Claire Serrano

Claire Maria Serrano (March 30, 1954 – April 4, 2009) was an American politician who served as the 46th Vice President of the United States from 2000 to 2001. A Democrat, Serrano also served as the 64th and 68th United States Secretary of State from 1994 to 1996 and from 2001 to 2006, respectively, and thrice as a U.S. Senator from the Northwest.

Serrano was nominated to serve as vice president upon the inauguration of Arlene Antonio-Song on January 20, 2000; she left office as vice president one year later following the 2000 presidential election, which led to her second stint as Secretary of State. She is both the first Hispanic vice president and the first Latina Cabinet official in U.S. history as well as the first openly gay vice president, Cabinet official, and member of Congress.

Serrano was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on March 21, 2006, following her resignation from the Senate. She succumbed to the illness on April 4, 2009, in her home at the age of 55.

Early life and education
Claire Maria Serrano was born on March 30, 1954, in Seattle, Washington. She was the only child to her parents, both of whom immigrated from Mexico in 1946. Her father worked as a janitor while her mother worked as the secretary of a private law firm, and she later said that it was her experiences at her mother's job that made her want to pursue a law career. Her father was addicted to alcohol and killed himself while intoxicated in 1968.

After graduating from Ballard High School in 1972, Serrano moved to Wyoming and attended the University of Wyoming, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in political science in 1976 and her Juris Doctor in 1979. She moved to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1979 to attend Harvard University, where she received a doctorate in political science in 1982.

Early career
Serrano became an associate at a private law firm in Boston in 1980 and worked at the law firm for three years until her graduation from Harvard University, rising through the ranks until she became a partner at that law firm in 1983.

After graduating with a doctorate in political science from Harvard University, Serrano accepted a job as a professor at Harvard Law School, despite her plans to return to Wyoming to open a law firm with her mother. Alongside working as a private lawyer, Serrano was a professor at Harvard Law School from her graduation until the death of her mother in 1984.

When she moved back to Wyoming in 1984, Serrano became the chief of staff of Cheyenne mayor Donald Erickson, whom she knew through a family friend. The same year, she ran for mayor in Cheyenne after Erickson chose not to run for re-election and defeated her opponent by just 22 votes.

On October 6, 1985, Serrano announced her candidacy for Governor of Wyoming in the 1986 election. After a lengthy primary and general election season, she defeated state representative Pete Simpson by about 13,000 votes, becoming the state's first openly gay governor. As governor, Serrano passed many pieces of progressive legislation that was seen as ahead of their time and quickly boosted her into the national spotlight, something that she later said prompted her to run for president in 1992. She was re-elected to a second term in a landslide in 1990 and, after a failed presidential campaign, ran for U.S. Senate in 1992. She left office on January 3, 1993, to take office in the Senate. She was succeeded as governor by Justine Cable.

1992 presidential election
See also: 1992 United States presidential election

Serrano announced her candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination on December 14, 1991, and was considered the frontrunner against New Jersey businesswoman Michelle Booker until Hillary Rodham's entrance into the race.

Despite being an active campaigner, Serrano lost the nomination to Rodham, winning six states, 295 delegates, and 30% of the popular vote. Despite speculation that she was going to be Rodham's running mate, Serrano was encouraged to run for Senate by Rodham and was passed over for the vice-presidential slot by South Carolina governor Casey Booker.

Serrano later endorsed Rodham, who went on to lose the election to Harvey Jones.

1992 election
After losing the Democratic presidential nomination, Serrano discussed her future with Hillary Rodham, who suggested that she run for the U.S. Senate in the Northwest. After declaring her candidacy for the U.S. Senate, Serrano defeated her primary opponent, John Brogan, with 97% of the popular vote. Serrano then defeated Republican challenger Kay Brown with 64.9% of the popular vote in the general election. Following her victory, she changed her primary residence from Wyoming to Washington, her childhood home state.

1994 election
Serrano announced her intention to run for re-election to the Senate on January 28, 1994. After being confirmed as Secretary of State, she announced that she ended her campaign on August 5, 1994.

1996 special election
On September 3, 1996, Serrano submitted a letter to President Jones notifying him that she was taking a leave of absence. Following the submission of this letter, she announced her candidacy for her old Senate seat in a special election triggered by the death of Richard Cuban. She is facing incumbent Republican senator Jerry McGarry, who was appointed to the seat following Cuban's death. Despite poor turnout, Serrano defeated McGarry with 55.2% of the vote; her victory made her the first person in MGI history to serve two nonconsecutive terms in Congress and one of two successful Democratic candidates (the other being Theresa Menzies) to flip the Senate majority for the Democrats in 1996.

