Women in The United States House of Representatives - Widow's Succession

Widow's Succession

Mae Ella Nolan was the first woman elected to her husband's seat in Congress, which is sometimes known as the widow's succession. In the early years of women in Congress, the seat was held only until the next election and the women retired after that single Congress. She thereby became a placeholder merely finishing out her late husband's elected term. As the years progressed, however, more and more of these widow successors sought re-election. These women began to win their own elections.

As of 2004, 36 widows have won their husbands' seats in the House, and 8 in the Senate. Current examples are Representatives Mary Bono Mack (widow of Sonny Bono) and Lois Capps and Doris Matsui, all of California, and Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri. The most successful example is Margaret Chase Smith of Maine, who served a total of 32 years in both houses and became the first woman elected to both the House and the Senate. She began the end of McCarthyism with famous speech The Declaration of Conscience, became the first major-party female presidential candidate and the first woman to receive votes at a national nominating convention, and was the first (and highest ranking to date) woman to enter the Republican Party Senate leadership (in the third-highest post of Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference). The third woman elected to Congress, Winnifred Huck, was similarly elected to her father's seat.