Speaker Newt Gingrich Preceded by Barbara Vucanovich Children Reagan Dunn Speaker Newt Gingrich Party Republican Party | Succeeded by Tillie Fowler Name Jennifer Dunn Preceded by Susan Molinari Succeeded by Tillie Fowler | |
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Role Member of the United States House of Representatives Died September 5, 2007, Alexandria, Virginia, United States Education University of Washington, Stanford University, Bellevue High School | ||
Jennifer Jill Dunn (née Blackburn; July 29, 1941 – September 5, 2007) was a prominent Republican member of the United States House of Representatives 1993–2005, representing Washington's 8th congressional district.
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Early life
Born in Seattle, Washington, Dunn grew up in the nearby city of Bellevue, and graduated from Bellevue High School in 1959. She attended the University of Washington, where she was a member of Gamma Phi Beta sorority, and Stanford University, earning business degrees. After graduation, she worked as a systems engineer.
Political career
Dunn was chair of the Washington State Republican Party from 1981 to 1992 and twice a delegate to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (1984 and 1990). Elected to the House in 1992, she was Washington's only Republican representative until the Republican Revolution of 1994 when Republicans swept all but two of Washington's nine House seats. In 1998, she became the first woman ever to run for the position of House Majority Leader.
In 2000, she served on the presidential election exploratory committee for then-Texas Governor George W. Bush. Dunn served as Vice-Chairwoman of the Select Committee on Homeland Security and served on the House Ways and Means Committee and the Joint Economic Committee. On October 10, 2002, Dunn voted in favor of authorizing the invasion of Iraq.
Dunn announced in 2004 she would retire from Congress, choosing not to run for re-election. Her seat was eventually filled by King County Sheriff Dave Reichert. She co-chaired the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation with former Representative Calvin Dooley. She also served as co-chair of the campaign organization "Women for Mitt" for presidential candidate Mitt Romney at the time of her death. She was succeeded in the Romney organization by U.S. Representative Kay Granger of Fort Worth, Texas.
Death
Dunn collapsed and died of a pulmonary embolism in 2007, in her Alexandria, Virginia, apartment. Her memorial service was at St. James Cathedral, Seattle.