Nolan, Mae Ella, 1886-1973

Mae Ella Nolan (September 20, 1886 – July 9, 1973) was an American politician who became the fourth woman to serve in the United States Congress, the first woman elected to Congress from California, the first woman to chair a Congressional committee, the first Catholic woman to hold a seat in the House, and first to fill the seat left vacant by her husband's death.

Born Mae Ella Hunt in San Francisco, she attended the public schools in San Francisco, St. Vincent’s Convent, and Ayers Business College of San Francisco. Mae Ella worked at a dry goods store run by her father before earning a certificate in stenography and going to work at Wells Fargo Express. In 1913 she married John I. Nolan, a former iron molder and labor activist, shortly after he was elected to the 63rd Congress (1913–1915) on the Bull Moose Party ticket. He was elected unopposed to a sixth term in November 1922 but died weeks after the election. The Union Labor Party quickly nominated Mae Ella Nolan to succeed her husband. She also received the support of the executive committee of the California Women’s Republican League. On January 23, 1923, she was elected as a Republican to the remaining few weeks of the 67th Congress; on that same day, voters also sent Nolan to the full term in the 68th Congress, set to commence on March 4, 1923.

In the 67th Congress, Nolan was appointed to the Committee on Woman Suffrage. When the 68th Congress convened in late 1923, she received an assignment on the Committee on Labor. Nolan also was appointed, at the opening of the 68th Congress, to chair the Committee on Expenditures in the Post Office and received national press attention as the first woman to chair a congressional committee. Nolan initially supported her late husband's stance on women's suffrage, but later supported the right of women to vote. She was not a candidate for renomination in 1924 to the 69th Congress, claiming "politics is man's business".

Nolan moved to Sacramento, California in her later years, where she died. She was interred in Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, California.