2000 election
Due to her candidacy for President of the United States, Serrano said that she would not be seeking a third term in the Senate in 2000 and instead endorsed Arlene Antonio-Song, the incumbent president and former vice president, for her seat. Serrano later became vice president before the expiration of her term and resigned her seat early.

2002 special election
The resignation of Arlene Antonio-Song sparked a special election for this seat during the 2002 midterms. On April 21, 2002, Serrano announced that she would run for her old Senate seat at a press conference in Seattle. Serrano was ultimately defeated by incumbent senator Felix Quintos, winning 48.1% to Quintos' 51.9%. Serrano conceded the election to Quintos the same night.

2005 special election
The resignation of Felix Quintos sparked a special election for this seat to be held in 2005. Serrano announced that she would run in the special election on January 29, 2005. She opposed Democratic congressman Floyd Olson in the primary for the seat and defeated him for the nomination, winning 54.1% to Olson's 45.9%. She faced incumbent senator Richard Bradley, with whom she served in the Garcia administration, and in a race described as the only true tossup of the special elections, Serrano defeated Bradley, winning 50.9% of the vote to Bradley's 49.1%.

First term (1993-94)
Serrano was sworn in as the senior U.S. Senator from the Northwest on January 3, 1993. Upon taking office in the Senate, Serrano became the first Latina and the first openly gay senator in American history and was one of two Latinas to serve in Congress, the other being Cristina Bellot. Serrano served as the Senate Majority Whip from 1993 to 1994 and as the Senate Majority Leader for one month in 1994. Before its dissolution, she also chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. She was the one of two of the first women to serve in Senate leadership (the others being Elise Brownback), the first openly gay person to serve in Senate leadership, and the first Hispanic senator to chair a standing committee in the Senate.

Serrano had a 100% voting record, having voted on every bill and nominee presented to the Senate. Serrano also introduced 10 bills to the Senate, which is more than every member of the 103rd Congress, all of which passed both chambers of Congress and nine of which were signed into law.

Serrano resigned from the Senate on August 5, 1994, to take office as Secretary of State. She was replaced by Sterling Johnson, who served as acting Secretary of State following the resignation of Greg Howard.

Second term (1996-2000)
Serrano was sworn in as the junior U.S. Senator from the Northwest on November 5, 1996, following her resignation as Secretary of State. Her victory in a special election for her old Senate seat made her the first person in MGI history to serve two nonconsecutive terms in Congress and was crucial to flipping the Senate majority for the Democrats in 1996. After taking office and giving a maiden address to the Senate, Serrano voted in favor of both the 28th Amendment, which she proposed, and the expulsion of fellow senator Joe Kelly and proposed a minimum wage increase bill and amendments to the American Bar Association Act, both of which passed and were signed into law.

Upon the Democrats winning a majority of seats in the 104th Senate, Serrano was elected president pro tempore in a party-line vote against Republican senator Tim Brady and returned to her position as Chairwoman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In the first half of the term, Serrano wrote and passed a condemnation of Confederate symbolism and a bill to designate the Ku Klux Klan as a domestic terrorist organization. She was confirmed as Director of the American Bar Association and admitted into the Hall of Fame days later.

In 1998, Serrano successfully passed a resolution to abolish the abstention as an acceptable form of voting in the Senate and announced the dissolution of Senate committees on the same day. Weeks later, she introduced the Incarcerated Voting Rights Act and re-introduced the Roe Abortion Rights Act, which was originally vetoed in 1994; both bills were vetoed. She then successfully passed a resolution to override the veto of the Incarcerated Voting Rights Act, which was the first veto override throughout the entire presidency of Harvey Jones. Despite saying she would introduce a veto override for the Roe Abortion Rights Act, Serrano declined to introduce such a resolution, citing the short amount of time left in the term.

Serrano was re-elected as president pro tempore at the start of the 106th Congress in 1999. She was instrumental in aiding President Harvey Jones in rebuilding the Supreme Court by filling the court with justices. Following Jones' resignation and Arlene Antonio-Song's subsequent ascension to the presidency on January 20, 2000, Serrano was nominated to serve as vice president, prompting her resignation from the Senate and an election for president pro tempore that resulted in Clay Jones, her seatmate, resuming the office. On her final day as a senator, Serrano introduced and passed six bills, the most amount of bills introduced by a member of Congress in a single day.

