Maria Cantwell currently serves as a United States Senator for the State of Washington. As a respected leader – both in public service and in the private sector – Maria has always embraced the values she first learned growing up in a strong working-class family. With the help of Pell Grants, Maria was the first member of her family to graduate college. Later, a successful businesswoman in Washington's hi-tech industry, she helped build a company that created hundreds of high-paying jobs from the ground up.
Maria is committed to ensuring that every community in Washington has the resources and tools it needs to keep families safe. She has been a champion of the Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grants (JAG) and Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program, which help equip and enable local law enforcement to address drug offenders and gangs. She led on groundbreaking legislation to fight the epidemic of methamphetamines. She has consistently fought to improve first responders’ ability to communicate with each other and the public in emergencies. Maria secured a critical investment to build a Doppler radar in Grays Harbor, closing a blind spot in weather coverage to protect Washingtonians from deadly storms.