Dunn, Jennifer, 1941-2007

Jennifer Jill Dunn (née Blackburn; July 29, 1941 – September 5, 2007) was an American politician and engineer who served six terms as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1993 to 2005, representing Washington's 8th congressional district.

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, before earning a Bachelor of Arts from Stanford University. For five years she worked as a systems designer for a major computer company. She married Dennis Dunn, who later became the GOP chairman in King County, Washington. The Dunns raised two children but were divorced in 1977. Jennifer Dunn worked as a public relations officer in the King County department of assessments from 1978 to 1980. One of her first major political posts was as the statewide coordinator for Ronald Reagan’s 1976 presidential campaign. From 1980 to 1992, she chaired the state Republican Party and also served as vice chair of the Republican National Committee’s executive board from 1988 to 1991. Dunn joined U.S. delegations to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in 1984 and in 1990.

In 1992, she ran for an open seat in the House, winning with 60 percent of the vote. During her freshman term, Representative Dunn advocated fiscal reform, challenging House committees to make 25 percent cuts in their own budgets. She broke ranks with her GOP colleagues to support the Violence Against Women Act and later voted against the Family and Medical Leave Act in 1993, which was backed by most of her women colleagues. Dunn also consistently voted to support women’s reproductive rights, though she opposed federal subsidies for abortion and funding for international family-planning programs.

Before the start of the 105th Congress, Congresswoman Dunn was elected Secretary of the House Republican Conference. Later in 1997, after the resignation of Susan Molinari of New York, Dunn was elevated to vice chair of the conference, the fifth-ranking position in the GOP leadership. In 1998, she became the first woman ever to run for the position of House Majority Leader.

In the 2000 presidential election, Dunn served on George W. Bush’s campaign committee and raised more than $1 million for the GOP candidate. After Bush’s victory, some insiders believed Dunn would be offered a Cabinet post as Secretary of Labor or Secretary of Transportation. But the offer never came, in part, because with Congress so evenly divided, the Bush administration was reluctant to pull key congressional allies out of the House or Senate, and Dunn held a powerful post on Ways and Means. In early 2004, having recently married Keith Thomson, a Hanford nuclear facility executive, Dunn surprised colleagues by announcing her decision to retire from the House. Dunn retired at the end of the 108th Congress in early January 2005. Jennifer Dunn died in Alexandria, Virginia, on September 5, 2007.