Emma Harding

Emma Rosen Harding (née Osborn; born September 13, 1955) is an American politician serving as the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts since 1993, and as First Lady of the United States from 2013 to 2017.

Harding was born in Yonkers, New York, in 1955. Her family moved to Massachusetts when she was 5 years old, where she would eventually meet her husband Austin Harding. She graduated from Harvard Law School in 1981, and became a lawyer. A year later, she married Austin Harding, who was the governor of Massachusetts at the time. In 1992, as her husband's third term as governor was ending, she announced her candidacy in the 1992 United States senate election in Massachusetts. Due to her husband's popularity as governor, she won the election easily. Since 1992, she has been re-elected to the senate four times.

In 2012, Austin Harding won the presidential election. Controversially, Emma decided to retain her position as a senator while also being First Lady. Despite the criticism of this decision, her approval rating in Massachusetts remained high. Her husband ran for re-election in 2016, but narrowly lost to businessman Richard Kale. Since the election, Harding has frequently outspoken her distaste for Kale and his ideals.