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Blanche Lincoln

Former U.S. Senator (1999-2011)

(TWP)

Why She Matters

When former Sen. Lincoln was elected to the Senate in 1998 at age 38, she became the youngest female senator ever sent to Washington, D.C. With young twin sons, she became a symbol of a woman who balances motherhood and a career.

The moderate Democrat also became a symbol of how an incumbent can survive in the tricky 2010 political terrain, as she managed to navigate a major challenge from national Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter (D), beating him in a June 8 runoff.But beating Halter was only half the challenge. Lincoln lost in the November general election against Rep. John Boozman (R-Ark.) in a year that seriously favored Republicans.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: U.S. Representative (1992 to 1996); Lobbyist and government affairs representative (1985 to 1991); Staff Assistant to Rep. Bill Alexander (1982 to 1984)
Birthday: Sept. 30, 1960
Hometown: Helena, Ark.
Alma Mater: Randolph-Macon Woman's College, B.S., 1982
Spouse: Dr. Steven Lincoln
Religion: Episcopalian

Committees: Committee on Finance ; the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry ; the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources ; and the Special Committee on Aging
DC Office: 355 Dirksen Senate Building, Washington, DC 20510-0404, 202-224-4843
State Offices: 912 West Fourth Street, Little Rock, Ark. 72201, 501-375-2993; 101 East Waterman, Dumas, Ark. 71693, 870-382-1023; Federal Building, 615 South Main Street, Ste 315, Jonesboro, Ark. 72401, 870-910-6896, 870-910-6896; 4 South College Avenue, Ste 205, Fayetteville, Ark. 72701, 479-251-1224, 479-251-1224; Miller County Courthouse, 400 Laurel Street, Ste 101, Texarkana, Ark. 71854, 870-774-3106, 870-774-3106
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Path to Power

Blanche Lambert Lincoln was born into a seventh-generation Arkansas farm family on Sept. 30, 1960, in Helena, Ark. Her father and brother run a farm that grows rice, wheat, soybeans, and cotton. Today she makes her home in Horseshoe Lake, Ark., and enjoys duck hunting, fishing and yard sales.

Lincoln began college at the University of Arkansas before transferring to Randolph-Macon Woman's College (now Randolph College) in Lynchburg, Va., where she earned her bachelor's degree in 1982. She then went to work on the Washington staff of her hometown congressman, former U.S. Rep. Bill Alexander (D). Two years later, she began a stretch as a lobbyist for various firms around the capital.

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Frustrated with what she called "the system," Lincoln moved home to Arkansas in 1992 and ran against Alexander, who was by then in hot water for being hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.

"I'll promise you one thing," Lincoln said on the campaign trail, "I can sure enough balance my checkbook." She beat the 12-term incumbent in the primary 61 to 39 percent, and won the general election with 70 percent of the vote.

After supporting most of the Republican "Contract with America," led by Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), Lincoln was reelected by 53 to 47 percent in 1994. She was expected to win again in 1996 until she announced that she was pregnant with twins and would not campaign for reelection.

1998 Senate Bid

Incumbent Sen. Dale Bumpers (D) announced in 1998 that he would not run again for his seat, and Lincoln jumped into the race. Her ads showed her bouncing the twins on her knees with the tagline, "Daughter, wife, mother, congresswomanLiving out rock-solid Arkansas values."

In the primary, Lincoln ran against state attorney general Winston Bryant, the Democratic nominee from the 1996 Senate race. She led the primary by 45 to 27 percent and won the runoff with 62 percent of the vote. In the general election, she battled ophthalmologist Fay Boozman, a state senator, and by won 55 to 42 percent. When she was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1998, Lincoln became the youngest female senator ever, at age 38.

During the campaign, Lincoln brushed off criticism that she couldn't raise children and govern at the same time by pointing out that she was just another example of a working mother; after she was elected, her husband left his practice in Arkansas and joined one in Virginia.

New Democrat

In 2000, Lincoln co-founded the centrist Senate New Democrat Coalition with Senators Evan Bayh (D-Ind), Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), and now retired Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.). The coalition is committed to "progressive ideas, mainstream values, and innovative, market-based policy solutions."