Following her unanimous confirmation as vice president in both chambers of Congress and the passage of her bills, Serrano resigned from the Senate on January 20, 2000. She was subsequently sworn in as vice president, and, at her request, she was succeeded in the Senate by Elijah Thornton.

Third term (2006)
Serrano was sworn in as the junior U.S. Senator from the Northwest on January 5, 2006, following her resignation as Secretary of State. Her victory in a special election for her old Senate seat made her the first person in MGI history to serve three nonconsecutive terms in Congress and was crucial to securing the Senate majority for the Democrats in the 2005 special elections.

Following attempts to remove her from the Senate, Serrano resigned on February 20, 2006. She was replaced by Floyd Olson, who challenged her in the primaries for the seat.

103rd Congress

 * Committee on Foreign Relations (chairwoman)
 * Committee on Domestic Affairs
 * Committee on the Judiciary
 * Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

104th Congress

 * Committee on Domestic Affairs (ranking member)
 * Committee on Appropriations
 * Committee on the Judiciary

105th Congress

 * Committee on Foreign Relations (chairwoman)
 * Select Committee on Presidential Nominees (chairwoman)

106th Congress

 * Select Committee on Presidential Nominees (chairwoman)

109th Congress

 * Committee on Foreign Relations
 * Committee on Domestic Affairs

First tenure (1994-97)
On July 4, 1994, Serrano was nominated to serve as Secretary of State following the resignation of Greg Howard. After the dissolution of Senate committees, Serrano's confirmation hearing was held before the entire Senate. Although her experience and qualifications for the job were undoubted, concerns rose about the activity of the Senate decreasing due to her increased activity. Despite these concerns, she was confirmed unanimously (discounting her abstention) on August 5, 1994, and sworn in on the same day.

Serrano was sworn in as Secretary of State on August 5, 1994. Upon taking office, she became the first woman, Latina, and openly gay person in U.S. history to serve as Secretary of State, as well as the first Latina and openly gay person to serve in the Cabinet. Soon after taking office, Serrano delivered the Democratic response to the 1994 State of the Union address and was the first Latina and first Cabinet member to deliver such an address.

Having sensitive compartmented information security clearance, Serrano was in the situation room on multiple occasions throughout her tenure as Secretary of State, advising the president on situations such as the bombings in New York City and Washington, D.C., terrorist threats from the Saudi Arabian terrorist organization al-Ahfaauidh, and drug cartel activity on the United States-Canada border separating Washington and British Columbia.

After taking office in 1994, Serrano wrote and successfully passed the JAMAICA Act, a relief package to help Jamaica rebuild and strengthen relations between the United States and Jamaica, following the attempted coup d'etat there. Despite facing scrutiny from various members of Congress, the bill passed nearly one year after its introduction.

In 1995, Serrano wrote the American-Pacific Trade Agreement with South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, which are collectively known as the Asian Tigers. The agreement abolished tariffs and forgave 50% of all existing debt between the United States and the Asian Tigers, as well as created a free trade agreement that protects jobs, ensures human rights are being practiced, and enabled the free exchange of goods and services between the signatories. In that same year, Serrano became the first Secretary of State to set foot into North Korea when she met with Kim Jong-il following the death of Kim il-Sung and a missile test conducted by North Korea. A détente in North Korea and months of negotiations led to the Korean Denuclearization and Freedom Agreement, written by Serrano, which forced North Korea to denuclearize, release all foreign nationals detained in their country, and loosen travel restrictions in exchange for loosened travel restrictions, relaxed economic sanctions, and normalized diplomatic relations through the opening of diplomatic missions abroad. Although the American-Pacific Trade Agreement has not yet been ratified by the Senate, the Korean Denuclearization and Freedom Agreement was ratified very soon after its signing, and on June 4, 2004, Serrano issued a Level 1 travel advisory for North Korea for the first time in U.S. history.

