Nancy Buffington
Nancy Buffington (Republican)
represented [the 34th] district of King County in the
Senate for one term, from 1974 to 1978.
Born in Logan, Utah, to an apolitical Mormon family, Buffington was educated at the University of Washington in Cardiac Rehabilitation and was later employed as both an Emergency Medical Technician and as Public Affairs consultant for the Washington Natural Gas Co.
In 1972, Buffington headed the Dan Evans re-election campaign in her district. In 1973 she served on a sub-committee of the Republican Central Committee to find a Senatorial candidate, for her district. The committee met over a period of nine months without success. Though she had declined the candidacy, because she thought her chances were not good, on the last filing day a ruse was employed to get her to file. Thinking she was giving the committee a few more days to find a candidate, she signed her name "For the good of the party." A day later she discovered there could be no substitutions and she was the candidate.
Though not well-known she worked hard to communicate with a primarily blue collar district, trying to convince voters that a woman could represent their interests.
In the first six-month session Senator Buffington learned many lessons. "It took some effort to convince people that I was a serious legislator, not just 'window-dressing', or only a mother of four children," she recalled. "I had the liabilities of being young, being female, and being new."
--Political Pioneers, The Women Lawmakers
Born in Logan, Utah, to an apolitical Mormon family, Buffington was educated at the University of Washington in Cardiac Rehabilitation and was later employed as both an Emergency Medical Technician and as Public Affairs consultant for the Washington Natural Gas Co.
In 1972, Buffington headed the Dan Evans re-election campaign in her district. In 1973 she served on a sub-committee of the Republican Central Committee to find a Senatorial candidate, for her district. The committee met over a period of nine months without success. Though she had declined the candidacy, because she thought her chances were not good, on the last filing day a ruse was employed to get her to file. Thinking she was giving the committee a few more days to find a candidate, she signed her name "For the good of the party." A day later she discovered there could be no substitutions and she was the candidate.
Though not well-known she worked hard to communicate with a primarily blue collar district, trying to convince voters that a woman could represent their interests.
In the first six-month session Senator Buffington learned many lessons. "It took some effort to convince people that I was a serious legislator, not just 'window-dressing', or only a mother of four children," she recalled. "I had the liabilities of being young, being female, and being new."
--Political Pioneers, The Women Lawmakers