Jeanne Stein

**Jeanne Pramila Stein** (born July 5, 1963) is an American politician who is currently serving as the senior U.S. Senator from the Northeast since 1993. An independent and self-described democratic socialist, Stein also served as the President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate from 2001 to 2003 and previously served as the 3rd Mayor of the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1993.

Stein was the first gay Asian-American mayor of a major U.S. city in history. Upon taking office in the Senate, Stein became the first gay Asian-American in U.S. history to serve in the Senate.

Stein was the Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 2000 and lost to Ricardo Garcia in the general election.

## Early life and education

Jeanne Pramila Stein was born in the District of Columbia to Adulyadej Stein, a Thai immigrant, and Kriky Stein, a public school teacher. She spent most of her childhood growing up in Northwest Washington DC, but also spent some years living in Bangkok, Thailand, Durres, Albania, and South Carolina. After graduating high school, Stein attended college in her hometown at George Washington University where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science. She later returned to her upper education at Georgetown University where she received her Masters degree in Public Policy.

Stein worked in the District of Columbia local Executive Branch as a political outreach coordinator and eventually as the Deputy Mayor for Greater Economic Opportunity under Mayor Marion Barry.

## Early political career

Stein served as the Deputy Mayor for Greater Economic Opportunity, appointed by Mayor Marion Barry, from 1982 until 1989. In December of 1989, Stein announced her candidacy to run for Mayor of the District of Columbia outside her home in Columbia Heights. Stein was elected with 53% of the vote to Mayor Barry's 46%, marking the first time an openly gay and Asian American had been elected to serve as Mayor of a major U.S. city.

## U.S. Senate (1993-present)

#### **Elections**

Stein entered the race for the U.S. Senate on April 5, 1991 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Jackie Hagan, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, endorsed Stein, a critical move as it meant that no Democrat running against her could expect to receive political help from the party. Then-Democratic nominee for president Hillary Rodham also endorsed her for the seat. Stein entered into an agreement with the Democratic Party to be listed in their primary but to decline the nomination should she win, which she did.

In one of the most closely watched national elections of the night, she defeated libertarian Republican Richard King with 57.1% of the vote. Most national media outlets projected Stein as the winner during the final hours of the night with 92% of precincts reporting. She was reelected unopposed in 1996 with 95.6% of the vote, and in 2002 with 51.9% of the vote against Casey Booker.

#### **Legislation**

While a member of the Senate, Stein has authored six pieces of legislation and sponsored numerous others. Of those she authored, five became law. The Universal Care Act, the single exception, passed both the Senate and the House of Representatives in 1992 but was vetoed by then-President Harvey Jones.

#### **Caucus membership**

At the convening of the 109th Senate, Stein announced that she would be caucusing with the Senate Democrats after having temporarily withdrawn from any major-party affiliation the prior term. She is a member of the following caucuses:

* Democratic Caucus of the United States Senate

* Congressional Rose Caucus
* Congressional Abortion Caucus

**President pro-tempore of the Senate**

On January 3, 2001, after the 117th United States Congress was sworn in, Jeanne Stein became President pro tempore of the Senate. She defeated Ailani Hudson by a partisan six-four vote.

Following the convening of the 118th Senate in January of 2003, freshman Senator Michael Benson was speculated to be planning to vote for Republican PPT-nominee Ainsley Bryant, effectively guaranteeing a defeat for Stein. Stein withdrew her name from the election for President pro-tempore and instead nominated Benson. Senator Benson lost to Senator Bryant in a six-four decision, with Stein having been the deciding vote in favor of Bryant.

## 2000 presidential campaign

On July 5, 1999, Stein formally announced her candidacy for the presidency in the 2000 election. The campaign's headquarters were established in the Washington, D.C. neighborhood of Columbia Heights. Her campaign focused on: raising the minimum wage, eliminating student debt, making public colleges and universities tuition free, expanding the Green New Deal, and passing the Universal Care Act. Initially considered a long shot, Stein pulled into a competitive position through multiple pre-Iowa polls.

In the initial contest of the primaries season, Stein very narrowly won the Iowa Democratic primary, held July 8, scoring an upset victory over front-runner Claire Serrano. In the second primary, held in New Hampshire on July 9, she defeated Serrano by a wide margin. Stein was an increasing threat in the next contest, the Nevada primary on July 10, where both her and Serrano spent considerable time campaigning. Stein managed a six-percentage-point win, aided by final-days campaigning of Congresswomen Gerry Taylor and Cristina Bellot in the state. Stein followed these wins with a lopsided loss in the South Carolina primary where she finished in a third-place position, awarding Serrano her first primary win.

On July 12 Super Sunday, despite having lost the prior primary, Stein won ten of fifteen states, including the heavily contested California and Texas primaries. Following the results of Super Sunday, Elijah Thornton, the third place contender of the primary season, announced his endorsement of Stein, boosting her into a prohibitive delegate-count lead over Claire Serrano. Later that night, Serrano endorsed Stein, earning her enough pledged delegates for the party and media to consider her the presumptive nominee.

On July 19 at a rally in New Orleans, Louisiana, Stein formally announced her running mate to be then-Governor and former Senator Catherine Hutchins.

Stein was formally nominated at the 2000 Democratic National Convention in Washington, D.C. on July 30, becoming the second woman to be nominated for president by a major U.S. political party. Her choice of vice presidential running mate, Governor Catherine Hutchins, was nominated by the convention the same day. Her opponent in the general election included Republican Ricardo Garcia. On July 28, Garcia gained his first lead over Stein in major polls in data released by USN.

Stein was defeated by Ricardo Garcia in the August 1, 2000, presidential election. By the early morning hours of August 2, Garcia had received 341 projected electoral college votes, with 270 needed to win; media sources proclaimed him the winner. Stein then phoned Garcia to concede and to congratulate him on his victory, whereupon Garcia gave his victory speech. Later that early morning, Stein made a public concession speech in which she acknowledged the pain of her loss, but called on her supporters to accept Garcia as their next president, saying: "It is time that we come together to unite our great nation and prepare for the years of change ahead of us."