Barbara Mikulski

Barbara Mikulski

Barbara Ann Mikulski (born July 20, 1936) is the senior United States Senator from Maryland and a member of the Democratic Party. Mikulski, a former United States Representative, is the longest-serving female senator and the longest-serving woman in the history of the U.S. Congress, having served since 1977.

Raised in the Highlandtown neighborhood of East Baltimore, Mikulski attended Mount Saint Agnes College and the University of Maryland School of Social Work. Originally a social worker and community organizer, she was elected to the Baltimore City Council in 1971 after delivering a highly publicized address on the "ethnic movement" in America. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1976, and in 1986 she became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Maryland.

Mikulski is chairwoman of the Health Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging and Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, and is a member of the Select Committee on Intelligence. Mikulski is the longest-serving present Senator who has never been the chairperson of a full standing committee of the U.S. Senate. She is also the longest-serving/highest-ranking Democrat who is not a present chairperson of a full standing committee.