Marjorie Margolies wants to return to Congress in 2014 and she has a big name behind her: former US President Bill Clinton.
Clinton will appear at an April 10 fundraiser luncheon at the Prime Rib restaurant in Philadelphia on behalf of Margolies. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, tickets are $1,000 and $5,000.
Margolies and Clinton share important family ties: her son Marc Mezvinsky married Chelsea Clinton in July 2010.
But Margolies and Clinton go way back.
Margolies served one term in the House of Representatives from 1993-1995. She cast the deciding vote in favor of Clinton’s controversial 1993 tax increases.
Margolies lost her bid for re-election to Republican candidate Jon D. Fox. She was one of 34 Democratic incumbents who were defeated in Newt Gingerich’s “Republican Revolution” in which Republicans took control of the House for the first time in 40 years.
Great news – yes, @billclinton's coming in April. Stay tuned for more.
— Marjorie Margolies (@MMargoliesPA) March 12, 2014
Margolies stands by her historic vote insisting that, though it cost her re-election, the tax increase “laid the groundwork for the largest expansion of our nation’s economy since World War II.”
Other legislation that Margolies is proud to claim she fought for during her Congressional term includes the Family and Medical Leave Act, the ban on assault weapons, and increased federal funding for women’s health care.
Margolies returned to her successful television journalism career when she left Congress. Her resume boasts stints as contributing correspondent on The Today Show, Sunday Today, A Closer Look, CNBC, and Real Life with Jane Pauley as well as five Emmy Awards.
Like her son’s famous mother-in-law, Margolies has suffered humiliation at the hands of a spouse. Her ex-husband Ed Mezvinsky, who represented Iowa in the US House from 1973-1977, was convicted of financial fraud and sentenced to federal prison in 2001. He served five years from 2003-2008.
The couple filed for bankruptcy and Margolies abruptly dropped out of her 2000 bid for Rick Santorum’s Senate seat. They divorced in 2007.
“I am convinced he had every intention of paying everybody back. He just got into a black hole that he couldn’t get out of,” Margolies has said of her ex-husband.
Margolies is a case study in how women can defy the odds. In the years since her last Congressional term, she has served as an adjunct professor, lectured throughout the US, written books, and founded Women’s Campaign International (WCI.)
Margolies currently serves as president of WCI, an organization whose “programs help women find their voices by giving them tangible skills in political leadership, conflict mitigation, economic empowerment and civic engagement.”
Image via Marjorie Margolies, Facebook
