Murray makes history as first female senator to cast 10,000 votes

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) on Thursday made congressional history when she became the first woman to cast 10,000 votes as a U.S. senator.

Murray, who in January became the first woman to be elected Senate president pro tempore, was celebrated by her colleagues on the Senate floor, with Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) lauding her as a “truly remarkable public servant.”

“Her accomplishments go — if she just cast 10,000 votes that would be pretty good — but her accomplishments go way beyond that and often dwarf it,” Schumer said. “She’s a voice the Senate, the country, rely on, on some of the biggest issues we’ve faced.”

While Senate rules dissuade senators from clapping on the floor, Murray’s colleagues broke into applause to commemorate her milestone.

Schumer noted that Murray is also the first woman to serve as chair of Veterans Affairs and Budget committees. When Murray speaks, Schumer said, everyone across the political spectrum listens because “they know that she has studied it carefully and it comes right from the heart.”

“In issues like health care, environment, labor rights, pension, child care, there is Patty Murray as a beacon, not just a speaker, not just a legislator, but a beacon to all of us,” Schumer said.

The majority leader joked that he speaks to Murray so often that he knows her number by heart — so much so that he started reciting it on the Senate floor, stopping himself before revealing the final two digits. (He then asked that the number be deleted from the record, and was given unanimous consent to remove it as the chamber laughed).

Senate Republicans also joined the celebration of Murray. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) recalled that the year Murray was first elected to the Senate — 1992 — was dubbed the “year of the woman” because five women were elected to the Senate for the first time in history.

Their success was attributed to the backlash over the all-male Senate Judiciary Committee’s treatment of Anita Hill and her allegations of sexual harassment against Clarence Thomas at his Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Thomas denied the charges and the Senate narrowly confirmed him in October 1991.

“You were the leader of the group,” McConnell said. “You’ve had an extraordinarily successful career, and I wanted you to know that people on both sides of the aisle admire your service.”

Also on the Senate floor, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said it’s been “wonderful” to work with “my friend and colleague” Murray on the Appropriations Committee. Murray is the chair of the committee; Collins serves as the top Republican.

Per Senate records, 32 men have reached the 10,000 vote milestone, among them President Biden when he was a senator from Delaware, McConnell and Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa).

Murray celebrated her addition to the list on Twitter, saying that while she’s the first woman to cast 10,000 votes, she certainly will not be the last.