About Mary Margaret:
Mary Margaret and her husband Tom have lived in the same house in Arlington since 1965. Education has always been a priority for Mary Margaret A former
instructor at Northern Virginia Community College, she began her career of public service as a volunteer at her daughters’ schools. Both girls graduated from the Arlington Public Schools
Mary Margaret was appointed to the Arlington School Board in 1976 and was its chairman in 1978-79. Later she was elected to the Arlington County Board where she served from 1983 to 1995, and was Chairman of the Board in 1986.
Elected to the Virginia State Senate in 1995, she is completing her third term. Mary Margaret is the Chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus, making her the first woman to hold a leadership position in the Virginia General Assembly.
Senate Committees:
- Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resource
- Education and Health
- Local Government
- Privileges and Elections
- Rules
Legislative Study Groups and Commissions:
- Virginia Housing Commission
- Northern Virginia Transportation Commission
- Metropolitan Washington Air Quality Committee
- Environment Committee, National Conference of State Legislatures
- Legislative Subcommittee on Childhood Obesity
Honors and Awards:
- Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, Legislator of the Year 2006
- Virginia Housing Coalition, Architect of Change, 2006
- Washingtonian Magazine, Washington’s 100 Most Powerful Women, 2006.
- Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, Regional Legislative Leadership Award, 2006
- Chesapeake Bay Foundation Legislator of the Year, 1998; 2000
- Virginia Transit Association Legislator of the Year, 1999
- Virginia Federation for the Blind, Friend of the Blind
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center Community Service Award
- Virginia Partisans Public Service Award
Recent Offices held:
- Chairman, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Board of Directors, 1990; METRO Board, 1985, 1988-1995
- President, Virginia Transit Association, 1997-98
- Honorary Board of Directors, Scenic Virginia
- Community Activities:
- Arlington Branch, American Association of University Women (firmer president)
- Board of Directors, Veterans Memorial YMCA
- Arlington League of Women Voters
- Arlington Historical Society
- Committee of 100
- Member and Elder, Church of the Covenant, Presbyterian
- Education
- Rice University, Houston, Texas
- American University, B.A. in English
- George Washington University, M.A. in American Studies