Geraldine Ferraro
Geraldine Ferraro (1935-2011) was a feminist politician prominent in the Democratic Party, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and was the first woman to represent a major U.S. political party as a candidate for Vice President. Ferraro and running mate Walter Mondale were defeated in a landslide by incumbent President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H. W. Bush in the 1984 election.
Ferraro was an advocate of ratification of the so-called Equal Rights Amendment, which would have probably made same-sex marriage and taxpayer-funded abortion constitutional rights.
After the election, Ferraro was tarnished by the questionable business practices of her husband and the drug arrest and imprisonment of her son. Having her son serve his jail time in a luxury apartment with maid service raised a few eyebrows.[1] She was later appointed as an ambassador to the United Nations and was subsequently a businesswoman.
Electoral Votes
Although Ferraro was the first woman to be on a major-party ticket for one of the nation's highest offices, she was not the first woman to receive an electoral vote. That woman was Theodora Nathan, a Libertarian Vice Presidential candidate who got the support of Roger MacBride, a Virginia elector who in 1972 voted for her instead of Spiro Agnew. However, Rep. Ferraro was the first woman to receive more than one electoral vote.
