List of Jewish political milestones in the United States
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The following is a list of Jewish political milestones in the United States.
- First Jewish member of a colonial legislature (South Carolina): Francis Salvador (1775)
- First Jewish soldier killed in the American Revolutionary War: Francis Salvador (1776)
- First Jewish governor of a U.S. state: David Emanuel (1801)
- First Jewish member of the U.S. Congress/U.S. House of Representatives: Lewis Charles Levin (1845)
- First Jewish member of the United States Senate: David Levy Yulee (1845)
- First Jewish mayor of a major American city (Iowa City, Iowa): Moses Bloom (1873)
- Two years later, Bailey Gatzert became a mayor of Seattle (1875)
- First Jewish Cabinet member/Secretary of Commerce and Labor: Oscar Straus (1906)
- Not including Judah P. Benjamin, who served in the Confederate cabinet as Secretary of State and War
- First elected Jewish governor of a U.S. state: Washington Bartlett (1887)
- First Jewish Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States: Louis Brandeis (1916)
- President Millard Fillmore offered to appoint Judah P. Benjamin to the Supreme Court in 1853, but Benjamin declined
- First Jewish woman member of the U.S. Congress/U.S. House of Representatives: Florence Prag Kahn (1925)
- First person of Jewish ancestry to run for President of the United States on a major party ticket: Barry Goldwater (1964)
- First Jewish candidate to receive an electoral vote for Vice President: Toni Nathan of the Libertarian Party, from a faithless elector (1972)
- First Jewish Secretary of State: Henry Kissinger (1973)
- First Jewish female mayor of a major American city (San Francisco): Dianne Feinstein (1977)
- First Jewish openly gay member of the U.S. Congress/U.S. House of Representatives: Barney Frank (took office 1981, came out 1989)
- First Jewish female governor: Madeleine M. Kunin (1985)
- First Jewish women members of the United States Senate: Barbara Boxer & Dianne Feinstein (1993)
- First Jewish woman Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States: Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1993)
- First independent Jewish member of the U.S. Congress/U.S. House of Representatives: Bernie Sanders (1991)
- First Jewish nominee for Vice President of the United States on a major party ticket, and first Jewish candidate to receive an electoral vote excluding faithless electors: Joe Lieberman (2000)
- First Jewish elected official representing large constituency to serve past age 90: David Cohen (2004)
- First Jewish whip in the U.S. House of Representatives: Eric Cantor (2009) (also first Jewish party whip in either house)
- First openly gay Jewish Congressman to be openly gay upon first election: Jared Polis (2009)
- Number of Jewish Senators rises from 13 to 15 (15% of all American Senators vs. approx. 2% of the general population) (2009)
- First Jewish floor leader in the U.S. House of Representatives: Eric Cantor (2011) (also first Jewish floor leader and Majority Leader in either house)
