Hattie Caraway

Hattie Caraway started her political career as the wife of Senator Thaddeus Caraway. At this point her public role was limited, but she worked for her husband's campaign headquarters. She became more and more politically informed and stood by her husband's issues. Outside of her work, she became a prominent voice for women's rights in her home state of Arkansas.

In 1931, Thaddeus Caraway died in office, and Hattie succeeded him in his seat on the Senate, becoming the first female representative. She received criticism for this because people believe that she gained the seat not on merit, but family relations. She served in the upper-chamber of congress. After 14 months of filling her husband's term, she faced a special election to decide who would take the seat. Caraway easily won the election against two independents with 92% of the vote. One year later in 1932, she was faced with a Senate re-election campaign. On filing day of the election, she shocked Arkansas and the rest of congress by declaring her candidacy.

The election was difficult for her, she faced governors and former U.S Senators who had more political experience than her. She slowly gained support of the people through her endorsements by minority groups and politicians. She ended up winning the election with 44.7% of the vote.
 
As a Senator, she became known as "Silent Hattie" because she did not speak much on the floor. She was against joining World War 2 until the Pear Harbor attacks. She secured $15 million to construct an Aluminium plant in Arkansas. She was one of the few voices in favor of women's rights at the time, and voted for an anti lynching bill in 1938.

She surprisingly ran for re-election again in 1938, facing a reputable representative named John McClellan. She narrowly won the primary vote and went on to win the general election, but she badly represented the Arkansas Political Establishment. She served all the way up until 1944 until she faced four democrat challengers in the primary, and her political career ended.

http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=1278
http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/Featured_Bio_Caraway.htm