Murray, Patty, 1950-

Patricia Lynn Murray (née Johns; born October 11, 1950) is an American politician and retired educator who has served as a United States Senator from Washington since 1993, and the senior Senator since 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, Murray previously served in the Washington State Senate and is Washington's first female U.S. Senator.

Born and raised in Bothell, Washington, Murray graduated from Washington State University with a degree in physical education. She worked as a preschool teacher and, later, as a parenting teacher at Shoreline Community College. A longtime advocate for environmental and education issues, Murray ran for the Washington State Senate in 1988 and defeated a two-term incumbent. She served one term in the state senate before launching a successful campaign for the United States Senate in 1992. She has been reelected four times.

As a senator Murray has been a part of party leadership since 2001, having served as chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Democratic Conference Secretary, Assistant Democratic Leader, among several committee chair positions. Murray garnered national attention in 2013 when she and Republican Representative Paul Ryan announced that they had negotiated a two-year, bipartisan budget, known as the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013. Murray is currently the sixth-most senior member of the Senate, the third-most senior Democrat, and the dean of Washington's congressional delegation.