Marjorie Margolies | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromPennsylvania's13th district | |
| In office January 3, 1993 – January 3, 1995 | |
| Preceded by | Lawrence Coughlin |
| Succeeded by | Jon D. Fox |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1942-06-21)June 21, 1942 (age 83) Philadelphia,Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 7, includingMarc Mezvinsky |
| Relatives | Chelsea Clinton (daughter-in-law) |
| Education | University of Pennsylvania (BA) |
| Website | Official website |
Marjorie Margolies (/mɑːrˈɡoʊliːz/mar-GOH-leez;[1] formerlyMargolies-Mezvinsky; born June 21, 1942) is a fellow at theUniversity of PennsylvaniaFels Institute of Government and anadjunct faculty member at theUniversity of Pennsylvania. She is a formerjournalist and aDemocratic politician. From 1993 to 1995, she was a member of theU.S. House of Representatives, representingPennsylvania's 13th congressional district.
Margolies cast the deciding vote in favor of PresidentBill Clinton's1993 budget proposal.
Margolies was born inPhiladelphia. She graduated from theUniversity of Pennsylvania in 1963.[2] She was a broadcast journalist for over twenty-four years, winning fiveEmmy Awards for her work.[3] She worked as a television journalist atWCAU-TV from 1967 to 1969, was a CBS News Foundation Fellow,Columbia University from 1969 to 1970,[2] and then worked forWRC-TV from 1975 until 1990.[3] She was also a correspondent for theToday Show.[3][4]
In 1992 she ran for an open seat in Congress forPennsylvania's 13th congressional district, a largely suburban district outside Philadelphia which Republicans had held since 1916. She defeated Bernard Tomkin in the Democratic primary, 79%-21%.[5] In the general election, she defeated Republican State RepresentativeJon D. Fox by a margin of 0.5%, or a difference of 1,373 votes.[6]
In 1994, she lost re-election to Fox in a rematch, 49%-45%, a difference of 8,181 votes.[7] She was one of 54 Democratic incumbents who were defeated in theRepublican Revolution.
Margolies served on the bipartisan Deficit Reduction Task Force.[8] In 1994, she completedA Woman's Place, a book with the other women in the class of 1992.
Many of her votes cost her re-election bid in 1994. One vote was for PresidentBill Clinton's controversial1993 budget, for which she was the deciding vote. She had opposed the bill, until the President called her. House Democrats cheered as the House Republicans jeered, "Goodbye Marjorie!"[9][10] In a 2009 interview withThe Daily Beast, she recalled U.S. CongressmanRobert Walker (R-Pennsylvania) in particular joining in the Republican jeers. She also recalled the ire of her constituents resulting from her vote, saying "when I went to town-hall meetings, I had to be escorted by the police....I was just surprised at the level of divisiveness and immaturity."[11]
After ahealth care reform bill passedthe House in November 2009, the conservativeAmericans for Tax Reform featured her 1994 defeat as an example of what could occur inthe 2010 midterm elections because of one particular vote to those Democrats in swing districts who voted in favor of that health care reform bill.[12][13] Margolies, however, wrote inThe Washington Post that she was glad that she had cast her vote as she had, and urged vulnerable Democrats in Congress to vote for thehealthcare bill in March 2010.[14]
After her term in Congress, Margolies was the chair of the National Women's Business Council, and the director and deputy chair of the United States delegation to theUnited NationsFourth World Conference on Women in 1995.[15]
Margolies serves as the founder and chair of Women's Campaign International (WCI), a group that provides advocacy training for women throughout the world. She is also an adjunct professor at theFels Institute of Government at theUniversity of Pennsylvania.[16] In addition, she sits on the board of directors of theCommittee for a Responsible Federal Budget.[17]
In 1998, Margolies ran forLieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania. She won the Democratic primary election with 53% of the vote, defeating two other candidates.[18] She became the running mate for State RepresentativeIvan Itkin. The ticket lost to RepublicansTom Ridge andMark Schweiker, 57%-31%.[19]
In 2000, Margolies decided to run for U.S. Senate for the seat held by RepublicanRick Santorum. Ultimately, she withdrew from the race after experiencing disappointing fundraising results; in addition, her mother was ill and her husband had legal troubles that resulted in several convictions for fraud. Shortly thereafter, she filed forbankruptcy,[20] but failed to receive a discharge from her debts, based on 11 U.S.C. §727(a)(5). The court found Mezvinsky had failed to satisfactorily explain a significant loss of assets in the four years prior to her bankruptcy filing. The bankruptcy judge stated, in her published opinion, "I find that the Debtor has failed to satisfactorily explain the loss of approximately $775,000 worth of assets (the difference between the $810,000 represented in May 1996 and the $35,000 now claimed in her Amended Schedule B)." Sonders v. Mezvinsky (in re Mezvinsky), 265 B.R. 681, 694 (Bankr. E.D. Pa. 2001).
In May 2013, Margolies filed paperwork to run in the Democratic congressional primary in her former district in 2014. She ran to replace Rep.Allyson Schwartz (D-Penn.), whoran forGovernor of Pennsylvania in 2014. The other Democrats in the race were state Rep.Brendan Boyle ofNortheast Philadelphia; state SenatorDaylin Leach ofMontgomery County; and Dr.Valerie Arkoosh, a professor at theUniversity of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. State Rep.Mark B. Cohen ofPhiladelphia and former City ControllerJonathan Saidel filed to run, but later withdrew.[21]
On May 17, 2014,Hillary Clinton held her first fundraiser of the year for Margolies's congressional campaign.[22]
On May 20, 2014, Margolies lost the primary election to Boyle.[23]
Margolies marriedEdward Mezvinsky of Iowa in 1975;[4] they divorced in 2007.[24][25] During their marriage, she was known as Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky. They had 11 children altogether, four from his first marriage, two she adopted on her own, two sons they had together, and three children they adopted together. In 1970, Margolies adopted a daughter from Korea; this was reportedly the first time an unmarried American woman had adopted a foreign child.[26] From their 11 children, the Mezvinskys have 18 grandchildren as of 2014.[27]
Marc Mezvinsky, one of Margolies's sons with Edward Mezvinsky, marriedChelsea Clinton, the daughter of formerU.S. PresidentBill Clinton and formerU.S. Secretary of StateHillary Clinton. The wedding took place on July 31, 2010, inRhinebeck, New York.[26][28]
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromPennsylvania's 13th congressional district 1993–1995 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forLieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania 1998 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former U.S. Representative | Order of precedence of the United States as Former U.S. Representative | Succeeded byas Former U.S. Representative |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
