When Washington Sen. Patty Murray was elected to the Senate in 1992, she says, male senators treated her with some trepidation. But now she has outlasted almost all of them, becoming the first woman appointed president pro tempore — a senior member of the majority who presides over the Senate and is third in line to the presidency.
Murray was elected in what was called the “year of the woman,” but when she came to the Senate she found there were still very few women at all.
