Fighting for Our Future
The people of Maryland elected Senator Barbara A. Mikulski to be their U.S. Senator because she's an effective fighter for our state. She has always fought for the daily needs of everyday people, and especially her constituents in Maryland.
Senator Barb, as she is affectionately called, grew up in a Polish-American family in East Baltimore. It was in her Highlandtown neighborhood and in her parents' grocery store that she learned the values of a strong work ethic, service to others, and a fundamental belief in the American ideals of equal opportunity.
She has always had a strong commitment to community, serving as a social worker in the high-risk neighborhoods of Baltimore and educating seniors about the Medicare program. Community activism was a natural next step, and eventually Mikulski successfully organized several Maryland neighborhoods against a plan to build a 16-lane highway through Baltimore's Fells Point. The community rallied to help stop the development, and Fells Point continues to be a flourishing district today.
Leadership never waits on the sidelines. Mikulski's first election was a successful run for Baltimore City Council in 1971, where she served for five years. In 1976, she ran for and was elected to Congress, representing the 3rd Congressional district, which she represented for 10 years. In 1986, against the odds and the pundits, she became the first Democratic woman elected in her own right to the United States Senate, and is now serving her fourth term.
Mikulski is considered the Dean of the women Senators, serving as a mentor to newly elected female colleagues and building coalitions among colleagues both male and female, liberal and conservative. She still uses her training as a social worker to listen to the concerns and needs of all Marylanders. "I believe my constituents have a right to know, a right to be heard and a right to be represented," she says, adding that the best ideas usually come straight from her constituents.
Senator Mikulski is currently running for her fifth term for the United States Senate, a process she calls "renewing" her contract with the Maryland voters so that she can continue to fight for the needs and concerns of all of her constituents.
