Eleanor Jordan (born May 18, 1953) is an American politician who served in the

Kentucky House of Representatives The Kentucky House of Representatives is the lower house of the Kentucky General Assembly. It is composed of 100 Representatives elected from single-member districts throughout the Commonwealth. Not more than two counties can be joined to form a ...

from 1996 to 2001 before becoming the Executive Director of the Kentucky Commission on Women.

Politics

Jordan won a special election for her House seat in February 1996 and won the general election in November, as well as re-election in 1998. In 2000, she ran for Kentucky's Third Congressional District in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

but lost against the incumbent, though she "raised more than $1.7 million, engaged scores of volunteers, and attracted national attention," including endorsements from President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

, New Jersey Senator

Bill Bradley William Warren Bradley (born July 28, 1943) is an American politician and former professional basketball player. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was a United States Senate, United States senator from New ...

, former Texas Governor

Ann Richards Dorothy Ann Richards (née Willis; September 1, 1933 – September 13, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Texas from 1991 to 1995. A Democrat, she first came to national attention as the Texas State Treasurer, ...

, and 35 members of Congress, who traveled to Louisville to make the endorsements. She was the state's first black candidate for Congress or any national office. In 2001, Governor

Paul E. Patton Paul Edward Patton (born May 26, 1937) is an American politician who served as the 59th governor of Kentucky from 1995 to 2003. Because of a 1992 amendment to the Kentucky Constitution, he was the first governor eligible to run for a second te ...

appointed her executive director of the Office of the Ombudsman for the Cabinet for Families and Children. During the 2000s, Jordan began caucusing with other female legislators, including Joni Jenkins, Susan Johns, Ruth Ann Palumbo, Mary Lou Marzian, and Kathy Stein, in order to track legislation in their individual fields of expertise and work together to affect legislation more easily than they could have done alone. One early victory involved "building statewide opposition to a bill that, before their organized effort, likely would have gone unnoticed and passed easily, ..removing the requirement that educational institutions offer women's softball as well as men's baseball, violating the spirit if not the letter of

Title IX Title IX is a landmark federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receiv ...

Personal life and education

Jordan was born in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

, on May 18, 1953. She attended the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

and

Western Kentucky University Western Kentucky University (WKU) is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States. It was founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a few decades earlier. It operates regional campuses in Glas ...

. She is a member of the

Alpha Kappa Alpha Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is an List of African American fraternities, historically African-American Fraternities and sororities, sorority. The sorority was founded in 1908 at Howard University in Washington, D.C.. Alpha Kappa Alpha ...

sorority and the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

, and she has worked with the

Council of State Governments The Council of State Governments (CSG) is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization in the United States that serves all three branches of state government. Founded in 1933 by Colorado state senator Henry W. Toll, CSG is a region-based forum t ...

and various organizations related to child care, education, libraries, and churches.

Election results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jordan, Eleanor 1953 births Living people 20th-century African-American women politicians 20th-century African-American politicians 20th-century American women politicians 21st-century African-American women politicians 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century Kentucky politicians Candidates in the 2000 United States elections Democratic Party members of the Kentucky House of Representatives Politicians from Louisville, Kentucky University of Kentucky alumni Western Kentucky University alumni Women state legislators in Kentucky 20th-century members of the Kentucky General Assembly African-American state legislators in Kentucky