Jeannette Hayner

FIRST SENATE MAJORITY LEADER 1981-1992

Born the year before American women won the right to vote, Hayner and a classmate were the lone female graduates of University of Oregon Law School in 1942.
A mix of self assurance and traditionalism, Republican Jeannette Hayner dreamed big for a woman of her time, yet insisted on only wearing dresses in the office.
The Republicans had bided time in the minority for more than a quarter-century when Hayner took the reins as the powerful Senate Majority Leader in 1981.
The Walla Walla State lawmaker spent most of her legislative career in leadership.

"I was confident I could do it; it never occurred to me that I couldn’t."