wa_sen_smith

REP. LINDA SMITH

· Rep. Linda Smith was elected to the U.S. House is 1994. Her write-in primary victory was the first in Washington state history. In the general election, she defeated Democratic incumbent Jolene Unsoeld with 52% of the vote.

· Smith was raised in Colorado; her father abandoned her family and she was raised by stepfather after her mother died. Smith was married two weeks before her 18th birthday. Her husband, Vern, drives trains for the Burlington Northern Railroad and is known to call himself "Mr. Linda Smith".

· At 32, she was elected to the Washington House. Four years later, she beat another appointed incumbent for a seat in the state Senate. During her tenure in the legislature, she shepherded ballot measures, on campaign reform and voter approved tax increases, to victory. She was known for her opposition to gay rights and gay adoption laws.

· In the U.S. House, once referred to as "the cage rattler", Smith supported campaign finance reform and attacked Republican leadership for refusing to discuss the lobbyist gift ban. In 1997, she voted against Newt Gingrich for Speaker of the House. She considers herself less a Republican than a Populist, yet she maintains strong ties with the Christian Coalition.

· Smith is a born-again Christian and considers her style to be harsh and in-your-face. Some have referred to her as "Linda the Giant Killer".

· In 1996, she won re-election over challengeBrian Baird by just 887 votes - all from absentee ballots.

· She opposes Medicare funding for abortions in the case of rape or incest saying, "We donÂ't kill children because their father is a jerk."

· She learned about politics and how to get involved from reading. Both she and her husband thought about running for office, but after they met with the state GOP party, they decided that she was a more marketable candidate.