Debbie Stabenow

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Debbie Stabenow

Deborah Ann "Debbie" Stabenow (* 29. April 1950 in Gladwin , Gladwin County , Michigan as Deborah Ann Greer ) is an American politician of the Democratic Party and the service senior US Senator from Michigan.

Family, education and work

Stabenow was born in Gladwin as the daughter of Anna Merle Hallmark and Robert Lee Greer. During their school years, the Greer family lived in Clare , where their mother was a nurse and their father and grandfather owned an Oldsmobile car dealership.

Stabenow graduated from Michigan State University , where she in 1972 the Bachelor and 1975 magna cum laude the Master in Social Work received. Shortly before graduating, Stabenow won her first election for the County Commission of Ingham County , of which she was a member from 1975 to 1978. During this time she worked as a social worker and consultant for leadership training (preparation for leadership roles).

After her marriage to Dennis Stabenow, Greer took her husband's name. The couple divorced in 1990. They have two children and four grandchildren. In 2003 Stabenow married the radio producer Tom Althans; they divorced in May 2010. Stabenow is a member of the Grace United Methodist Church .

In 2008, Grand Valley State University awarded her an honorary doctorate.

Political career

State level

In 1978 she ran successfully for the Michigan House of Representatives and was a member from 1979 to 1991. She played a leading role in drafting one of the first laws in the USA to make child seats up to five years old. Another law that she introduced tightened the penalties for domestic violence offenders. During this time she was nicknamed "D-Stabs" by Republican members of parliament.

From 1991 to 1994 she was a member of the Michigan Senate . There she was in charge of the implementation of draft laws such as lowering property taxes, reforms for small and medium-sized businesses and protection for families and children. In 1994 she stepped down from her mandate to run for the Democratic nomination for gubernatorial candidate in the primaries. Congressman Howard Wolpe won the nomination , but he made her his nominee for the post of lieutenant governor . However, both lost to Republican incumbent John Engler and his lieutenant governor Connie Binsfeld .

Federal level

In the 1996 election to the US House of Representatives , Stabenow defeated the Republican incumbent Dick Chrysler and then represented the 8th Congressional constituency of Michigan in the US House of Representatives from January 1997 to January 2001 . In 2000, she did not run for re-election, but ran in the Senate election in November 2000 for a seat in the United States Senate. For most of the campaign, her chances of success were viewed with skepticism, but in the weeks leading up to the election her support grew enough to narrowly defeat Republican incumbent Spencer Abraham . She has been a member of the US Senate since January 2001, the first woman to hold a seat there for her state. With Maria Cantwell from Washington , she is the first woman to defeat an elected incumbent in a regular election to the US Senate ( Carol Moseley Braun from Illinois defeated the incumbent in a 1992 area code).

Stabenow reached the third-highest position in the Senate faction of the Democrats on November 16, 2004, when she was Caucus Secretary . In this office, she supported the then minority leader , i.e. the parliamentary group chairman, Harry Reid , until in November 2006 she replaced Hillary Clinton as chairman of the Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee , which was supposed to promote the nationwide dialogue between the senators and decision-makers.

Before the 2006 election , it was rumored that Spencer Abraham's wife, Jane, would challenge Stabenow, but she did not run, and Stabenow was re-elected with Republican opponent Michael Bouchard.

From January 2011 she sat on the Senate Agriculture Committee as the successor to her party friend Blanche Lincoln, who had been voted out of office . In the 2012 election , Stabenow won re-election against their Republican challenger Pete Hoekstra . After losing the Democratic majority in the Senate, Stabenow lost the committee chairmanship to Republican Pat Roberts in 2015 , but is still a ranking member and thus the highest-ranking Democrat. As early as May 2014, Stabenow was one of the first Senate members to speak out in favor of Hillary Clinton as a Democratic candidate for the 2016 presidential election and was under discussion as a candidate for the vice presidency.

In the 2018 Senate election , Stabenow prevailed against the Republican John E. James .

Political positions

In essential votes, Stabenow follows the line of the Obama administration ; In 2009 she voted for the economic stimulus package in the Great Depression from 2007 ( American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ), in 2010 for health reform ( Affordable Care Act ) and accompanied the further development of health policy with legislative proposals. On issues of civil rights and anti-discrimination, the liberal American Civil Liberties Union found a match with Stabenow's voting behavior in 60 percent of the cases, the Human Rights Campaign for LGBT concerns 89 percent and the African American NAACP 100 percent. Stabenow is considered to be a pioneer of environmental and climate protection by means of a green economy , in which industrial jobs are created in the production of renewable energy sources. It introduced an oil drilling ban in the Senate and an agreement against exporting Canadian solid waste to the Great Lakes , but proposed in 2011 that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should regulate greenhouse gas emissions ( Clean Air Act ). While environmental activists were outraged, Stabenow was looking for a compromise, as proposals were made at the same time (including from minority leader Mitch McConnell ) to permanently disempower the authority.

In pop culture

In the 2016 film adaptation of the comic book Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice by Zack Snyder , Debbie Stabenow made a cameo as the governor of Metropolis.

Web links

Commons : Debbie Stabenow  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Deborah Ann (Greer) Stabenow. Genealogy. In: Rootsweb (English).
  2. ↑ Biography. In: Stabenow.Senate.gov (English).
  3. ^ David Catanese: Stabenow's Divorce. In: Politico , June 12, 2010.
  4. ↑ Winnie Frolik, Billy Herzig: Senator Deborah Stabenow, Michigan. In: 51 Women Senators? iUniverse, New York, Bloomington 2009, pp. 71 f.
  5. ↑ Kendall Breitman: Stabenow endorses Clinton for 2016. In: Politico , May 22, 2014 (English); Melissa Burden: Barra, Stabenow on Clinton's vice presidential list. In: The Detroit News , October 18, 2016.
  6. ^ A b Sen. Debbie Stabenow Promises West Michigan its Share of Stimulus Money. In: MLive.com , February 19, 2009 (English).
  7. ↑ See, for example, Catherine Saint Louis: A Gap in the Affordable Care Act. In: The New York Times , December 16, 2013.
  8. ↑ Dave Hochanandel: In Light of Gulf Oil Spill, Stronger Great Lakes Drilling Bans Proposed. In: Lake Scientist , June 21, 2010 (English); Zoe Clark: Ontario Cities no Longer Sending Garbage to Michigan. In: MichiganRadio.com , January 18, 2011 (English).
  9. ↑ Mark Brush: Michigan Senator Stabenow Seeks to Delay EPA Action on Greenhouse Gases. In: MichiganRadio.com , March 31, 2011 (English).
personal data
SURNAME Stabenow, Debbie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stabenow, Deborah Ann; Greer, Deborah Ann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician
DATE OF BIRTH April 29, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Gladwin , Michigan