size=120]O[/size]n a number of other miscellaneous issues, she remains pro-gun and has voted against efforts for mandating background checks.  But Frankie has supported allowing the CDC to study gun deaths and creating federal support for that kind of research.  Likewise, Sullivan has supported research into climate change and implementing strategies, but has sought to weaken what she views as the EPA's attempts to hurt an energy state like Alaska.  She authored the Foreign Spill Protection Act of 2016 to help maintain responsibility after environmental disasters though has also introduced legislation to limit EPA authority on greenhouse gas regulations.  She also supported and cosponsored the repeal of the Stream Protection Rule and denouncing the Green New Deal resolution. On education, Frankie authored the Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act but has also stated that she does not want college to be paid for by the government, hence her sponsorship of the Boost Saving for College Act along with a number of Republicans.  On native issues, Sullivan has been widely supportive on a host of issues, though criticized for her lax environmental stances, especially for her long silence on the Keystone Pipeline.  She authored Savanna’s Act to help reduce crime among Native women too.

[size=120]H[/size]er subsequent reelections in 2008 and 2014 have increasingly become closer and closer respectively. Her moderate record was something she touted extensively in her second reelection bid, as Francine was now in a race where the top of the ticket was Baharia.  She explained her support for some of his proposals, as well as many that (Not-McCain) has offered, stating that she did not care who won because she could serve her state strongly either way.  This time around, Sullivan was the target of aggressive GOP fundraising, though pulled through once again, though technically with a smaller share of the vote due to an independent candidate and a Libertarian candidate both amassing a surprising share of the electorate due to largely disillusioned voters due to the 2008 recession.  Frankie's third bid was met by a strong Tea Party challenger, who had been leading in the polls against her for the majority of the race.  But thankfully, due to a backlash against him by the runner-up in the primary, a more moderate Republican, Sullivan not only received a number of endorsements from some state Republicans but the indirect support for the GOP primary runner-up.  This led to her victory by a four point margin and one largely won by her bipartisan and moderate, even conservative at times, record. Similarly, unlike before when she had been outspent and outraised, this time, a number of businesses and energy companies had defected or simply not given to any candidate, leading to a fundraising and spending gap larger than her two previous races.  This was a particularly troubling sign as it appeared that her popularity and hold on to the seat may be waning.

[size=120]N[/size]ow, under the Wolf Presidency, she has continued to focus on being effective.  This has included supporting most of his appointees, including (Not-Gorsuch) despite some push back to the idea of using the nuclear option, especially since she was part of the Gang of Fourteen to avoid the use of it then in two thousand and five.  Francine did notably vote to not confirm (Not-Kavanaugh), something that angered a few of Alaskans.  She has met with the President a number of times to work on legislation and has a record of being one of the most bipartisan Democrats in the current Congress, largely due to Francine's willingness to work cross the aisle.  Sullivan has rarely critiqued the President, often preferring to comment on the actions of his cabinet secretaries or a specific law/measure instead of naming names.  Frankie has supported Wolf’s end to the Iran Deal and tough yet diplomatic stances towards China and especially North Korea. She conducted a few visits to Alabama with her husband to a number of small towns to campaign for (Not-Doug Jones) once the GOP openly rejected (Not-Roy Moore).  Frankie is a ranking member of the committee on Veteran's Affairs, as well as a member of Energy and Natural Resources, Indian Affairs, and Appropriations, specifically the subcommittees of Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies; Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies; and the ranking member for Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies.

[size=120]A[/size]s of 2019, Sullivan has voted for the Bill to Establish Election Day as a Federal Holiday, the Camera Grant Act of 2019, the Protecting American Diplomats Act of 2019, the Equality Act of 2019, the Protection of Children Act, and for the Democracy and Openness for Venezuela Act.  She voted against the Medicare Choice Act of 2019.  She has yet to support any Democratic candidates and has publicly floated the idea of potentially endorsing a Republican if her party nominates a far left candidate.  Francine had spoken with Sen. Goldman about potentially supporting her candidacy until she dropped out, hence leaving her without anyone she particularly likes though she is not exactly rushing to endorse either.  Her legislative goals remain passing bipartisan bills, with the hope of strengthening her credentials in a bid to better her resume ahead of the 2020 race, which will likely be her toughest fight yet.

[size=130][b]Ideology[/b][/size]
[size=120]C[/size]onsidering herself a political moderate, it is clear that Frankie Sullivan sees herself as more of an Alaskan Democrat than a Washington Democrat, a line that she has often used in debates and interviews.  While leaning to the right on issues like gun rights, affirmative action, tax policy, environmental issues, and foreign policy, she skews back to the left on the majority of social issues, healthcare, education, criminal justice, and abortion.  Her delicate position in the Senate often has led to her becoming a deciding vote on a number of matters, with a number of her Democratic colleagues using the phrase “Houston, we have a problem” to refer to Sullivan’s decision to take a controversial opposite vote.

[size=130][b]Other Information[/b][/size]
[size=120]L[/size]argely became a political and personal mentor and friend to a number of other conservative and moderate Democratic senators like (Not-Tester), (Not-McCaskill), (Not-Heitkamp), and now to the likes of (Not-Doug Jones) and hopefully Senator Shah now too.  Sullivan also maintains close friendships with Sen. Merriam and Sen. Frankston and often calls them her closest allies across the aisle.[/spoiler][/quote]