Anna Lee Keys Worley (1872 – May 2, 1961) was the first woman elected to the

Tennessee Senate The Tennessee Senate is the upper house of the U.S. state of Tennessee , Tennessee's state legislature, which is known formally as the Tennessee General Assembly. The Tennessee Senate has the power to pass resolutions concerning essentially any ...

, representing Sullivan and Hawkins counties. She was born Anna Lee Keys to William T. and Sarah (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Evans) Keys in Boswell, Indiana, in 1872. She married Tennessee state representative J. Parks Worley on November 25, 1907. Parks was elevated to the

state senate In the United States, the state legislature is the legislative branch in each of the 50 U.S. states. A legislature generally performs state duties for a state in the same way that the United States Congress performs national duties at ...

in 1913 and served until his death on January 6, 1921. Worley was elected as a Democrat in the January 25, 1921, special election to succeed her husband and was sworn in on February 8. One historian wrote that Worley "succeeded her antisuffragist husband in the Tennessee state senate and promptly used her powers to sponsor legislation to remove civil disabilities against Tennessee's women". Worley left the Senate in 1923 after serving one term. She died on May 2, 1961, in

Lafayette, Indiana Lafayette ( ) is a city in and is the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, located northwest of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. According to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of Lafayette ...

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1872 births 1961 deaths Democratic Party Tennessee state senators Women state legislators in Tennessee 20th-century American women politicians People from Sullivan County, Tennessee 20th-century members of the Tennessee General Assembly {{Tennessee-politician-stub