Sen. Olympia Snowe (R) Elected 1994, 2d term up 2006
Born:	Feb. 21, 1947, Augusta
Home:	Auburn
Education:	U. of ME, B.A. 1969
Religion:	Greek Orthodox
Marital Status:	married (John McKernan)
Elected  Office:	ME House of Reps., 1973-76; ME Senate, 1976-78; U.S. House of Reps., 1978-94.
Professional Career:	Dir., Superior Concrete Co., 1969-78; Auburn Bd. of Voter Registration, 1971-73.
Additional Info
Recent Articles · Offices · Committees · Ratings · Key Votes · Election Results
More On Maine
At A Glance · State Profile Junior Senator · Almanac Home

Olympia Snowe is a Republican elected in 1994. Snowe grew up in Auburn and worked as a legislative staffer after college; in 1973, after her husband, state Representative Peter Snowe, died in an auto accident, she was elected to his seat. In 1978, when then-Congressman William Cohen ran for the Senate, she ran for the House in the northern 2d District, and won handily. She had a moderate record and won by large margins in the 1980s but more narrowly in the 1990s; in 1989 she married Governor John McKernan, her former House colleague. When Senator George Mitchell announced his retirement in March 1994, Snowe decided instantly to run. Immediately she went on the attack against her obvious Democratic opponent, 1st District Congressman Tom Andrews, whose winning margin two years before had been 107,000 votes, while hers was only 22,000. Snowe attacked him hard for voting for the bill that closed Loring Air Force Base in northern Maine and for opposing the balanced budget amendment. She won 60%-36%, carrying every county, losing only the cities of Portland and Lewiston and a few mill towns.

In the Senate, she was the least conservative of the 11 freshman Republicans elected in 1994. Her voting record has been around the middle of the Senate; she has voted with Democrats on some economic and many cultural issues and has been more conservative on defense and foreign policy. Since 1999 she and John Breaux have been convening a Centrist Coalition with senators of both parties, and on occasion they have played a key role in shaping legislation. On impeachment, she supported Republican positions on most issues, and worked with Democrats to come up with a compromise; she and Maine colleague Susan Collins proposed that the Senate vote first on a ''finding of fact'' describing Clinton's conduct and then separately on whether he should be removed from office. It was not successful, and Snowe voted against impeachment. In early 2001, with the Senate equally divided, Snowe played a pivotal role on some issues. In May 2001 she led a group of Finance Committee members who insisted that the child care tax credit would be refundable, so that money would go to those with low incomes who pay no income tax. Many Republicans opposed this as a form of welfare; Snowe argued that these people needed tax relief. The provision went into the Senate bill and while the conference committee was pending Snowe sponsored a nonbinding resolution insisting on it that passed 94-4: so the refundable credit became law. She supported the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill and did not bring forward, as she had in 1998, a provision, an anathema to Democrats, to ban unions from spending their members' dues money on politics without their permission. After September 11 she was part of the bipartisan group that negotiated with Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill provisions of the stimulus package; she argued unsuccessfully for a sales tax holiday during the holiday season, with the federal government reimbursing states for lost sales tax revenues. She was one of two Republicans voting with Democrats in July 2001 for a $7.5 billion farm aid bill; that was stopped by George W. Bush's veto threat. She and Collins voted for the 2002 farm bill after insertion of the $2 billion dairy program. In November 2002, the pair threatened to vote against the homeland security bill because of provisions, added quietly in the House, limiting liability of vaccine makers for additives, permitting overseas companies to compete for contracts and targeting one project to Texas A&M. Telephone lines buzzed with negotiations; Speaker Dennis Hastert was tracked down in Istanbul. Snowe and Collins agreed to vote for the bill after Majority Leader Trent Lott gave them a commitment that the three provisions would be revisited early in 2003; in January 2003, new Majority Leader Bill Frist, honored that commitment.

