Cal Cunningham

Vail Women Elect held a fundraising event for Cal Cunningham in May 2020 raising $19,000 for his US Senate campaign to represent North Carolina and challenge Republican incumbent Thom Tillis.

James Calvin "Cal" Cunningham III is a politician, lawyer, and soldier who served in the North Carolina Senate from 2001 until 2003.  Cunningham also serves as a major in the United States Army Reserve. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, Cal volunteered to join the U.S. Army Reserve and has since served three active duty tours, including overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was awarded the Bronze Star and the prestigious General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award, in part for groundbreaking work prosecuting contractors for criminal misconduct, and the last three years he has trained special operations forces at Fort Bragg.

Cunningham was born and raised in North Carolina.  In 1996, he graduated from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill with a B.A. in political science and philosophy.  He earned a Master of Science in public policy and public administration from the London School of Economics.   He then went on to receive a J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1999.

Sara Gideon

Vail Women Elect held a fundraising event for Sara Gideon in May 2020 raising $28,000 for her campaign to challenge Republican incumbent Susan Collins for a US Senate seat representing Maine.

Sara Gideon is currently in her second term as the Speaker of the House of Representatives in Maine.  She started her career in public service 10 years ago by serving on her local town council.  In 2012, she was elected to the Maine House of Representatives, where she is in her fourth term as a State Representative.  Under Governors of both parties, Sara has shown an ability to deliver results while standing up for Democratic values. 

Gideon was born and raised in Rhode Island to a father from India and a mother who was a second generation Armenian.  She earned her B.A. in international affairs from George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs in D.C.  She moved to Freeport, Maine in 2004 with her husband, a native of Maine.

Steve Bullock

Vail Women Elect held a fundraising event for Democrat Steve Bullock in May 2020, raising $19,000 for his US Senate campaign, to represent Montana and challenge Republican incumbent Steve Daines.

Steve Bullock is the two-term Governor of Montana. Before then, he worked as a consumer protection, small business, and labor lawyer and helped lead the fight to raise Montana’s minimum wage. Steve was elected Attorney General and brought the first legal challenge to the landmark campaign finance case known as Citizens United all the way to the Supreme Court. He also fought to protect access to public lands and streams. As Governor, Bullock expanded Medicaid to cover 90,000 additional people, made record investments in education, boosted job training programs, expanded Montana’s infrastructure and defended access to public lands. Bullock chaired the National Governors Association from 2018 to 2019.

Steve Bullock was born and raised in Montana to parents whose careers were in Education.  He graduated with a B.A. in politics, philosophy, and economics from Claremont McKenna College, followed by a J.D. degree with honors from Columbia Law School.

John Hickenlooper

Vail Women Elect held a fundraising event for John Hickenlooper in May 2020 raising $29,000 for his campaign to challenge incumbent Cory Gardner for a US Senate seat representing Colorado.

John Hickenlooper is the former governor of Colorado (2011 - 2019). Considered a moderate, Hickenlooper worked across the aisle to support fracking efforts in the state but lost the support of many of his Republican colleagues when he supported tighter gun control measures following the 2012 mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado. He was formerly the mayor of Denver (2003 - 2011).  Prior to that he was a geologist, and then a brewer and small business owner whose successful pub was a part of the revitalization of a neglected warehouse district in Denver.

Hickenlooper was born in Narberth, Pennsylvania, a middle-class suburb of Philadelphia. He was raised by his mother from a young age after his father's death. Hickenlooper attended Wesleyan University, where he received a B.A. in english in 1974 and a master's degree in geology in 1980.

Barbara Bollier

Vail Women Elect held a fundraising event for Barbara Bollier in March 2020 raising $41,000 for her campaign to run for an open seat for US Senate, representing Kansas.

Barbara Bollier is a doctor and is currently serving as a Kansas State Senator. In 2010 Bollier was elected as a Republican to the Kansas House of Representatives. She then was elected to the Kansas State Senate in 2016. Barbara switched parties to become a Democrat in December 2018, along with two other legislators. She cited the GOP’s anti-transgender platform, Medicaid expansion, and school funding as the reasoning behind her switch. "Morally, the party is not going where my compass resides. I'm looking forward to being in a party that represents the ideals that I do, including Medicaid expansion and funding our K-12 schools."

Barbara was born in Galveston, Texas and raised in Fairway, Kansas and Mission Hills where she attended public schools.  She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Kansas and then her MD from the University of Kansas School of Medicine.  Prior to running for office, Dr. Bollier was an Anesthesiologist in an outpatient surgery center.

Amy McGrath

Vail Women Elect held a fundraising event for Amy McGrath in December 2019 raising $51,000 for her campaign to represent Kentucky in the US Senate and challenge incumbent US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

When McGrath was 13 years old, she dreamed of becoming a fighter pilot, but women were not yet allowed to serve in combat roles in our military. So, she wrote to her elected officials to ask them to change the law. She never heard back from her senator, Mitch McConnell.

In 2002 McGrath was one of the first women to fly a F/A-18 jet for the U.S. Marines. She served in both Afghanistan and Iraq flying over 89 combat missions.  In 2011, McGrath shifted state-side, working as a congressional fellow and then at the Pentagon as a Marine Corps liaison to the Department of State and the US Agency for International Development.  McGrath went on to teach U.S. government at the United States Naval Academy.  After reaching her 20-year service mark, McGrath retired from the armed forces on June 1, 2017, at the rank of lieutenant colonel and ran for Congress in 2018.