In 1996, Serrano responded to the attack on the American embassy in Chad by restricting travel to Chad, evacuating all American citizens from Chad, and meeting with Chadian president Idriss Déby. Following the meeting, it was announced that Serrano had successfully persuaded the Chadian government to pay for reparations related to the attack and detain those involved. Serrano then traveled to South Africa to meet South African president Nelson Mandela and then to Ethiopia to negotiate and sign the African Foreign Relief and Internal Convalescence Agreement (AFRICA), an agreement that totally forgave debt owed to the United States by member states of the African Union and authorized foreign aid from the United States to these nations; the agreement was also ratified very soon after its signing. The same year, Serrano restricted travel to Northern Ireland following attacks in the country by the Irish Republican Army and met with Canadian prime minister Jean Chrétien in Toronto following the car bombing in Toronto that resulted in the deaths of 11 Canadians and one American. Serrano also greeted the American nationals who were released from North Korean custody at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Seattle, Washington, before taking a leave of absence.

On September 3, 1996, Serrano announced that she would be taking a leave of absence from her duties as Secretary of State and temporarily transferred her duties to Deputy Secretary Dan Mainieri. Soon after, she announced her candidacy in a special election for her old Senate seat in the Northwest, which was triggered by the death of Richard Cuban. After winning the special election, Serrano resigned as Secretary of State on November 5, 1996, and was later succeed by former senator Andy Burnham.

Second tenure (2001-06)
Serrano was sworn in as acting Secretary of State upon the inauguration of Ricardo Garcia on January 20, 2001. Despite some opposition within her own party during her confirmation process, Serrano was confirmed by the Senate without a single vote against her on February 5, 2001.

During the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Serrano sat in the situation room during an emergency meeting of the National Security Council to learn more about the attacks, including the death toll and the perpetrators. In response to the attacks, Serrano ordered the evacuation of all American diplomats in foreign countries and within a 250-mile radius of Manhattan and instated travel bans on Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Serrano, alongside Secretary of Defense Michael Williams and National Security Advisor Jack Carnegie, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for 46 hours regarding the attacks and the administration's response to them. Following more investigations and administrative actions, Serrano ordered the return of all American diplomats to their posts, with the exceptions of those posted in countries with post-9/11 travel bans, on April 21, 2002.

Serrano was the author of the Jerusalem neutrality solution, which intended to end the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. With the approval of President Garcia, Serrano invited the leaders of Israel and Palestine to her personal cabin in the Cascade Mountains of Washington and brokered a deal involving the Jerusalem neutrality solution, which was signed on July 24, 2002, and subsequently ratified by both countries.

Following the 2002 midterms, Serrano formed a team of foreign policy advisors, which included department counselor Theresa Thaddeus and other members of Congress with whom Serrano was close. Throughout 2003, Serrano participated in negotiations with Canada and Mexico on behalf of the United States and drafted the North American Multilateral Trade Partnership and signed it in Ottawa on June 4, 2004. The agreement was ratified by the Senate on June 20, 2004, and took effect on January 1, 2006.

On February 16, 2004, Serrano imposed travel advisories on China, Japan, and Russia following announcements from those governments that their citizens had been infected by a respiratory virus known as SARS-04. These travel advisories, along with other efforts by the Departments of Health and Human Services, Defense, and Transportation prevented the virus from entering the United States. As the virus spread to other countries, Serrano imposed travel advisories on countries such as Canada, India, and Brazil. Following the appointment of Health and Human Services secretary Richard Bradley to the Senate, Serrano was sworn in as Chairwoman of the White House SARS Taskforce on October 24, 2004. On November 11, 2005, the World Health Organization declared that the virus had been eradicated worldwide.

Following Bradley's appointment to the Senate, which was announced by minority leader Jimmy Choo on October 24, 2004, Serrano publicly called for Choo's resignation from the Senate, calling the move "nothing short of dangerous and irresponsible". The call for Choo's resignation was received with controversy, and Serrano received backlash from other Republican senators, such as Bradley and Ainsley Bryant.

Serrano was tapped to continue her service as secretary of state in the Kingston administration upon Jay Kingston's election to the presidency in 2004. Upon Kingston's inauguration, Serrano and Kingston launched negotiations with Canada and the United Kingdom for a progressive climate agreement. Negotiations had not ceased by the time Serrano resigned from the Cabinet to be sworn into the Senate.

On March 1, 2005, Serrano submitted the Serrano Doctrine to the House of Representatives for passage. The doctrine reads, "It shall be the foreign policy of the United States of America that the United States of America shall not intervene in any global conflicts, be it one of military or one of diplomacy, unless it is directly attacked, the national security of the United States and/or the public safety of the American people are at risk, its involvement is compelled by an international alliance or agreement, and/or its involvement is explicitly permitted by an act of the United States Congress unless there should be a humanitarian crisis in the world that the executive branch shall feel compelled to respond to." The doctrine was decisively passed by the House of Representatives, but the following day, Democratic senator and Senate Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Amanda Hague announced that the doctrine would not be put to a vote.

