The Honorable Senator Maria Cantwell is a junior senator who represents Washington state, although she is a native Hoosier. Her family name is a familiar one in local politics so it’s no surprise that she too would make a name for herself on the political landscape, albeit in the Evergreen State.   

Sen. Cantwell used Pell Grants to help pay her way through Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, making her the first member of her family to graduate college. In 1983, she moved to Seattle to campaign for Alan Cranston in his unsuccessful bid for the 1984 Democratic Presidential nomination. She won a seat in the Washington State Legislature at the age of 28.

As a successful businesswoman in Washington's hi-tech industry, she helped build a company that created hundreds of high-paying jobs from the ground up. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000, her priorities were to create opportunity for consumers, businesses, and families; foster innovation and support parents as they educate and care for their children.

While in the Senate, she fought to stop drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, has advocated for less expensive health care and for improved educational opportunities for children.