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Women And The Governor’s Seat
WASHINGTON (IslamOnline) - Eleven states held gubernatorial elections for year 2000 elections in which five women ran, but only three got seats.
In Montana, Republican Lt. Gov. Judy Martz ran against Democratic State Auditor Mark O'Keefe. The current governor, Republican Marc Racicot, was excluded from the race by a state term limit law barring him from running for reelection.
Martz won the governor’s seat by garnering more than 52% of the vote. She made business the focus of her victorious campaign to become Montana's first female governor.
As lieutenant governor, she chaired the Drought Advisory Task Force, which tracked Montana's increasing severe drought, suggesting ways to cope with it.
Martz was also an Olympic skater who made the 1964 U.S. Olympic team at age 21and competed in the 1,500-meter race at Innsbruck, Austria.
In New Hampshire, Democrat Jeanne Shaheen was reelected with 49% of the vote for her third two-year term beating out former Republican Senator Gordon Humphrey.
Shaheen's reelection ended a 30-year custom that demanded gubernatorial candidates to promise to veto any legislation increasing income tax. She had taken the anti-tax pledge in earlier campaigns but refused this time, saying she had to keep her options open to pay for schools.
Shaheen, who is of Arab descent, was New Hampshire’s first female governor.
In Delaware, Democratic Lt. Gov. Ruth Ann Minner, with 60% of the vote, beat out former Republican state lawmaker John Burris. Democrat Governor Thomas Carper was barred by term limits from re-election.
Twenty-seven years ago, Minner used to answer the phones in the statehouse as receptionist to Governor Sherman Tribbitt. Now, she has his old job.
Her political accomplishments include her being Delaware's first female lieutenant governor. On Tuesday, she became the state's first female chief executive.
In North Dakota, female Democratic Attorney General Heidi Heitkamp was not as lucky, losing out to Republican John Hoeven, former president of Bank of North Dakota.
During the course of campaigning she underwent breast cancer surgery and had her right breast removed. She had hoped to be the state’s first female governor.
Vermont Democrat Howard Dean defeated Republican former state legislator Ruth Dwyer by a 51% to 39% margin.
One of the main issues in the Vermont gubernatorial campaign was a state law concerning same-sex marriage, which Dean supported. Dwyer had offered marriage-like rights to gay couples, but remained a supporter of a movement called “Take Back Vermont” spurred by the new state law.
After Tuesday’s elections, the Democratic Party now has 19 governors; the Republicans have 29 governors, with independents winning two.
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