A brief constitutional crisis in which it was unknown if Kingston was incapacitated caused Serrano to be briefly sworn in as president on June 4, 2005; however, it was later ruled by the Supreme Court that Kingston was in fact not incapacitated, and Serrano's acting presidency was nulled on the same day.

Following a close victory in a Senate special election, Serrano resigned as secretary of state on January 5, 2006.

2000 presidential election
See also: 2000 United States presidential election

Serrano was widely seen as a potential presidential candidate in the 2000 presidential election and publicly expressed interest in running since after Harvey Jones' decisive victory in 1996. On January 22, 1998, Serrano announced the formation of a presidential exploratory committee during a press conference in Washington, D.C.

Serrano announced her candidacy for President of the United States at a rally in Seattle, Washington, on November 3, 1998. She was seen as a frontrunner for the nomination and led in multiple polls despite facing formidable opposition from fellow senator Jeanne Stein and congressman Elijah Thornton.

Serrano participated in primary debates hosted by CBC and CNN and hosted multiple campaign rallies across multiple primary states. Despite this, she came in second place in most primary states, winning only South Carolina, Oklahoma, and Alabama, and she won only 493 delegates, putting her second to Stein.

On June 12, 1999, following Thornton's endorsement of Stein, Serrano suspended her campaign for president, citing her inability to see a mathematical path to the nomination, and endorsed Stein for the presidency. Stein would go on to choose Louisiana governor Madison Baker as her running mate and lose the election to Ricardo Garcia.

Nomination and confirmation
Following the announcement that Harvey Jones would resign the presidency, it was widely reported that Serrano's name was on a shortlist for the vice presidency under the incoming administration. Serrano reportedly lobbied for the job and was officially nominated for the vice presidency in the inaugural address of Arlene Antonio-Song on January 20, 2000.

Serrano became the first woman and first Hispanic American nominated for the vice presidency in U.S. history. Her confirmation process was the fastest in history at nine hours, and she was unanimously confirmed for the vice presidency and sworn in on the same day as the announcement that she would be nominated for vice president.

Tenure (2000-01)
Serrano was sworn in as Vice President of the United States on January 20, 2000. Her vice presidency marked many historical firsts; she is the first Hispanic, Latina, and openly gay vice president, as well as the first woman and Hispanic to be confirmed as vice president and the only vice presidential nominee to be confirmed unanimously by both chambers of Congress. Upon her inauguration, she resigned her Senate seat, which went to Elijah Thornton, and was replaced as president pro tempore by her former seatmate Clay Jones.

Serrano's vice presidency was centered around many social issue, including gun control and abortion. She championed the successful veto override of the Roe Abortion Rights Act and unsuccessfully defended the bill in multiple subsequent Supreme Court cases brought on by conservative lawyer Matthew Banks. Her only legislative accomplishment as vice president, the Omnibus Gun Control Act, was signed into law by Antonio-Song on their final day in office, alongside other bills she had authored during her time in the Senate.

Despite being a candidate in the 2000 Democratic presidential primaries, Serrano endorsed Jeanne Stein for president but resigned her position as Chairwoman of the Democratic Party on Election Day due to Stein's loss and weakened congressional majorities. Following the election, she worked with President-elect Ricardo Garcia with Cabinet nominees and was herself nominated to serve once again as Secretary of State.

Serrano was awarded her third Presidential Medal of Freedom on her final day as vice president. She left office on January 20, 2001, exactly one year after being confirmed and sworn in, and was succeeded by her former seatmate Clay Jones.

Personal life and death
Serrano came out as gay while she was a student at Harvard. She was married to U.S. senator Jacky Cameron from 1998 to 2003 and then to Queen Joan from 2003 until her death in 2009. Upon her marriage to the queen, she was created Duchess of Edinburgh and Princess Consort of the United Kingdom; despite this, she never lived in the United Kingdom during her marriage. She has no children.

Following her resignation from the Senate, Serrano returned to her home in Rockport, Washington. She was diagnosed with stage 2 pancreatic cancer after experiencing symptoms for months. Deciding not to treat the cancer, she died in her sleep at her home in Rockport on April 4, 2009, at the age of 55. She is the first woman to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.