US Representative, Wisconsin , District #2
Contact Information
Tammy Baldwin
10 East Doty St. Suite 405
Madison, Wisconsin 53703
(608) 258-9800
http://tammybaldwin.house.gov
Home Town: Madison, WI
Committees: Judiciary Committee, Budget Committee
Bio
In November 1998, Tammy Baldwin was elected to
Congress -- the first woman to serve in the
House of Representatives from Wisconsin. She
was re-elected in 2000, 2002, and 2004. In the
109th Congress, Tammy serves on the Committee
on Energy and Commerce. In previous terms, she
had served on the House Budget and Judiciary
Committees. She is a leading advocate for
universal health care, protecting Social
Security from risky privatization schemes,
protecting Medicare, and increasing support for
public education, including financial aid for
higher education. Tammy Baldwin is a forceful
supporter of civil rights and an advocate for
those in our society whose voices, too often,
are not heard. Her driving motivation in
politics is to pass legislation that will
guarantee health care for all in America. A
pragmatist, she is working with conservative as
well as liberal thinkers to craft proposals to
meet this goal and has introduced legislation
in every session of Congress to create
state/federal partnerships toward that end.
While in Congress, Tammy has advocated
successfully to expand programs combating
violence against women. She has stood up for
Wisconsin farmers, repeatedly calling for the
permanent enactment and expansion of Chapter 12
bankruptcy protections and attempting to ward
off the uncontrolled importation of milk
protein concentrates. A champion of civil
liberties, Tammy worked with colleagues on both
sides of the aisle in the Judiciary Committee
(1999-2004) to monitor civil rights
infringements on citizens and argue for changes
in the USA PATRIOT Act to protect those rights.
Tammy is committed to reducing the high price
of prescription drugs for seniors and creating
a comprehensive prescription drug benefit under
Medicare; providing assistance and support to
our nation’s veterans; protecting our
environment; creating a balanced national
energy plan; and creating and maintaining
good-paying jobs in this country. As working
families in Wisconsin and around the country
struggle to make ends meet, she has drafted and
introduced two bills that would provide
targeted tax relief to families with children.
Besides advancing legislation for the common
good, Tammy and her staff assist constituents
in solving problems they may have with federal
agencies; help individuals, groups, and local
governments secure federal grants; and ensure
that her district receives a fair share of
federal financial assistance. Since taking
office, Tammy has secured more than $75 million
in federal funds for worthwhile projects in
every county in her district, funds that would
not have come to Wisconsin without her strong
advocacy. Tammy Baldwin began her career in
elective office as a member of the Dane County
Board of Supervisors in 1986. In the same year,
she served briefly on the Madison, WI City
Council, filling an aldermanic vacancy. Tammy
served four terms as a Dane County Supervisor
(1986-1994), while also running for, and
winning, a seat in the Wisconsin State Assembly
in November 1992. She served three terms as a
State Representative for the 78th Assembly
District (comprising central and south Madison)
from January 1993 to January 1999. Tammy’s
congressional campaigns have been lauded for
their high voter turnout, especially among
young adults and college students on the
University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. Tammy
frequently reminds young and old, alike, to
ignore those she calls “the naysayers, the
cynics, and the keepers of the status quo;”
something she has done successfully throughout
her political career. At the age of 24, while
still a first-year law student, she was deemed
too young to run for office; yet she ran for
and won a seat on her County Board. She was
told that voters weren’t ready to elect an out
lesbian to higher office. Nonetheless, Tammy
was elected three times to the State Assembly
and then, at the age of 37, became the first
woman to serve in the U.S. House of
Representatives from the State of Wisconsin and
the first non-incumbent, openly gay person to
be elected to Congress. In 2004, her margin of
victory was 63 percent. Tammy also is a firm
believer in the words of anthropologist
Margaret Mead who said, “Never doubt that a
small group of thoughtful, committed citizens
can change the world. Indeed, it is the only
thing that ever has.” Tammy Baldwin was born in
February 1962 in the area she now represents in
Congress and can trace one branch of her family
tree back to 1866 in Sauk County (Baraboo).
Raised in Madison jointly by her mother and
maternal grandparents, Tammy graduated first in
her class of 510 students at Madison West High
School in 1980. She received an A.B. degree
from Smith College in Northampton,
Massachusetts in 1984 with majors in government
and mathematics. In 1989, while an active
member of the Dane County Board of Supervisors,
Tammy earned her J.D. from the University of
Wisconsin Law School and practiced law from
1989-1992. Tammy and her partner, Lauren Azar,
live in Madison in a house built in 1894 which
they are gradually restoring.
