Alexandra Damon

**Alexandra Nicole Damon** (née **Jefferson**; born March 31, 1968) is an American politician and lawyer who has served as Vice President of the United States since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she represented North Carolina in the United States Senate from 2013 to 2017, and was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing North Carolina's 1st district, from 2007 to 2013.

Born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, Damon graduated from The Baldwin School in 1986. After graduating, she moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina to attend Wake Forest University, graduating with a degree in political science in 1990. Damon then moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts to attend Harvard Law School at Harvard University, and graduated with her law degree in 1993. She subsequently returned to North Carolina and settled in Durham, North Carolina, where she began her career as a lawyer. Damon left her law career in 2007, in order to enter politics.

Damon began her political career in 2006, launching her campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives, representing North Carolina's 1st district. She went on to win the Democratic nomination and the general election, being sworn in on January 3, 2007. She launched her candidacy for United States Senate in 2011, easily winning the Democratic nomination and narrowly winning the general election, being sworn in on January 3, 2013. While in the Senate, Damon attracted massive attention and was identified as one of the leading figures within the Democratic Party. In 2015, she launched her campaign for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the 2016 United States presidential election. Despite being a frontrunner in the primary, she ultimately lost the nomination to Henry Williamson, but was selected by Williamson as his running mate. They later won the general election, and Damon was sworn in as Vice President of the United States on January 20, 2017.

The first female to ever serve as Vice President, Damon has been cited as the most powerful woman in American politics of all-time, and one of the most powerful women in the world. She has been theorized as a possible future President of the United States.

## Early life and family

Damon was born on March 31, 1968 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania to parents Arnold (born 1934) and Francesca Jefferson (née *Guglielmetti*; born 1937). Her father was born in Massachusetts and is of primarily English, Irish, Scotch-Irish, and Welsh descent, while her Brooklyn-born mother is from an Italian-American family. Damon was raised in a non-practicing Catholic household. Arnold worked as an attorney in Philadelphia, and later began working as a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, while Francesca was a scholar, academic, and philosophy professor at Bryn Mawr College. Damon is the younger of two children; her elder brother is Thomas, born  (1966-05-18) May 18, 1966 (age 57).

## Education and law career

Damon attended private schooling growing up. She began her education in 1973, attending The Baldwin School, an independent PK–12 girls school. Damon began high school at Baldwin in 1982, where she was an honors student, varsity swimmer, and class president. She graduated from high school in 1986. After graduating from high school, Damon moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina to attend Wake Forest University, where she majored in political science. While at Wake Forest, she became a member of the Chi Omega (ΧΩ) sorority and served as vice president of the Wake Forest branch of the College Democrats. She graduated with her bachelor's degree *magna cum laude* in 1990.

After graduating with her bachelor's degree, Damon moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts to attend Harvard Law School at Harvard University. While at Harvard Law, she joined the *Harvard Law Review*, and graduated with her law degree in 1993. After graduating, Damon returned to North Carolina and settled in Durham, North Carolina. She began working in copyright law, but later left her law career in 2007, in order to enter politics.

## Political positions

*Main article: Political positions of Alexandra Damon.*

## Personal life

Damon began dating attorney Matthew Damon in 1993, after meeting during their final year of law school at Harvard Law School. After graduating, they moved to Durham, North Carolina together to begin their law careers. They became engaged in 1996, and later married the following year. They have two children together: Michaela, born  (2000-03-02) March 2, 2000 (age 23), and Jake, born  (2001-12-14) December 14, 2001 (age 22).

After her marriage, Damon purchased a six-bedroom home in Durham, valued at $1.6 million. Following her election to Congress in 2007, she purchased a four-bedroom home in Alexandria, Virginia, valued at $1.3 million. In 2017, after being sworn in as Vice President, the family moved into Number One Observatory Circle, the traditional residence of the Vice President and their family.