Linda Chavez - Run For U.S. Senate

Run For U.S. Senate

In 1986, Chavez ran as a Republican for the United States Senate against Democrat Barbara Mikulski in the state of Maryland. Chavez left her post as the highest ranking woman in Ronald Reagan's White House in an attempt to win the open U.S. Senate seat in Maryland. The election was the second time in modern U.S. history that two women faced each other in statewide general election. The race was covered by national media, with observers noting that Chavez was very unlikely to win.

In the campaign, Chavez attacked Mikulski, a lifelong Baltimore resident, as a "San Francisco-style, George McGovern, liberal Democrat." Chavez was accused of making Mikulski's sexual orientation a central issue of the political campaign. Chavez wrote that the term referred to Jeane Kirkpatrick's 1984 Republican National Convention "Blame America First" speech, in which she coined the phrase "San Francisco Liberal" in reference to the Democratic Convention in San Francisco. Using political advertisements and press conferences, Chavez attacked Mikulski's former aide Teresa Brennan as "anti-male" and a "radical feminist", implying that Brennan and Mikulski were radical lesbians and that "fascist feminism" was Mikulski's political philosophy. Brennan had not been part of Mikulski's staff for five years, but Chavez implied Brennan was still working on Mikulski's campaign. Secure in the knowledge that Chavez was a long-shot candidate, Mikulski did not respond in kind to the barbs. She defeated Chavez with 61% of the vote. However, Chavez earned more votes than any Republican in Maryland in a generation.