In November 2000 Hillary Rodham Clinton was elected to the U.S. Senate from New York.

Born in Chicago, IL, on October 26, 1947, Hillary was educated in Park Ridge, IL, public schools. After attending Wellesley College, where she graduated in 1969 with a B.A. Hillary enrolled in Yale Law School and met her future husband, Bill Clinton, a fellow law student. She graduated in 1973 with her J.D. and married Bill Clinton in 1975. Their daughter Chelsea was born in 1980. Senator Clinton is a Methodist.

Living in Arkansas, Hillary practiced law and worked on a number of education and health care initiatives. In Bill Clinton's second term as governor, Hillary chaired the Arkansas Education Standards Committee and founded Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. Hillary also served on the boards of Wal-Mart, the Children's Defense Fund, and Arkansas Children's Hospitals. As First Lady, Clinton was involved in her husband's initiatives, including their 1994 attempt to overhaul the American health care system.

In November 2000 Hillary Clinton broke through barriers in American politics when she was elected to the U.S. Senate from New York with 55 percent of the vote. Clinton beat Congressman Rick Lazio after other candidates had withdrawn from the race.