National Republicans hoped to target Lincoln's Senate seat in 2004, but their best hope, Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee, declined to run. Her opponent instead was state senator Jim Holt, who raised $106,000 to Lincoln's $6.4 million. Arkansas residents had recently voted to prohibit same-sex marriage 74 to 26 percent, so Holt focused on Lincoln's vote against the federal Family Marriage Amendment. Still, Lincoln won, 56 to 44 percent.

In the Senate, Lincoln sits on the Finance Committee-a goal from day one, she has said - and the committees on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry; Energy and Natural Resources, and the Special Committee on Aging.

Lincoln founded and chairs the Senate Hunger Caucus and cofounded and cochairs Third Way, a moderate progressive think tank.

The Issues

Lincoln voted with the majority of Democrats 89.1 percent of the time in the 110th Congress.

She is known as a moderate voice and a swing Senate vote on key issues such as health care and tax policy. She has fiercely supported farm exports and supported a ban on late-term abortions, and became one of 12 Democrats to vote for George W. Bush's 2001 tax cuts.

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While supporting the 2003 Medicare prescription drug benefit, Lincoln in 2004 fought to allow the government to negotiate drug prices directly with drug manufacturers.

Regulating Derivatives

In spring 2010, the Arkansas Democrat took a gamble by proposing that banks be banned from trading in derivatives as part of financial regulatory reform.

Big bank were staunchly opposed, but Lincoln argued that the risky trades were a big reason why the government was forced to bail out Wall Street in the 2008-2009 financial crisis.

"Banks were never intended to perform these activities, which have been the single largest factor to these institutions growing so large that taxpayers had no choice but to bail them out in order to prevent total economic ruin," Lincoln argued.

But top Obama economic advisers, including Paul Volcker, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairwoman Sheila Bair and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner disagreed.

The Economy

In October 2008, Lincoln voted for the $700 billion bailout package that passed the Senate, despite some doubts.

In a statement, she said, "As a Member of the Senate Finance Committee, I directly asked Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson tough questions more than six months ago about the state of the economy as mortgage defaults increased. Specifically, I wanted to know if there was any role for Congress to play. At the time they said nothing was wrong."

"I must admit, though, that I do not agree with all aspects of the rescue package. However, the economic turmoil we face was far too serious to throw the baby out with the bath water."

In February 2009, she voted for President Barack Obama's $787 billion stimulus plan.

Tax Policy

Lincoln lobbied hard for her seat on the powerful Senate Finance Committee, and she has made good use of it.

On the committee, she has successfully worked to make the child-care tax credit refundable to people who pay no income tax.

She also lobbied to create a new 10 percent income bracket. Furthermore, she has proposed changes to tax law making it easier for veterans to claim their refunds and allowing people to contribute to tax-free accounts for long-term care.

Rural Issues

As Chair of the Rural Outreach Caucus and the daughter of farmers, Lincoln has devoted herself to rural issues.

She was one of two Democrats to vote against the 2002 farm bill because she didn't believe it was generous enough to farmers. Lincoln has continually opposed limiting farm subsidies; Arkansas farms are among the most subsidized in the country. Lincoln also supports disaster-relief assistance for farmers hurt by high fuel costs and environmental setbacks like droughts.

Health-Care Reform

During the 2009-2010 health-care reform debate, Lincoln opposed the controversial publicly-run insurance option favored by progressive Democrats. Though Lincoln had at one time said she'd support any health-reform plan that worked, by September 2009, she said the country could not afford the public option.

"I'm not going to vote for a bill that's not deficit-neutral, and I'm not going to vote for a bill that doesn't do something about curbing the cost in the out years, because it would be pointless," Lincoln told reporters in September 2009. "I would not support a solely government-funded public option. We can't afford that."

After Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) removed the public option from the Senate version of the bill, Lincoln and 59 other Democrats helped pass health-care reform through the Senate on Christmas Eve 2009.

The Network

Two days after Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), the former Arkansas first lady, won the state's Democratic primary on Super Tuesday in February 2008, Lincoln endorsed her for the presidency. "Hillary and I have worked together on issues affecting children and families since we both went to Washington in 1993," Lincoln said in a statement. When it became clear that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) would win the party's nomination, Lincoln switched her endorsement.

Lincoln has worked closely on local issues like farm exports with her successor in the House, Rep. Marion Berry (D-Ark.).

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Additional Resources