Florence Pendleton

Florence Howard Pendleton (January 28, 1926 – September 10, 2020)[1] was an American political activist who served as shadow senator from the District of Columbia. As the first African-American female elected to the U.S. Senate (unseated) in American history, her main goal was to promote the efforts of the District of Columbia to gain full voting rights, alongside her counterpart in Seat 2. She was inaugurated as the first ever United States Senator from the District of Columbia on January 3, 1991.[2] The District of Columbia, U.S. States Senator position has been commonly called, "shadow senator" but the voting ballot and legislation designated "United States Senator."[3]

Florence Pendleton
Pendleton in 1993
United States Shadow Senator
from the District of Columbia
In office
January 3, 1991 – January 3, 2007
Preceded bySeat established
Succeeded byMichael Brown
Personal details
Born
Florence Howard

(1926-01-28)January 28, 1926
Columbus, Georgia, U.S.
DiedSeptember 10, 2020(2020-09-10) (aged 94)
Columbus, Georgia, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
EducationHoward University (BS, MS)
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

She was known as “The Education Senator” because of her legacy as a life-long educator, administrator of DC Public Schools, and founder of the nonprofit “STAND”, The Society for Teaching Americans about New Columbia and DC Statehood.

She defended her seat in 2000, cruising to victory in the general election over Janet Helms, beating her 84%–14%.[4]

Her re-election bid in 2006 failed when Philip Pannell successfully challenged that she failed to have 2,000 valid signatures to get onto the ballot, having only 1,559. She ran as a write-in candidate, but only won 1,363 votes as Michael Donald Brown cruised to victory with 62,415 votes over her and Pannell's 21,552 votes to win the Democratic Primary. Her last day in office was on January 3, 2007.

Background

Pendleton graduated from Howard University with a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Science and she was a doctoral student at Virginia Tech.[5]

Election history

1990
1990 Shadow Senator, D.C., Democratic Primary Election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Jesse Jackson 85,454 57.03
Democratic Florence Pendleton 25,349 16.92
Democratic Harry "Tommy" Thomas, Jr. 22,401 14.95
Democratic James Forman 9,899 6.61
Democratic Marc Humphries 6,739 4.5

In the general election, the top two vote getters were elected as Shadow senators of each seat, with Pendleton taking Seat 1 and Jackson taking Seat 2.[6]

1990 Shadow Senator, D.C., General Election[7]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Jesse Jackson 105,633 46.8
Democratic Florence Pendleton 58,451 25.89
Independent Harry T. Alexander 13,983 6.19
Republican Milton Francis 13,538 6
Republican Joan Gillison 12,845 5.69
D.C. Statehood Green Keith M. Wilkerson 4,545 2.01
D.C. Statehood Green Anthony W. Peacock 4,285 1.9

1994
1994 Shadow Senator, D.C., Democratic Primary Election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Florence Pendleton 78,576 76.83
Democratic Stephen Sellows 20,512 20.06
  write-in 3,180 3.11
1994 Shadow Senator, D.C., General Election[8]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Florence Pendleton 117,517 74.04
Republican Julie Finley 24,107 15.19
D.C. Statehood Green Mel Edwards 15,586 9.82
  Other 1,511 0.95

2000
2000 Shadow Senator, D.C., General Election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Florence Pendleton 143,578 84
Republican Janet Helms 16,666 14
  write-in 1,136 2

2006
2006 Shadow Senator, D.C., Democratic Primary Election[9]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Michael Donald Brown 62,415 73
Democratic Philip Pannell 21,552 25
  write-in 1,363 2

Political career
  • November 6, 1990 — elected shadow senator when office was created[10]
  • November 8, 1994 — reelected shadow senator[10]
  • November 7, 2000 — reelected shadow senator[10]
  • 2006 — filed to run for reelection but was knocked off the primary ballot when her opponent Phil Pannell challenged the signatures on her petition[11]

See also

References
  1. "D.C. Election News and Voters Guide: U.S. Senator Shadow Seat". The Washington Post. 2000-11-11. Retrieved 2008-07-18.
  2. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=569210
  3. https://www.dcboe.org/Elections/Elected-Officials-(Current-Past)
  4. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=132429
  5. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/CandidateDetail.html?CandidateID=61288
  6. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=132437
  7. "Certified Results" (PDF). District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics. September 12, 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 23, 2015. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  8. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=132430
  9. "Certified Results" (PDF). District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics. September 12, 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 3, 2016. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  10. District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics. "Historical Elected Officials: US Senator". Archived from the original on 2008-07-16. Retrieved 2008-07-18.
  11. Montgomery, Lori; Silverman, Elissa (2006-08-03). "Pro-Slots Group Is Sailing On". The Washington Post. p. DZ02. Retrieved 2008-07-18.
Party political offices
New seat Democratic nominee for U.S. Shadow Senator from the District of Columbia
(Seat 1)
1990, 1994, 2000		 Succeeded by
Michael Brown
U.S. Senate
New seat U.S. Shadow Senator (Seat 1) from the District of Columbia
1991–2007
Served alongside: Jesse Jackson, Paul Strauss		 Succeeded by
Michael Brown
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