Margaret A. Mahoney

American politician
Margaret A. Mahoney
Member of the Ohio Senate
In office
1943 - 1951
Member of the Ohio House of Representatives
In office
1938 - 1942
Personal details
Political partyDemocratic
ResidenceCleveland Heights, Ohio

Margaret A. Mahoney was an American Democratic politician from Ohio. She held a number of political positions and served in the state's House and Senate and was the first Democratic woman elected to the Ohio Senate and the first woman majority leader of the chamber. Mahoney was inducted into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame in 1978.[1]

Biography

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Mahoney attended evening classes at Cleveland's West High School of Commerce to graduate from high school.[2] She graduated from John Marshall School of Law after working as a salesperson and a secretary.[3] Mahoney was the legislative chair for a number of women's organizations, which led her to become interested in running for the state legislature.[2] She was first elected to political office in 1938 as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives.[1] Mahoney served in both chambers of the Ohio state legislature, and became the first Democratic woman elected to the Ohio Senate in 1942.[3] She was from 1949 to 1950 the Senate President Pro Tem and Majority Leader, and was the first woman to hold that role.[1][4] She also served on a number of committees including the Senate Rules Committee.[2]

In March 1951, Mahoney was appointed Chief of the State Securities Division upon leaving the Senate.[5] She held numerous political offices, often being the first woman to hold the position, including Director of the Department of Industrial Relations of Ohio from 1953 to 1957; and was a member of the Cleveland Civil Service Commission and the Director of the Department of Industrial Relations.[1][3] She was a Presidential Elector and Delegate to the Democratic National Convention multiple times,[1][6] and was the only woman on the Ohio State Council of Defense during World War II.[1]

As of 2019, Mahoney is still the only woman to hold the top leadership position in the Ohio Senate.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Margaret A Mahoney". Ohio Women's Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
  2. ^ a b c "Ohio's Prominent Women Legislators". B and O Magazine. 35. Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. 1949.
  3. ^ a b c "Margaret A. Mahoney". www.ohiostatehouse.org. Ohio Statehouse. Archived from the original on 22 December 2021. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  4. ^ "Ohio Legislature". bw.edu. Archived from the original on 2021-12-23. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
  5. ^ "Margaret A. Mahoney leaving the Senate". www.ohiochannel.org. The Ohio Channel. Archived from the original on 22 December 2021. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  6. ^ "The Political Graveyard: Female Politicians in Ohio". politicalgraveyard.com. Archived from the original on 2021-12-23. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
  7. ^ Borchardt, Jackie; Balmert, Jessie (12 June 2019). "100 years later, Ohio's track record of electing female leaders remains abysmal". The Enquirer. Archived from the original on 20 December 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  • v
  • t
  • e
1970–1979
1978
1979
1980–1989
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1988
1989
1990–1999
1990
1991
  • Berenice Abbott
  • Earladeen Badger
  • Hallie Brown
  • JoAnn Davidson
  • Raquel Diaz-Sprague
  • Rita Dove
  • Mary Ignatia Gavin
  • Sara Harper
  • Donna Hawk
  • June Holley
  • Martha C. Moore
  • Darlene Owens
  • Helen H. Peterson
  • Martha Pituch
  • Yvonne Pointer
  • Virginia Ruehlmann
  • Josephine Schwarz
  • Suzanne Timken
  • Nancy Vertrone Bieniek
  • Stella Marie Zannoni
1992
  • Mary of the Annunciation Beaumont
  • Antoinette Eaton
  • Rubie McCullough
  • Nancy Oakley
  • Harriet Parker
  • Susan Porter
  • Helen Steiner Rice
  • Alice Schille
  • Louella Thompson
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
  • Carol Ball
  • Marilyn Byers
  • Jean Murrell Capers
  • Martha Dorsey
  • Joan Heidelberg
  • Clarice Herbert
  • Beatrice Lampkin
  • Jacquelyn Mayer Townsend
  • Ann O'Rourke
  • Beryl Rothschild
  • Thekla Shackelford
1998
1999
  • MaryJo Behrensmeyer
  • Alvina Costilla
  • Sarah Deal
  • Electra Doren
  • Daisy Flowers
  • Annie Glenn
  • Ann Hamilton
  • Carole Hoover
  • Cheryl Han Horn
  • Carol Latham
  • Nancy Linenkugel
  • Marie Barrett Marsh
  • Marjorie Parham
  • Mary Regula
  • Lee Lenore Rubin
  • Harriet Beecher Stowe
  • Jerry Sue Thornton
  • Janet Voinovich
2000–2009
2000
2001
2002
2003
2007
  • Rogers Margaret Brugler
  • Julia Chatfield
  • Lucille Hastings
  • Lillie Howard
  • Mary Ann Jorgenson
  • Joyce Mahaney
  • Rozella Schlotfeldt
  • Katherine May Smith
  • Florence Wang
2008
2009
2010–2019
2010
  • Owens Alvarene
  • Tenenbaum Gayle Channing
  • Dorothy McAlpin Maguire Chapman
  • Barbara Fergus
  • Merle Grace Kearns
  • Rebecca J. Lee
  • Nina McClelland
  • Lana Moresky
  • Martha Potter Otto
  • Elizabeth Ruppert
  • Rita Singh
2011