Christine O'Donnell

Christine O'Donnell

Christine Therese O'Donnell (born August 27, 1969) is an American politician, former Republican Party candidate, and conservative activist in the Tea Party movement best known for her 2010 campaign for Vice President Joe Biden's former United States Senate seat from Delaware.

O'Donnell was born in Philadelphia and began her career as a public relations and marketing consultant in the early 1990s. Since attending Fairleigh Dickinson University, O'Donnell was active in Republican organizations and campaigns. She also worked for such organizations as Enough is Enough and Concerned Women for America. Later, O'Donnell established her own consulting firm.

With strong financial support from the Tea Party movement, she defeated nine-term U.S. Representative and former governor Michael Castle in Delaware's September 2010 Republican primary for the U.S. Senate. In doing so, O'Donnell caused an uproar among the political establishment. O'Donnell's campaign ad in which she stated "I'm not a witch" was targeted for wide ridicule and parody as were her socially conservative positions on abortion, homosexuality, pre-marital sex, and masturbation. She lost the November 2010 U.S. Senate election in Delaware, to Democrat Chris Coons by a margin of 57% to 40%.

O'Donnell's 2010 Senate run was her third try for the office in five years. In the Senatorial election of 2008, she was the Republican nominee, losing to the incumbent, Joe Biden, by 65% to 35%. In 2006, she ran in the Republican primary for Senate, finishing third, then ran as a write-in in the general election, drawing four percent of the vote.

After 2010, O'Donnell provided commentary on the Fox News Channel and CNN.