Amy McGrath was born in Ohio and raised in Kentucky. She attended the U.S. Naval Academy, played varsity soccer there all four years and graduated with a degree in Political Science. McGrath earned her Masters in international/ global security from Johns Hopkins.  McGrath is married to Erik Henderson, a retired Navy Pilot. They have three children and live in Georgetown, Kentucky.

CLAIRE MCCASKILL

Vail Women Elect held a fundraising event in support of Claire McCaskill in July 2018 raising $44,000 for her reelection campaign.

Senator Claire McCaskill is a Missouri Democratic Senator running for her third term. She is the second female U.S. Senator from Missouri after Jean Carnahan, and the first female US Senator from Missouri elected in her own right. She is in one of the closest races in the country and is in a dead-heat with Josh Hawley, the Republican challenging her to represent Missouri in the U.S. Senate.

Senator McCaskill is the top-ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, and is a senior member of the Armed Services Committee and the Committee on Finance.  Before serving in the U.S. Senate, Claire served as the 34th State Auditor of Missouri from 1999 to 2007. She previously served as Jackson County Prosecutor from 1993 to 1998 and as a member of the Missouri House of Representatives from 1983 to 1989. Senator McCaskill ran for Governor of Missouri in the 2004 election, beating Democratic incumbent Bob Holden in the primary election but losing to Republican Matt Blunt in a close general election. A native of Rolla, Missouri she graduated from the University of Missouri and the University of Missouri School of Law.

TAMMY BALDWIN

Vail Women Elect held an event for Tammy Baldwin in August 2018 raising more than $47,000 for her reelection campaign. 

Senator Tammy Baldwin is the junior Wisconsin Democratic Senator running for her second term. Baldwin defeated her Republican opponent, former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson, in the 2012 U.S. Senate election. She is the first woman elected to represent Wisconsin in the U.S. Congress and the first openly gay U.S. Senator in history. She is running for reelection in 2018 in a tight race against Republican Leah Vukmir.

Senator Baldwin is on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation as well as the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and the Appropriations Committee.  Before  serving in the US Senate, she served three terms in the Wisconsin Assembly, representing the 78th district, and from 1999 to 2013 represented Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives.

KRISTEN GILLIBRAND

Vail Women Elect supported the campaign for Senator Kirsten Gillibrand raising $33,000 for her reelection campaign. 

Senator Gillibrand is the junior Democratic Senator from New York serving with Senator Chuck Schumer. She was appointed to fill the Senate seat vacated by Hilary Clinton, and she was sworn in on January 26, 2009. Senator Gillibrand ran in a special election in 2010 to keep her seat, and she won with 63% of the vote. She was reelected to a full six-year term in 2012 with 72% of the vote, receiving a higher percentage of the vote than any other statewide candidate in New York. During her tenure, Senator Gillibrand has been outspoken on issues like sexual assault in the military and sexual harassment. She has been mentioned as a potential future Democratic presidential candidate. Prior to serving in the Senate, she was the U.S. Representative for New York's 20th congressional district from 2007.

Senator Gillibrand grew up in the Albany area. She graduated from Emma Willard School, a women's private academy in Troy, New York, and Dartmouth College where she graduated magna cum laude in 1988. During college, Gillibrand interned at Republican U.S. Senator Alfonse D'Amato's Albany office. Gillibrand received her J.D. from UCLA School of Law.

DIANE MITSCH BUSH

Vail Women Elect held a fundraising event for Diane Mitsch Busch raising more than $29,000 in support of her campaign to challenge the Colorado 3rd District US Congressional seat held by Scott Tipton.

Diane is a former Democratic member of the Colorado House of Representatives where she represented the House District 26 from 2013 to November 2017 when she resigned to focus on her campaign for U.S. Congress. Diane has been endorsed by Governor John Hickenlooper, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Emily’s List, the Durango Herald, the NEA and the CEA, NOW, the Alliance of Retired Americans, Sierra Club, and the National Committee for an Effective Congress among others. 

Diane Mitsch Bush attended public schools in Minnesota as a child. She was inspired to seek public service by President John F. Kennedy’s urging the country to, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” She graduated summa cum laude with a BA in sociology in 1975 and earned her PhD in sociology and social policy in 1979, both from the University of Minnesota. Mitsch Bush moved to Steamboat Springs, Colorado in 1976, where she lives today.

Deborah Ross

Vail Women Elect held a fundraising event for Deborah Ross in 2016 raising $29,000 for her campaign to challenge incumbent Richard Burr for a US Senate seat representing North Carolina.

Deborah Ross was a member of the North Carolina General Assembly, representing the state's 38th and then 34th House district which included Wake County, North Carolina. An attorney from Raleigh, North Carolina, Ross served five full terms and one partial term in the North Carolina House of Representatives. Ross was the Democratic nominee in the 2016 U.S. Senate election in North Carolina. She lost to incumbent Republican Richard Burr in the general election.

Ross was born in Philadelphia and grew up in Connecticut. She earned her B.A. from Brown University in 1985 and her J.D. from UNC-Chapel Hill law school in 1990.