Inspiring Women

by Kathy Paur

 

I have high hopes that Granny D and Sam Barend will run strong races in the next few months, so that I can add them to my Putting Women in Power list.
Both women bring great stories to their candidacies and inspire me personally. They are among the oldest and youngest federal candidates this year, and yet they both bring strong belief in the future, serious experience making positive changes in goverment, and absolute determination to their races.
And despite their underdog status, both women have developed strong bipartisan popularity among their voters through their hard work sticking up for ordinary people—and there’s a strong chance that polls in the coming months will show them wildly outperforming expectations.


Spread the Word

Image of Doris "Granny D" Haddock

Doris "Granny D" Haddock

NH-Sen (Map)

94-year-old Granny D played a major role in the passage of McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform. In 1999, at the age of 89, she walked 3,200 miles from Pasadena, California to Washington DC, giving speeches in support of campaign finance reform. Several dozen congressmembers walked the last miles with her, and she is generally credited with proving to Washington that ordinary citizens cared about reforming campaign finance. When Al Gore added a campaign finance reform plank to his platform in 2000, he credited John McCain, Bill Bradley, and Granny D.
I first heard Granny D speak at the Harvard Kennedy School for Government when, in 2003, she kicked off a campaign to register women voters. The woman is witty, pointed in her critique of government, willing to work like hell (her phrase, not mine) for a better future, and intensely smart.
A life-long New Hampshire resident, Granny D announced her run for Senate in mid-June, after Rep. Burt Cohen dropped his challenge to incumbent Sen. Judd Gregg®.
If you have the least doubt about this 94-year-old running for Senate, just read her announcement speech.

This election has ended.

Image of Samara Barend

Samara Barend

NY-29 (Map)

26-year-old Samara “Sam” Barend just graduated with a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. In her time at Harvard, she wowed us all with her determination to help her home region of the New York Southern Tier and her raw ability to bring people together to work hard for the common good.
Sam is best known for bringing an interstate highway, I-86, to the Southern Tier to revitalize its struggling economy. This is stunning, because it means that she won the bipartisan support of many officials from the Southern Tier, both New York Senators, and much of the New York congressional delegation; she wrote the bill; and she persuaded both the House and the Senate to vote for it. Along the way she forged strong partnerships with both Republicans and Democrats, including retiring NY-29 Rep. Amo Houghton®. Among her remarkable political projects, she now has an Eisenhower fellowship from the Federal Highway Administration to figure out how the Southern Tier can turn I-86 into an industrial corridor. For more on Sam, just read her bio.

This election has ended.

Total: 00,000