Betty McCollum
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Betty McCollum | |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 3, 2001 |
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| Preceded by | Bruce Vento |
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| Born | July 12, 1954 South St. Paul, Minnesota |
| Political party | Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party |
| Spouse | Divorced |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Betty L. McCollum (born July 12, 1954) is an American politician and member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL). She is currently a member of the United States House of Representatives representing Minnesota's 4th congressional district, one of eight congressional districts in Minnesota, thus far serving in the 107th, 108th, 109th, and 110th congresses. At the district's center is St. Paul, Minnesota's capital city. She is the second woman elected to Congress from Minnesota.
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[edit] Background
McCollum was born in South St. Paul, Minnesota. She first got involved in politics in 1986, when her daughter got hurt on a slide in a North St. Paul city park. The city council wouldn't do anything to fix the slide, so McCollum's neighbors encouraged her to run for a spot on the council herself. She won that November and served three terms.[1] She then won an upset victory over longtime state representative Rich O'Conner, and served four terms in the state house.
After 4th District Congressman Bruce Vento decided not to seek a 13th term due to illness in 2000 (he died before the election), McCollum won the DFL nomination to succeed him. The district is heavily Democratic (only the neighboring 5th District is considered more Democratic), and Democrats have held the seat since 1949. However, McCollum's main concern wasn't Republican Linda Runbeck, but Independence Party candidate Tom Foley. Foley had previously been county attorney for Ramsey County (almost all of which is in the 4th District) as a Democrat. Many thought that Foley could siphon off enough votes from McCollum to allow Runbeck to sneak up the middle and end the long run of Democratic dominance in the district. However, in the end McCollum defeated Runbeck by a solid 17-point margin, with Foley in a distant third place. Foley only succeeded in making McCollum the only Democrat not to win at least 50 percent of the vote since Democrats began their current run in the district. The district has since reverted to form, and McCollum has been reelected three times without serious opposition.
McCollum received a 91% progressive rating from a self-described non-partisan group that provides a "searchable database of Congressional voting records from a Progressive perspective"[2] and scored a 13% conservative rating by the conservative group, SBE Council.[3]
In 2004, McCollum gained national visibility when she and fellow Democrat, Jim McDermott of Washington called for Secretary of Education Rod Paige to resign for claiming the National Education Association was "a terrorist organization."
She is the first Minnesota woman elected to Congress since Coya Knutson in the 1950s. In January, 2007 she was joined by the first Republican woman elected from Minnesota — Michele Bachmann of the 6th district.
McCollum is a member of the House Appropriations Committee, where she is the only Minnesotan. At the start of the 110th Congress, McCollum was also appointed to the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Under normal circumstances, House Democrats aren't allowed to serve on another committee when they also serve on one of the chamber's three "exclusive" committees--Appropriations, Financial Services and Ways and Means. However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and committee chairman Henry Waxman granted McCollum a waiver allowing her to take a second committee slot. McCollum served on the Government Reform Committee during her first term in Congress.[4] In 2008, McCollum endorsed Barack Obama for president.
[edit] Committee Assignments
- Committee on Appropriations
- Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
- Subcommittee on Legislative Branch
- Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
- Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
- National Security and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee
- Senior Whip
- Co-founder of the Congressional Global Health Caucus
- National Council on the Arts
[edit] Electoral history
- 2006 election for U.S. House of Representatives — 4th District
- Betty McCollum (DFL) (inc.), 70%
- Obi Sium (R), 30%
- 2004 election for U.S. House of Representatives — 4th District
- Betty McCollum (DFL) (inc.), 58%
- Patrice Bataglia (R), 33%
- Peter Vento (I), 9%
- 2002 election for U.S. House of Representatives — 4th District
- Betty McCollum (DFL) (inc.), 62%
- Clyde Billington (R), 34%
- Scott Raskiewicz (G), 4%
- 2000 election for U.S. House of Representatives — 4th District
- Betty McCollum (DFL), 48%
- Linda Runbeck (R), 31%
- Tom Foley (I), 21%
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Campaign 2004. Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved on 2007-02-26.
- ^ Leading with the Left. Progressive Punch. Retrieved on 2006-11-02.
- ^ Congressional Voting Scorecard 2005 (pdf). SBE Council’s Congressional Voting Scorecard 2005. Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (June, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-11-02.
- ^ Congresswoman Betty McCollum: Serving Minnesota's Families - Speaker Pelosi Appoints McCollum to House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
[edit] External links
- Congresswoman Betty McCollum official U.S. House site
- Minnesota's Congresswoman Betty McCollum official campaign site
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
- Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
- Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
- Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
- Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
- MPR — Campaign 2006: Betty McCollum profile from Minnesota Public Radio
- Betty McCollum, A Letter to AIPAC, New York Review of Books, Volume 53, Number 10, June 8, 2006, with an introduction by Michael Massing.
| Preceded by Bruce Vento |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Minnesota's 4th congressional district 2001–Present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
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