Snowe has taken a lead role on many women's health care issues. In July 2000 she sponsored a $200 million appropriation for women's health research, with $175 million for breast cancer, $12 million for ovarian cancer and $6 million for osteoporosis. In 1999 she pushed a bill to allow mastectomy patients to remain in the hospital as long as a doctor prescribes. In 2000 she sponsored a bill to extend osteoporosis screening to all Medicare recipients. With Edward Kennedy, she worked in 2000 to extend prescription drug coverage to military retirees through the military Tricare program and in 2001 to extend the CHIP program to the parents of eligible children. She supports abortion rights and came out against George W. Bush's reinstatement of the Mexico City policy in 2001. She has sponsored bills to pay for computerized prescription delivery in hospitals and nursing homes and to require gender analysis in FDA clinical trials. On prescription drugs, she was one of the sponsors of the tripartisan plan, developed in the Finance Committee in 2001 and which became the chief alternative to the Democrats' plan in summer 2002. She also has sponsored with Ron Wyden a bill to make Medigap insurance one of five options for seniors, all with coverage of prescription drug expenses over $3,000 a year.

On the Armed Services Committee from 1997 to 2001, she took the lead in opposing the recommendation of the commission headed by former Senator Nancy Kassebaum Baker to end gender-integrated basic training, and she and Mary Landrieu sponsored the March 1999 resolution declaring it U.S. policy to deploy a ballistic missile system as soon as ''technologically possible''; it passed 99-0 and spurred a reluctant Clinton administration. She became chairman of the Small Business Committee in January 2003 and promised to work for more affordable health insurance, regulatory relief and access to foreign markets. She and Dianne Feinstein have sought to raise CAFE gas mileage standards for SUVs and light trucks. She has labored on many local issues, establishing a pilot $25 million fishing vessel buyback, passing a ''Maine Lights'' program to preserve historic Maine lighthouses, and working to ban lobster dragging.

Snowe approached the 2000 campaign with very high job approval ratings. She received vigorous opposition from state Senate President Mark Lawrence, who campaigned in support of Maine's prescription drug law and charged that Snowe had voted against a bill that would have provided $97 million for school construction in Maine. But it was no contest. Snowe was re-elected 69%-31%, this time carrying even Portland and Lewiston, and trailing only in a few small, isolated communities.

Recent News Coverage
Search the CongressDaily, Hotline, National Journal and Technology Daily archives using the form below:

DC Office
154 RSOB 20510, 202-224-5344; Fax: 202-224-1946; Web site: snowe.senate.gov

State Offices
Auburn, 207-786-2451; Augusta,207-622-8292; Bangor,207-945-0432; Biddeford,207-282-4144; Portland,207-874-0833; Presque Isle,207-764-5124.

Committees

• Commerce, Science & Transportation: Aviation; Communications; Oceans, Fisheries & Coast Guard (Chmn.); Surface Transportation & Merchant Marine.
• Finance: Health Care; International Trade; Social Security & Family Policy; Taxation & IRS Oversight.
• Intelligence (Select).
• Small Business & Entrepreneurship (Chmn.).

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	CON	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2002	30	60	50	82	74	100	41	85	65	59	--
2001	40	--	25	50	--	--	65	79	60	--	40

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2001 LIB	--	2001 CONS		2002 LIB	--	2002 CONS
Economic	46%	--	54%		46%	--	51%
Social	51%	--	48%		45%	--	54%
Foreign	36%	--	54%		41%	--	58%
For National Journal's complete 2002 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 107th Congress (More Info)
1. Approve Bush Tax Cuts Y 2. Expand Patients' Rights Y 3. Campaign Finance Reform Y 4. Permit ANWR Development N 5. Confirm Ashcroft as AG Y 6. Bar Gays in the Boy Scouts N		7. $ for Hate Crime Prosecution Y  8. Overseas Military Abortions Y  9. Bar Coop. with Intl. Court Y 10. Trade Promotion Authority Y 11. Authorize Force in Iraq Y 12. Homeland Sec. Dept. Union N

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2000 general	Olympia Snowe (R)	437,689	69%	$1,981,504
	Mark Lawrence (D)	197,183	31%	$727,655
2000 primary	Olympia Snowe (R)	unopposed
1994 general	Olympia Snowe (R)	308,244	60%	$2,041,834
	Thomas H. Andrews (D)	186,042	36%	$1,482,060
	Other	17,447	3%
Prior winning percentages: 1992 House (49%); 1990 House (51%); 1988 House (66%); 1986 House (77%); 1984 House (76%); 1982 House (67%); 1980 House (79%); 1978 House (51%)