Kathryn Spencer
From Usgs
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|Term-Length = 3 January 2005 - Present | |Term-Length = 3 January 2005 - Present | ||
|Constituency = [[Pennsylvania]] | |Constituency = [[Pennsylvania]] | ||
| - | |Predecessor = Rick | + | |Predecessor = Rick Santorum |
|Successor = ''incumbent'' | |Successor = ''incumbent'' | ||
|Date-of-Birth = August 17 1972 | |Date-of-Birth = August 17 1972 | ||
Revision as of 05:17, 21 January 2008
| ||||
| US Senator | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| In Office: 3 January 2005 - Present | ||||
| Preceded by | Rick Santorum | |||
| Succeeded by | incumbent | |||
| Born | August 17 1972 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; United States | |||
| Political Party | Democrat | |||
| Spouse | Divorced | |||
| Religion | Roman Catholic | |||
Kathryn 'Red Kat' Spencer (born 17 August, 1972) is a United States Senator for Pennsylvania. She is the Chairwoman of the Blue Dog Democratic Coalition and the Senior Senator from Pennsylvania. She is considered a bit of a maverick in the Democratic Party due to her rather unique political ideology, often earning derision and acclaim from across the political spectrium.
Contents |
Early Life
Kathryn Spencer was born Kathryn Brzezinski in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to a Polish-American Steelworker and an Irish-American Waitress. Her family moved to Franklin Park, a suburb of Pittsburgh where she attended public school there, then volunteered to join the Army as soon as she graduated. She fought in the First Gulf War, but was disgusted that she was unable to serve in combat. When her enlistment expired, she then went to the University of Pennsylvania where she graduated with a BA in History and Political Science. She proceeded to find a job as a policy analyst for the Department of Defense where she worked at for two years until she joined the staff of Senator John McCain (R-AZ) including supporting his candidacy for President in 2000. She would later support him in 2008 despite her newfound status as a Democratic Senator. She left McCain's staff in 2003 to prepare a run for the Senate, as she had grown disillusioned with the direction of the Republican Party.
Political Career
In 2004 She ran for Senate against the Republican incumbent Rick Santorum. She defeated several more liberal candidates in the primary by emphasizing her appeal to crossover voters and attacking them on their ties to Hollywood money. She easily defeated her Republican opponent in the general election due chiefly due to Senator Kerry's coattails in Pennsylvania, famously landing Santorum a zinger during the debates where she asked, "Mr. Santorum, how exactly can you serve both God and Mammon? What would your personal savior think about your support of tax cuts for the rich and endorsement of the outsourcing of blue-collar jobs, or how would he react to your opposition to health care reform and increases in the minimum wage?" Her defeat of Senator Santorum symbolized what was to come, although David Gamble, a 'compassionate conservative' Republican won the other Senate seat in 2006.
Spencer's positions on the various issues can be summarized as follows. On foreign policy, she defines herself as an internationalist hawk who believes in the value of international relations but also supports using military force against rogue states, genocidal regimes and terrorist groups. On social policy she desires a "truce in the culture war" and is pro-life but prefers battling the root causes of abortion rather than outlawing the practice and supports leaving many social issues up to the states, while protecting gays and lesbians and other minorities from discrimination (including the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"). She is staunchly supportive of the environment, and is a proud member of the NRA. She is a fiscal conservative who opposes tax cuts for the wealthy but also wasteful and excessive government programs, and supports trimming entitlement spending as well as eliminating waste, pork and fraud from the defense budget. She is also a supporter of finishing the job in Afghanistan and taking out Iran's nuclear weapons program, while trying to put an end to the genocide in Darfur. She feels that the Iraq War was undermined by the Bush Administration's domestic policy and bungling of the post-war reconstruction efforts (most notably referring to Paul Bremer and Donald Rumseld as 'some of the most arrogant, incompetant buffoons I have ever seen run our foreign policy' in a speech to the Blue Dog Democrats last year. She also led the effort to pass a universal health care proposal and reform Medicare Part D as well as roll back the Bush tax cuts. She also rebelled against the Democratic Leadership's attempt to fix the AMT, calling it "irresponsible for us to be cutting tax'es for the rich when we've been criticizing the Republicans for doing the same." While critical of the Administration's handling of the war, she voted for supporting the troop increase in Iraq and against the budget rider that led to the eventual withdrawal. When the announcement of the withdrawal occured she said, "it's a shame that such a golden opportunity was wasted by a bungling incompetant administration and career politicians who put politics and polls above good policy."
