Patty Murray was first elected to the U.S. Senate from Washington state in 1992 during the “Year of the Woman,” motivated to run for higher office in part by the contentious Clarence Thomas Supreme Court confirmation hearings.
At that time, Murray was the self-professed “Mom in Tennis Shoes,” advocating for working families and outraged by the way an all-male Senate committee questioned Anita Hill when she said Thomas had sexually harassed her.
Now Murray, 71, is one of the Senate’s most powerful members and seeking a sixth term at another inflection point for women following the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide.
Murray’s campaign has spent more than $1 million to run television ads since June blasting her Republican rival Tiffany Smiley for supporting Roe v. Wade’s reversal.
Cornell W. Clayton, a political scientist and director of the Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Service and Public Policy at Washington State University, said Murray remains the favorite to win in November but faces challenges.
“In particular she has to worry about Biden´s negative approval ratings as a drag and the economy and inflation putting the electorate in a pretty sour mood,” Clayton said.
Smiley´s strategy appears to be focusing less on policy and more on turning the race into a referendum on Democrats, he said.