Elizabeth Holtzman
Elizabeth Holtzman (born August 11, 1941) is an American Democratic politician. As of 2005, she was the youngest woman ever to serve in Congress, elected at the age of 31. In 1972, she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, defeating Judiciary Committee chairman Emanuel Celler, a fifty-year incumbent and the House's second-longest serving member, in the Democratic primary for New York's Sixteenth Congressional District. Victorious in the general election, she served from 1973 until 1981. During her tenure, she was considered a staunch liberal. Holtzman served on the Judiciary Committee as the committee held impeachment hearings on the activities of President Richard Nixon in summer 1974.
Holtzman was the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1980, having defeated such luminaries as Bess Myerson and John Lindsay in the Democratic primary. She ran against Republican challenger Al D'Amato and incumbent Senator Jacob Javits on the Liberal Party ticket. Holtzman was narrowly defeated by D'Amato, a loss many observers attributed to Javits' splitting with her the liberal and Jewish votes. In 1981, Holtzman made a comeback, winning election as District Attorney in Kings County (Brooklyn). She won citywide office when she was elected New York City Comptroller in 1989. In 1992, Holtzman sought the Democratic nomination to again challenge D'Amato; she lost the primary to New York Attorney General Bob Abrams, who was subsequently defeated. This was a bitter primary in which Holtzman faced not only Abrams, but former Representative and 1984 vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro. Accusations were raised about Holtzman's association with Fleet Bank, charges which came back to haunt her in 1993 when she was defeated in an attempt to retain her office as Comptroller.
Holtzman now practices law in New York City. She has written a memoir (ISBN 1559703024) called "Who Said it Would be Easy: One Woman's Life in the Political Arena" and is currently serving on a commission investigating the connections of the OSS and CIA with Nazis in the post-World War II period.
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This article incorporates facts obtained from the public domain Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.