AG Madigan Gives Birth, Makes Bid for Supermom

By vouchey in News on Jan 17, 2005 6:10PM

On Sunday Attorney General Lisa Madigan gave birth to Rebecca Grace Byrnes, a 7 pounds, 3 ounces, 20 inch baby girl. Babies are a great thing, and Chicagoist is glad to see Illinois political women keep their jobs while they start families. Madigan's printed statement on Saturday refers to a "brief maternity leave." We can't imagine that any top elected official really gets to take vacation, but how long she takes off work will be an interesting precedent.

Pregnant elected officials have had a mixed history in the United States. Still a relatively recent phenomenon, it was only in 1996 that then-Arkansas Democratic Congresswoman Blanche Lambert-Lincoln resigned from her job to give birth to and raise twins. But less than a year after leaving office she jumped back into politics to campaign for Senate in 1998 -- she won.

In Massachusetts, Republican Acting Governor Jane Swift unexpectedly took office pregnant with twins in 2001 when Gov. Paul Cellucci was appointed Ambassador to Canada. Swift had already campaigned pregnant for Lt. Governor in 1998. While folks from the Bay State seemed to approve of her having kids -- she was 36 after all -- they didn't like her commuting home three hours every day to be with her kids. Swift was knocked out the primaries for Governor in 2002 by Republican Mitt Romney, now the current Governor.