We lost a giant this week. Rep. Nita M. Lowey of New York passed away on Sunday, March 16 at the age of 87.
She broke barriers, and it feels fitting to honor her legacy during Women’s History Month. In addition to her trailblazing career—she was the first woman to chair the powerful Appropriations Committee and the first woman to chair the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee—Nita was my first boss.
I started working for her as the Staff Assistant in her district office in 2000 and then served as her assistant when she took over as chair of the DCCC. She was an amazing boss and I am grateful for the many lessons she taught me as we traveled together across her congressional district and then across the country.
For two years, I was her shadow, gaining a master class in leadership, particularly in lifting up other women. We spent a lot of time in the Lindy Boggs room, a bipartisan, women’s-only reading room off the House floor. Nita would work the room between votes, talking to female members of both parties about legislation, their re-election races, and their families.
Even outside of her role at the DCCC, Nita was the first person to call a prospective female candidate and encourage her to run and, as we campaigned across the country, she carved out time to get to know the candidates and their districts.
She was a close friend and ally of Rep. Nancy Pelosi, and I watched her whip votes as she helped Pelosi in her first leadership bid to become Minority Leader of the Democratic Caucus.
While Chair of the Appropriations Committee, she promoted Shalanda Young to Staff Director, the first woman of color in that role in either chamber. Young went on to serve as Director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Biden Administration. Her longtime District Director and Chief of Staff were both women (and mentors of mine), serving her for decades—longevity of service seemingly unimaginable now.
And I met my best friend of 25 years and counting working for NML, as we all called her. Supporting and lifting up women was simply part of Nita’s DNA.
Framed above the front desk in her DC congressional office was the iconic photo of the women of the House of Representatives charging up the steps of the US Senate during the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, in what many credit to leading to the “Year of the Woman” in 1992. Nita never forgot the importance of that moment and she embodied it every day.
Nita is farthest to the left. Photo by Paul Hosefros/The New York Times
Supporting and lifting up women is in our DNA as well. It’s what we do at Electing Women. In NML’s memory, we hope you will consider supporting her two former colleagues, Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill, in their bids to break glass ceilings and serve as examples for other women leaders.
Click here to support Mikie and Abigail in their campaigns for governor.