Early Career
As a citizen-lobbyist for environmental and educational issues, she says she was once told by a state representative that she couldn't make a difference because she was just a "mom in tennis shoes". The phrase stuck, and she later used it in her successful campaigns for Shoreline School District Board of Directors (1985–1989), Washington State Senate (1989–1993), and United States Senate (1993 – present). Murray was successful in gathering grassroots support to strike down proposed preschool program budget cuts.
Her 1988 State Senate campaign was successful and she unseated incumbent Republican Bill Kiskadden.
Read more about this topic: Patty Murray
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