Summary

Maria Cantwell was born in 1958 is currently serving as the junior United States Senator from Washington. Senator Cantwell was reelected in 2018 and her seat will be up again for election in 2024.

Senator Cantwell previously served in the Washington House of Representatives. In 1992 she was elected in the U.S. House of Representatives from Washington’s 1^st Congressional District. She lost the reelection bid in 1994. After working in the private sector, she ran for the Senate in 2000. Cantwell won that campaign and was reelected in 2006 and 2012.

Senator Cantwell is currently the Ranking Member on the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. She serves also on the Finance Committee; the Energy and Natural Resources Committee; the Indian Affairs Committee; and the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

Below is Senator Cantwell’s voting record and public positions on issues important to the Jewish community. 

Senator Cantwell supported the Iran Deal. She opposed UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which claimed that Israel’s settlements have no legal validity.

As the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Senator Cantwell led the efforts in advocating for the creation of a joint United States-Israel Energy Center that includes research and development and academic and technology transfer ventures in key areas.

She opposes the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement and the delegitimization of Israel and she cosponsored the Israel Anti-Boycott Act and the Combating BDS Act of 2017, two legislations that aimed to fight the boycott movement against Israel.

In 2018, Senator Cantwell cosponsored the United States-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act, a legislation that supported full funding of security assistance to Israel as outlined in the 2016 U.S.-Israel Memorandum of Understanding.

In 2019, she voted for the Strengthening America’s Middle East Security Act which, among other things, strengthens Israel’s security and allows a state or local government to adopt measures to divest its assets from entities that boycott Israel.