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Tammy Suzanne Green Baldwin (born February 11, 1962) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States Senator from Wisconsin since January 2013.

Early life and education
Tammy Suzanne Green Baldwin was born on February 11, 1962, in Madison, Wisconsin. Baldwin's parents divorced shortly after her birth, and she never met her father, Joseph E. Baldwin Jr., who suffered a fatal myocardial infarction during a 1986 hiking trip in Colorado. After his death, she spent time with his side of the family. Her paternal grandfather, Joseph E. Baldwin Sr., was a longtime politician within the Milwaukee County government, serving as the former head of the county Welfare Department before going on to teach social work at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. Baldwin's mother, Pamela Bin-Rella, suffered from opioid addiction throughout her life, caused in part by undiagnosed bipolar disorder. After her parents' divorce, Baldwin was predominantly raised by her maternal grandparents, but spent the weekends with her mother in Madison.

Baldwin attended Madison West High School, graduating as class valedictorian in 1980. From there, she attended Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, earning a Bachelor of Arts in political science and mathematics in 1984. That same year, Geraldine Ferraro became the first female nominee for Vice President of the United States on any major party ticket; Baldwin recalls seeing Ferraro speak at the 1984 Democratic National Convention as a motivating factor in her own future political career. Baldwin also began to identify as a lesbian while attending college, and she came out to her family after graduating from Smith.

Baldwin returned to her hometown in 1986 to attend the University of Wisconsin Law School. That same year, she received her first two political positions, first winning election as a member of the Dane County Board of Supervisors, then receiving an appointment to fill a vacancy on the Madison City Council six months later. While serving on the Board of Supervisors, Baldwin was appointed to the Human Services Board and the Children, Youth and Families Committee of Dane County. Baldwin graduated from Wisconsin Law in 1989 with a Juris Doctor degree.

Wisconsin Assembly (1993–1999)
In 1992, Baldwin announced her intentions to run for representative of the 78th District in the Wisconsin State Assembly. She was one of four Democratic Party candidates seeking to fill the spot vacated by David Clarenbach, who was seeking election in the United States House of Representatives. Much of the focus on Baldwin's campaign was that she was the first openly gay candidate to run for a position in the Wisconsin Legislature; Baldwin, however, wanted to strike a balance between being open with her sexual orientation without making it the sole focal point of her campaign. During her campaign, she told reporters that the "presence of gays is a powerful political statement", and that she wanted to demonstrate that gay and lesbian politicians are "not like the myths and stereotypes". Both the Democratic and Republican primary elections for the 78th Assembly seat were won by women: Baldwin won the Democratic primary with 43 percent of the vote, while Patricia Hevenor won the Republican nomination. Baldwin defeated Hevenor in the general election with 59 percent of the vote. She was one of only six openly gay candidates nationwide to win a general election in the United States in 1992.

Many of Baldwin's first-term actions focused on the rights and treatment of LGBT Americans. Elected in the midst of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Baldwin spearheaded a number of proposed health care and social service programs to care for those who suffering from the virus. She also began to push for the institution of domestic partnership ordinances for same-sex couples. In 1994, a conservative activist named Charles Lee from Eau Claire, Wisconsin filed a complaint with the state Ethics Board, arguing that Baldwin violated the state ethics code by posting her office telephone number as a source for information on LGBT issues; the ethics board found that the number was posted without Baldwin's knowledge or consent, and that she had not committed an ethics violation.

Baldwin easily won reelection in 1994, as her opponent Scott Wilson did not actively campaign for the Assembly seat.

United States House of Representatives (1999–2013)



 * 1998 election
 * 2000 election
 * 2002 election
 * 2004 election
 * 2006 election
 * 2008 election

In the lead-up to the 2010 Congressional elections in Wisconsin, the Young Republicans of Dane County attempted to challenge Baldwin's nomination paperwork, asserting that she had listed her campaign office as her address, not her home voting address. The challenge was rejected by state election officials, who had allowed Baldwin to conceal her private address on all election paperwork since 2000, when she had received a number of death threats on the basis of her sexuality, including a suspicious package delivered to her home. Her opponent in the general election, Chad Lee, released an attack ad that used a video of Baldwin dancing at a gay pride rally, using the footage to support his argument that she was "having a ball borrowing and spending in Congress while Wisconsin families foot the bill". The commercial was criticized as the "bouncing breasts" ad, named for its focus on Baldwin's chest.


 * 2010 election

Second term (2019–present)
Baldwin and her campaign manager Scott Spector began openly discussing re-election in January 2017, with Spector saying that Baldwin was in "a strong position" to win her upcoming election. As a senator in a swing state that had gone to Donald Trump in the 2016 United States presidential election, Baldwin was seen as a target by Republican lawmakers nationwide in the 2018 United States Senate elections, and outside donors from both parties poured large amounts of money into advertisements for the Wisconsin election.

Political positions
Ideology

Foreign policy
Central America, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Israel, trade

Domestic policy
Agriculture, immigration, USPS

Fiscal policy
Antitrust, competition, and corporate regulation Economy and jobs

Social and environmental issues
Heath care, housing, ACORN, drug policy, climate change, LGBT rights, gun control

War on Terror
Terrorism, opposition to Iraq War, Impeachment of Dick Cheney and Alberto Gonzales, resolution on 9/11 victims, handling of veterans affairs report, veterans

2008
During the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Baldwin was an early supporter of Hillary Clinton, serving as co-chair of the Clinton campaign in Wisconsin. When Barack Obama was declared the presumptive Democratic nominee over Clinton, Baldwin worked with Barbara Lawton, then-Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin, to reach out to Clinton supporters in the Midwest and encourage them to vote for Obama in the 2008 United States presidential election. Baldwin and then-Governor of Wisconsin Jim Doyle were the two elected officials from the state of Wisconsin who were asked to speak at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado. Baldwin also served as a superdelegate in the 2008 Democratic primaries, TKTKTK

2020
On February 17, 2019, Baldwin announced that she would not be running in the crowded Democratic primaries for the 2020 United States presidential election. Early in the primary race, Baldwin said that she would not endorse any candidate until after the Wisconsin primary, a decision in part because Milwaukee would be hosting the 2020 Democratic National Convention and she wanted to offer her full support to the party nominee. On April 15, after presumptive nominee Joe Biden won the state primary, Baldwin offered her endorsement, saying that Biden "gets it and gets us". Two members of Baldwin's 2018 Senate campaign went on to work for Biden's presidential campaign in Wisconsin.

Personal life
Between 1995 and 2010, Baldwin was in a long-term relationship with attorney Lauren Azar. The couple exchanged wedding vows in 1998, but the ceremony was not legally binding, as same-sex marriage was not yet legal in the state of Wisconsin. When Wisconsin opened a domestic partnership option to same-sex couples in 2009, Baldwin and Azar filed accordingly. They separated the following year, legally terminating the partnership.

Baldwin is the granddaughter of the late David E. Green, a longtime biochemist at the University of Wisconsin, and is the niece of another noted biochemist, David's daughter Rowena Green Matthews. Additionally, Baldwin is the third cousin of American actor and comedian Andy Samberg.

Although baptized in the Episcopal Church, Baldwin no longer identifies with the faith. In a 2012 analysis on Congressional faith conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, she was listed as being of "unspecified" religion.