Cynthia Welch

Cynthia Diane Welch (born November 21, 1956) is an American politician and civil rights attorney who served as the 46th Vice President of the United States from 2001 to 2009. Prior to that she served as 34th Governor of Oregon from 1991 to 1999 and as the U.S. Representative for Oregon's 4th congressional district from 1987 to 1991. She was a candidate for Mayor of Eugene in 1984.

Early life and early career
Cynthia Diane Welch was born in Dover, New Hampshire on November 21, 1956 to Lawrence Welch, at one point Dover city manager and his wife Diane, a nurse at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital. In 1974, after graduating from Dover Senior High School she attended the University of New Hampshire, graduating with her bachelors degree four years later. From there, she went on to earn her Juris Doctorate from the University of Oregon School of Law in Eugene in 1983. After law school, Welch moved full time to Eugene and began working as a civil rights attorney, taking cases revolving around sexual harassment, women's rights, wrongful termination, and employment discrimination. Gaining some name recognition in the city, Welch entered politics by running a write-in campaign against longtime incumbent Eugene Mayor Dean Tully in 1984 at the age of 28. Her platform included support for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), support for access to abortion, and anti-discrimination ordinances. Mayor Tully won reelection against Welch by a mere 10 votes.

United States House of Representatives
A year later in 1986, Welch decided to run for Oregon's 4th congressional district, vacated by retiring incumbent Democratic Congressman Howard Vinson. She was initially considered the underdog but won the Democratic nomination for the seat due to early financial support from EMILY's List, an organization founded a year earlier to help elect pro-choice Democratic women to political office. She faced Republican, Peter Bradford Smith in the general election, who although often viewed as a moderate with socially liberal views was accused of making Welch's sexual orientation a central issue of the political campaign.