She also was briefly married to James Spencer, a popular young Republian political operative who worked for Senator Arlen Specter. However, their marriage only lasted for three years before it fell apart in 2005 after she divorced Spencer for cheating on her. She did retain her married name and received a substantial $4 million settlement as the result of the divorce. She is now a current incumbent Senator from Pennslyvania, and has taken up temporary leadership of the Blue Dog Caucus, promising to make it a "force in the Senate as well as the House."
In 2007, she made headlines by singin the socialist anthem the "Red Flag" during a Senate fillibuster, earning her the title of "Red Kat" from conservative bloggers. She also gained the ire of several Democratic liberals who left the Democratic Party for the NEP accusing her of trying to turn the DNC into a conservative party. However, "Red Kat" proved to be a suprisingly adept politician in the Senate and managed to win support and accolades from liberals, moderates and conservatives within the Democratic Party. She also made a name for herself by blasting the Warren Administration's domestic and foreign policies, although she was rather unique in working across party lines and occasionally applauding the Republicans for their achievements. She has been a leading voice health care reform as well as towards pushing the direction of the Senate towards a more populist and progressive agenda.
Due to her singing of the "Red Flag" during a Senate fillibuster, she was expected to be facing a difficult re-election in 2010, but she surprised her critics and political observers by outspending her opponent and winning 57% to 43% against moderate-libertarian Republican Tim Cargill. Making the election a referendum on the economy, health care, the environment, and the Republican Congress, Senator Spencer passionately won over Pennsylvania voters in a hard-fought campaign. She also performed extremely well througout the state, surprisingly winning the Central/North-Tier region of Pennsylvania, known for its stalwart conservatism and nicknamed "Alabama" while the "RINO" Philadelphia suburbs barely swung for Cargill (while in 2004, the Central/North-Tier swung to Santorum while the Philly suburbs went for Spencer). Fresh with a new mandate in Washington DC, Senator Spencer has sought to continue her work and has called for national sacrifice to win the War on Terror, and her reputation as a gadfly has still not been tarnished.
She has recently been re-elected for a third term, making her the most senior Senator in the Senate. She defeated Hilliam Warren, the son of President Elizabeth Warren (R-PA), by a margin of roughly 55% to 45%. She performed extremely well in the "T" of Pennsylvania, surpassing both Senator Grace Straka and Governor Whitney Mason- and racked up huge margins in Pittsburgh, Western Pennsylvania, and Philadelphia- while Hilliam won the Philadelphia suburbs by large margins. However, it wasn't enough and Senator Kathryn Spencer was re-elected once again in a surprise upset, and ending up shockingly outspending her opponent by $6 million (as she did in 2010). At her victory speech, she came out as openly bisexual and is currently dating Bianca Marino, an anchor for Fox News. During the 2017-2018 Congress, she became known as a thorn in the side of Senator Keiko Kagura and several other Senate Republicans; but also established herself as a candid critic of the Mason Administration- publically dissenting with its Middle East policy though being fairly supportive of most of President Mason's domestic initiatives.
She was seated on the Government Reform and Commerce and Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees. She is now Chairwoman of the Domestic Affairs Committee.
Published Works
- Unspoken Courage: Women in the First Gulf War (2003)
- What's the Matter with Democrats? (2005)
- Rebuilding the Big Tent (2006)
- Moving America Forward: American Politics after George W. Bush (2008)
- The Life of the Party: The Story of Governor Bob Casey. (2010)
- Time for a Second New Nationalism. (2011)
- Putting Principles First. (2013)
- Progressive Patriot in Liberty and Justice for None? (2015)
Elections Results
| 20004 Senate election, Pennsylvania | |||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Kathryn Spencer | 2,392,984 | 58.68% | +13.17% | |
| Republican | Rick Santorum (I) | 1,684,778 | 41.32% | -11.10% | |
| Majority | 708,206 | 17.37% | |||
| Turnout | 4,077,762 | ||||
| Democratic gain from Republican | Swing | -24.28% | |||
| 2010 Senate election, Pennsylvania | |||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Kathryn Spencer (I) | 3,034,070 | 54.59% | -4.09% | |
| Republican | Tim Cargill | 2,500,409 | 44.99% | +3.67% | |
| Other | 23,821 | 0.43% | +0.43% | ||
| Majority | 533,661 | 9.60% | |||
| Turnout | 5,558,300 | ||||
| Democratic hold | Swing | -7.77% | |||
Main article: Senate election in Pennsylvania, 2016
| 2016 Senate election, Pennsylvania | |||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Kathryn Spencer (I) | 3,572,216 | 54.83% | +0.24% | |
| Republican | Hillam Warren | 2,943,414 | 45.17% | +0.18% | |
| Majority | 628,802 | 9.65% | |||
| Turnout | 6,515,630 | ||||
| Democratic hold | Swing | +0.05% | |||
